"Welcome To Country" Speeches .......... Gone Too Far Now ??

[LordLucifer]

Take it to Facebook mate. The comments section on there usually respond well to this sort of thing.

No thanks, I'm quite comfortable putting it out there for others to discuss plus provide some alternative views on the matter.

 

[Chief]

Rather sad that you want to completely dismiss this because you are either too immature or too narrow-minded to discuss the topic in a sensible manner.

Look at the first sentence of your post.

 

[NaturalDisaster]

The guy who did the 'welcome to country' ceremony prior to the Giants V Lions game semi-final seemed to use the platform more as a divisive political tool than a genuine & proud showing of the way the indigenous people have done things for many years.

There has been a lot of condemnation for his comments, especially the "BC ...... before Cook" part with observers in the media calling for this stuff to stop. The irony was that he introduced himself as a "cultural educator from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council" but he was not culturally sensitive at all.

“A Welcome to Country is not a ceremony we’ve invented to cater for white people”.

If these indigenous leaders are going to use primetime TV as an opportunity to be somewhat insulting & controversial like he did, should the AFL discontinue the practice ??

He was simply trying to clear up the misconception that the WTC is “welcoming people to their own country”

Could he have worded it better and come across as less abrasive? Absolutely

But i thought it was pretty clear what he was trying to get across.

 

[Cleric]

The welcome to country has been overused to the point to where people see it as an annoyance and virtue signalling.
First, you don't need to welcome people to their own country. To even think that is the thing to do is ridiculous.

I don't have an issue with it been used in Government functions when welcoming foreign dignitaries, or overseas sporting teams who have come to play against Australia.
That's the extent it should be used it.

Its just another example of the AFL pandering for woke virtue points.

 

[Chief]

First, you don't need to welcome people to their own country.

 

[AndyLucimitis]

I'm as woke and leftie as they come but I think the Welcome to Country AND the National Anthem should be shelved and only done on Grand Final day (and maybe Anzac Day Coll v Ess).

 

[Bostonian]

I think signs on roads saying "Welcome to insert tribe Country" would be more effective.

Why is doing it at a football game any more important than people crossing in and out of different tribal areas daily?

Seems like it's a nice little earner for the tribes that have a major sporting ground on their patch and the rest of the tribes miss out on the gravy train.

 

[Bostonian]

Buy signal for Shiba Inu?

 

[Cleric]

 

[QuietB]

Whilst getting paid mostly by white people to an audience of mainly white people.

The other way of looking at it is an Aboriginal man still had the generosity to welcome mostly white people to his traditional country - notwithstanding those white peoples ancestors are responsible for killing his own ancestors - and the white men do not even have the generosity of spirit to accept this welcome.

Instead the white man will just bitch and moan about who is paying, how much did it cost, why do I have to listen to this wah wah wah

If it is really that offensive ignore it and go to the fridge and get a beer or something - it is not that hard.

I am going to take a guess that you are the exact same person that will endlessly bitch and moan if someone does not stand for the anthem, or someone does not remove their hat, or someone takes a knee.

Which would make you a complete hypocrite.

 

[Bostonian]

Chief

Could you please fix up the heading for this thread please.

The incorrect use of the ellipsis points is rather triggering.

 

[Cleric]

I think signs on roads saying "Welcome to insert tribe Country" would be more effective.

Why is doing it at a football game any more important than people crossing in and out of different tribal areas daily?

Seems like it's a nice little earner for the tribes that have a major sporting ground on their patch and the rest of the tribes miss out on the gravy train.

I think it would be better to have a sign that says "this was the "insert mob name" homelands". Make it something more educational sounding rather than this is stolen land sounding.
We should want people to be interested in learning about it rather than switching off because they feel they being preached to.

 

[Bianconeri]

I am going to take a guess

I think you should stop guessing, you know nothing about me, my background, my upbringing or my beliefs. I think you should attempt to get to know my views before you attempt to disparage them again.

 

[Bianconeri]

I think it would be better to have a sign that says "this was the "insert mob name" homelands". Make it something more educational sounding rather than this is stolen land sounding.
We should want people to be interested in learning about it rather than switching off because they feel they being preached to.

But it is

 

[kickazz]

He was simply trying to clear up the misconception that the WTC is “welcoming people to their own country”

Could he have worded it better and come across as less abrasive? Absolutely

But i thought it was pretty clear what he was trying to get across.

Yep agree with this - I think there was a real effort to explain that side of things but it just wasn't worded right.

The stuff about 250 000 years and before Cook could have been left off though - the former because it's inaccurate, the latter because I think rightly or wrongly, "Cook" has now become somewhat of a lightning rod for all the anti-colonial sentiment and its more radical/violent aspects. BC = Before Colonisation would have been better imo.

 

[MUFASA12]

Personally I don’t mind the welcome to county so long as you don’t have a disgruntled old fuddy duddy doing the ceremony.

Indigenous culture should be celebrated in our game because the indigenous players have given us great joy over the years.

 

[Bostonian]

But it is

The whole of Italy is stolen land.

 

[joe444]

I am torn on this stuff. Disclaimer: I have studied and teach indigenous history.

The irony is that if I type exactly what I think/know, I'll probably end up being censored or warned by a mod who probably knows nothing about the area, or thinks they know.

The reason I'm torn is because every country seems to inevitably benefit from myth-making, but I'll say that pre-colonisation indigenous culture was tremendously varied. Different languages, traditions etc. And most of them had no clue the others existed. At all.

Maybe it's for the best that we pretend they all felt intimate connections with 'the Land', had a 'dreamtime' and 'songlines', 'smoking ceremonies' ... and chuck in a rainbow serpent if you like, too. We all sign up to the claim that footy and marngrook are intimately linked, and perhaps it's better for the culture that we do, regardless of fact.

But I'll never lose sight of the irony that at least one of the cultural groups to which we now pay tribute before games was positively genocidal. Their word for all other indigenous groups translates as "non-human", and they considered it their primary purpose in life as to wipe them out.

 

[Chief]

View attachment 2113236

To even think the welcome to country at a football game is welcoming you to Australia is ridiculous.

Specially when it's been said over and over again.

It was even said in the speech that sparked this thread, let alone the whole current debate.

 

[Bianconeri]

The whole of Italy is stolen land.

All of Europe really, but I believe they have treaties and such to claim legitimacy.

 

[kickazz]

I am torn on this stuff. Disclaimer: I have studied and teach indigenous history.

The irony is that if I type exactly what I think/know, I'll probably end up being censored or warned by a mod who probably knows nothing about the area, or thinks they know.

The reason I'm torn is because every country seems to inevitably benefit from myth-making, but I'll say is that pre-colonisation indigenous culture was tremendously varied. Different languages, traditions etc. And most of them had no clue the others existed. At all.

Maybe it's for the best that we pretend they all felt intimate connections with 'the Land', had a 'dreamtime' and 'songlines', 'smoking ceremonies' ... and chuck in a rainbow serpent if you like, too. We all sign up to the claim that footy and marngrook are intimately linked, and perhaps it's better for the culture that we do, regardless of fact.

But I'll never lose sight of the irony that at least one of the cultural groups to which we now pay tribute before games was positively genocidal. Their word for all other indigenous groups translates as "non-human", and they considered it their primary purpose in life as to wipe them out.

Good post.

There's a lot about pre colonial history that is not so pretty, and it too deserves to be understood (or at least attempts at such be made) in the name of truth. The problem is we can't even be truthful (or acknowledge such truths) about the last 250 years - I think big inroads need to made there before we can do the rest.

 

[joe444]

To even think the welcome to country at a football game is welcoming you to Australia is ridiculous.

Specially when it's been said over and over again.

It was even said in the speech that sparked this thread, let alone the whole current debate.

A bit like a Democrat trying to defend "defund the police". Change the fricking name if you
(a) want wider community understanding
(b) don't want to come across as sanctimonious when you explain it.

 

[Chief]

A bit like a Democrat trying to defend "defund the police". Change the fricking name

Use an Aboriginal phrase to describe the ceremony you reckon?

if you
(a) want wider community understanding
(b) don't want to come across as sanctimonious when you explain it.

The irritation comes when people refuse to listen to the explanation, no matter how it is presented.

EDIT: I mean, it's not like it hasn't been explained over and over and over and over again.

 

[Chief]

A bit like a Democrat trying to defend "defund the police". Change the fricking name

To put it another way, do you think a "City vs Country" footy game is literally one City against the players from the whole of Australia?

When someone says they are "from the country" - do you literally think they are saying the are "from Australia"?

 

[Mitchell Madness]

But it is

By modern standards it is.
By 1700s standards it isn't though.

We are so busy rewriting history to modern standards we are losing how far society has come