"Victimhood" is now

an industry. It seems we all need to be victims of some sort or another. We need to have a grievance. Something has to be "not fair" and, if something is "not fair" then we need to be "compensated" for it.

Nobody from the "Yes" campaign knocked on the door yesterday. There was nobody in the street. Never mind there are a few weekends to go before the referendum yet. No doubt they will still be accosting people at the library and in the shopping centre and elsewhere. They will tell you "it isn't fair" and "if you vote no then you are racist". I am not sure what that means.

I have been listening to the "leaders" of the Yes side. One of them has actually spoken of plans to "smash your Constitution". The list of things they plan to demand "when the Voice gets up" is ever growing.  Their voices are getting more strident all the time. 

Our Constitution is a written one. It is the document which allows parliament to make laws for the good governance of the country. It should be something which unites us, not divides us. This is one reason to oppose the proposed Voice. It puts a division in place, a division which could only be removed by another referendum. It is really stating "Aboriginals will always be disadvantaged. We need to feed that disadvantage to justify its place in the Constitution." It is about ensuring that the "gap" so often spoken about can never be closed for if it is closed there is no need for that Voice.  It is about ensuring that grievances remain live.

They are now getting schoolchildren to raise money to provide more books for Aboriginal children. Sounds like a good thing doesn't it? But these books will be books "in their own language". They are not really designed to "preserve a culture". That "culture" has already been lost. There was never a written form of any Aboriginal language before white settlement. What little has been passed down has changed beyond recognition. These books are not about cultural preservation they are about maintaining a gap. The initiative is dressed up in all sorts of ways but this is about the power to control. It is about attempting to turn people into victims - and yes, you are a victim if those above you make decisions which deliberately disadvantage you. 

"It's better than nothing" you tell me? I think not. It is surely better to have ten books about their life in English than one in a poorly reconstructed version of a language spoken by very few which tells you, "I am a victim."