“Get over it”
= Your personal and collective grief annoys me/makes me feel uncomfortable.
“Stop blaming the current generation for the past”
= I’m too stupid to understand that the past transitions into the present.
“Stop complaining and whining about stuff that happened 200 years ago”
= I am so apathetic towards Aboriginal affairs that I don’t even know human rights abuses are still occurring.
“Be thankful it was the British who invaded and not the Japanese/Spanish/Indonesians etc. etc.”
= Surely there is some race of people capable of treating humans as abhorrently as my ancestors?
“Be thankful for all the technology and services you have today”
= Your land, families, identities, traditional culture, spirituality, freedom and more has been damaged and disrupted beyond repair- but the cars, TV and iPhones make up for that.
“This is just history, its happened all over the world”
= My white privilege makes it impossible for me to relate to the ongoing trauma inflicted by recent history. I don’t get it so I will just dismiss it.
“All this time and all you invented was a stick!”
= I know deep down that the Aboriginal way of life was superior and better for them, but I will discredit their intelligence by making insulting comparisons to my own greedy culture.
“You bring it on yourselves”
= I refuse to accept that the inter generational trauma and complex issues in Aboriginal communities has anything to do with 2 centuries of murder, rape, theft, abuse and treatment as sub-humans.
“This is a racist hate page that vilifies whites”
= My guilt complex and selfish outlook won’t allow me to see the bigger picture beyond myself.
“You weren’t the first ones here, you came from Africa/Indonesia etc.”
= I feel threatened by the fact that you have tens of thousands of years old connection to this land that I can never fully understand.
