Racism is Institutionally patterned behaviors generationally evolved historically and regarded as the norm. Some individuals were and are raised and socialized to internalize the cultural beliefs that support those behaviors as the norm. Others see them as unjustifiable systems, and merely socially constructed realities that can be altered and needn’t be maintained. Others see the need for them to be maintained and not altered to avoid disruption to the ” the natural order”. The ongoing though unequal natural order in evolutions struggle for power. Change has always been seen as a struggle forced not celebrated but resisted not encouraged by those whose social positon has benefited but not merited by what exists as opposed to what could and should have been. The distinction between Racism and any Individual is far more complicated by the dichotomy of these macro v micro perspectives.
However, racism is far less about individual acts of kindness toward a grieving family (or, on the flip side, calling an Arab a “terrorist”) and far more about social systems and power structures that ensure non-white people don’t get a fair go. The Abdallahs had trauma and loss – not political power or economic influence. Towke was a young politician with a promising career that he alleges was taken from him, accusing Morrison of using his racial background against him. “I would have been the first Australian of Lebanese heritage to be a federal member of parliament on the Liberal party side and that’s a bit of history there which they stole from me,” he told The Project. Morrison has categorically denied what he describes as “malicious” claims. But it doesn’t matter whether you’re “team Abdallah” or “team Towke” when it comes to the truth about the prime minister. It’s almost inconsequential. Australia’s racism is bigger than one man – even if he is the leader of the country.
For the second time this year, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, bereft of the will and the capacity to announce anything useful, has again declared he will go after “anonymous trolls” on social media. His cunning plan requires forcing tech giants who own the platforms to either identify the “trolls” so they can be pursued for defamation, or pay defamation costs themselves. The proposal also requires social media users to provide proof of identity before being allowed to use the platforms. You can’t sue anonymous. This proposal is unlikely to be legislated and equally unlikely to be useful in the event it becomes law, except for the privileged few who can afford to pursue legal remedies.
LIBERAL MPs : While Parliamentary Privilege protects politicians’ anonymity protects individuals but Morrison wants that protection removed. Politician, regarded by many as trolls like Peter Dutton wants the freedom to say what he wants whenever he wants and the taxpayers to pay the legal costs to defend and sue whoever he chooses. While the individual citizens should bear their own costs. This seems to be the autocratic capture of free speech and the justice system in Australia. When compounded by Morrison’s want to also diminish class action suits by individuals against corporations it’s hardly democratization o the law but quite a reactionary desire.
The headmaster told Ian, “This new kid’s dad has just committed suicide. Look after him.” He was incredibly friendly and nice. He came from a really established family – there were so many things expected of him that no one would have dreamt of for me. My family was such a disaster, I could have said to my mother, “After school, I’m going to South Africa to become a mercenary,” and she would have said, “No worries.” We clicked through drama. We’d stay up late, improvising poems or lying onstage in the school theatre telling stories. It was like a love affair; that intensity, that closeness. When I look back at all those years after school, as a drug addict and a complete mess of a human being, I often wonder why Ian stuck with me. But I guess when things got weird, he remembered that kid. After school, we lost touch: he did uni and got into finance; I was expelled from the National Institute of Dramatic Art and got into drugs. Then we ran into each other on Collins Street in Melbourne. I was in op-shop clothes, probably going into withdrawal, completely broke. He was wearing this gorgeous suit, looking like a million bucks. We were both jealous of each other. I’m thinking, “God! He probably spends more on lunch than I do in a week!” And he’s thinking, “He’s living this wonderful bohemian artist’s life.”
We have learned a lot from the judicial inquiry into hotel quarantine in Victoria, and the lessons should not be obscured by the fact that the failures were systemic and cultural, rather than the result of people acting corruptly or in bad faith.
olddogthoughts 
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