Uluru climbing ban shows how fragile some of us really are
As we approach this seemingly difficult time in our history, it’s become apparent that there are a lot of hurt feelings that need to be soothed. So to the Australians struggling, just know this, writes Justin Smith.
As we get closer to the climbing ban of Uluru, it sounds like many white fellas need a cuddle.
There’s a lot of hurt feelings and overactive emotions that must be soothed as we approach this seemingly difficult time in Australia’s history.
The patron saint of the bruised tramplers — Senator Pauline Hanson — recently expressed her concern that the rock will be closing to her people forever.
“I don’t get it! I really don’t get it!” she said on Nine’s Today show. “I can’t see the cultural sensitivity when people have been climbing the rock for all these years, and all of a sudden they want to shut it down?
Then wrote about Pauline last week in this very publication.
And as I read through the almost 400 comments about the article, I finally realised just how many downtrodden white fellas there are in this country.
MORE FROM JUSTIN SMITH: No, Pauline Hanson. ‘Freedom’ doesn’t excuse blatant offence
Here’s a sample:
“No point going there if you can’t climb it!”
“Here we go again. Our aboriginal brothers and sisters will never be pleased.”
“Just wait till the tourist dollars that support the local Aboriginal communities drys up — suddenly the rock will become not so sacred after all.”
“Perhaps if the Aboriginal People had actually ‘built,’ the Rock then they would have more of a leg to stand on.”
And so on.
On Sunday night, I took a talkback call from a man named Paul on my radio show. He was clearly shaken by the ban — particularly because white fellas had always permitted black fellas to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge. And now aboriginal people were reneging on the arrangement.
Clearly I had failed to understand the true level of pain and dispossession that White Australia was feeling.
If black fellas are now allowed to protect their own culture, and white fellas were being denied their right to climb and conquer, it is just the start of far bigger problems.
And I see now that this disenchantment is truly a national crisis.
So let’s try to numb some of that hurt by reminding White Australia that we’re still winning — as we have always done.
MORE FROM RENDEZVIEW: Uluru isn’t Bondi Beach. It’s sacred
Ever since the natives got the first sniff of gunpowder in their nostrils, we’ve had them on the run. We smashed them so hard, they’re still wobbling from the shock.
They still die younger. They go to jail quicker. They are kept down with grog and unemployment. And just in case they forget it, we have a national day every January to remind them of the moment we started winning.
Just because we’re losing the right to climb “Ayers Rock”, doesn’t mean those uppity black fellas are getting in front.
I’m still winning. I’m still winning. I’m still winning. Repeat these words every night before you go to sleep and soon you’ll be feeling your old self. That rock will no longer matter. And one day you may even go back, and you’ll forget all about climbing it and you’ll see beauty that you never knew was there.
Or maybe you won’t.
MORE FROM RENDEZVIEW: Just because you still can climb Uluru doesn’t mean you should
If not, just repeat the mantra. I’m still winning. I’m still winning. I’m still winning.
Feeling better now? Good.
And just in case you’re having trouble with irony today, yes, I’m making fun of you. But you’re still winning.
Justin Smith is the host of Macquarie Weekly on the Macquarie Radio Network and a columnist for RendezView.com.au
Originally published as Uluru climbing ban shows how fragile some of us really are