Opinion: It’s not racist to be disinterested in other cultures

It’s not racist to be disinterested in activities from other cultures, such as the Welcome to Country, writes Mike O’Connor.

A Welcome to Country performance early in the FIFA women's World Cup tournament. Picture: Sarah Reed/Getty Images

No one should feel guilty because they’d rather go to the dentist than listen to the didgeridoo or watch a smoking ceremony.

So please stop trying to ram this down people’s throats.

Opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Jacinta Price is one person who refuses to follow the script.

She has called for an end to Welcome to Country acknowledgments before sporting events and public gatherings, saying they are wrong and were dividing the nation.

A Warlpiri-­Celtic woman, she said that “Australians don’t need to be welcomed to their own country”.

“There is no problem with acknowledging our history, but rolling out these performances before every sporting event or public gathering is definitely divisive,” she said.

“It’s not welcoming, it’s telling non-Indigenous Australians ‘this isn’t your country’, and that’s wrong.

“We are all Australians and we share this great land.

“It would be far more dignifying if we were recognised and respected as individuals in our own right who are not simply defined by our racial heritage but by the content of our character.”

Few people, however, are prepared to voice their disquiet at being subjected to ceremonies such as the now-ubiquitous Welcome to Country, which reek of tiresome virtue signalling for fear of being branded racist.

Our meek acceptance is now demanded. We shuffle our feet, stare at the ceiling and wonder if we’ve left the iron on at home while slavishly submitting to the forces of woke-ism.

It is difficult not to sense that this creeping intrusion is meant to make us feel like strangers in our own land, those who champion it safe in the knowledge that no one is going to stand up and say: “Mate, enough is enough. Hold as many ceremonies as you like but hold them in your own space and don’t impose them on me.”

I’ve been fortunate in having seen a bit of the world beyond these shores, and have lost count of the number of times I’ve slept soundly through displays of traditional folk dancing.

One well-meaning corporation was once so ill-advised as to give me tickets to the ballet.

I dozed serenely through the first half and then slipped away into the night, being safely home and enjoying a glass of chardy before the curtain fell on the final pas-de-deux.

The latest example of Welcome to Country woke-ism was at the women’s World Cup quarter-final between Australia and France at Brisbane Stadium, when 50,000 people were treated to a rendering of Waltzing Matilda in an Indigenous dialect and the droning of a didgeridoo.

Given that your average sports fan is a bit short of the full bottle when it comes to understanding Aboriginal dialects, it would be fair to suggest that no one had the faintest idea what the Indigenous gentleman was singing or why he was singing it.

There was a half-hearted attempt by some spectators to sing the song in English, but many just stood in dumb silence, wondering perhaps as I did how it had come to pass that we were expected to continually endure Indigenous performances which are devoid of meaning and relevance.

I happily confess to a personal bias when it comes to the didgeridoo, rating it up there with the bagpipes and the piano accordion in its ability to inflict significant aural pain on anyone unfortunate enough to find themselves within shouting distance.

Everyone has their own culture.

That’s fine, but don’t expect everyone to think it’s wonderful, because the odds are that what you find enriching bores others witless.

This is not disrespect. It’s personal choice.

I would also suggest that every time we are force-fed these ceremonies, a few more people move from being undecided on how to vote on the Voice referendum into the “no” camp.

A sports team of young women, chosen on ability, have just shown us what we can achieve when we act as one.

I’m for an Australia in which we all go a waltzing Matilda together towards a prosperous future for us and our children, not an Australia divided into two tribes by race.