On Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 6:24 AM Zenaan Harkness <zen@freedbms.net> wrote:
My kinda speech, Zenaan
...
First, this school will no longer honour race or ethnicity. I could not care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow or white. I could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Endeavour or on slave ships.
The only identity I care about, the only one this school will recognize, is your individual identity -- your character, your scholarship, your humanity.
And the only national identity this school will care about is Australia.
...
Second, I am uninterested in whether English is your native language.
My only interest in terms of language is that you leave this school speaking and writing English as fluently as possible.
The English language has united Australia's citizens for over 200 years, and it will unite us at this school. It is one of the indispensable reasons this country of immigrants has always come to be one country. And if you leave this school without excellent English language skills, I would be remiss in my duty to ensure that you will be prepared to successfully compete in the Australian job market.
... Racism and nationalism are two sides of the same coin. The Nazis were first and foremost nationalists. They tied race and religion into their national identity, but those were secondary to their notion of the German Nation. The fact that this person leaves out the race part and instead focuses on language doesn't make this speech any less fascist. The part about "individual identity" is absolute nonsense; what if your ethnic identity happens to be important to you? Too bad! This principal only cares about your "individual" identity if that individual happens to identify as Australian. I'm glad this is actually a hoax. I'm also glad that I'm not the only one pointing out the nationalist elephant in the room. There ARE legitimate problems with multiculturalism, but the real problem is when people refuse to acknowledge one another's identities, and instead try to erase them the way the fictitious principal in this speech does. When people stand along the street at Cinco de Mayo celebrations and wave American flags, as they did this year in a small town near where I live, what they're saying is "My own sense of identity is so weak that I can't handle other people expressing identities that are significantly different from mine." Those are the kind of people who vote for Hitlers. And Trumps. And Putins.