opinion

Pauline Hanson, here is what would need to happen in order for 'reverse racism' to exist.

This week, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson announced in the Senate that she’s “fed up” with “reverse racism”.

“Today’s times have changed greatly” Senator Hanson argued. “I remember years ago, when they came, there were the Greeks and the Italians and the different ones, they were called ‘wogs’, they keep telling me, my God, we actually had everything thrown at us, we were abused. But we said ‘Nup’ we got on with it.”

“We all had jokes together,” she told parliament, with a hint of nostalgia. “It was taken in a good sense of humour. I think we’ve lost that in Australia. I think people have become so precious that you can’t say or do anything anymore.”

Her speech was part of a parliamentary debate over a bill to repeal section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act. You see, according to Hanson, “We can’t have an opinion, we can’t say anything anymore.”

pauline hanson 60 minutes interview
"We can't have an opinion, we can't say anything anymore." Image via Channel 9.
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And maybe Hanson has a point. You can't even say 'wogs' in parliament anymore. Oh wait...

'Reverse racism' (though the term itself is an oxymoron) could absolutely exist. This is what would be required.

We'd need to rewind a few hundred years.

White Europeans are Indigenous Australians and vice versa.

Indigenous Australians sail into Botany Bay and disrupt a culture that has existed peacefully for at least 40, 000 years.

They just came here by boat and put their flag up...Image via iStock.
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The Indigenous people then declare the continent as "land belonging to no one", which is bizarre given that they can literally see the original inhabitants standing right there in front of them, and then establish a new colony right on top of an existing one. Cool.

But it doesn't stop at dispossession. With them, those pesky Indigenous people bring lethal diseases like small pox, typhoid and influenza, which the white people have no immunity to. The white population decrease enormously.

Oh yes - and then there is the violent conflict. War, if you will. Except the Indigenous people have superior firepower, so the white people don't really stand a chance.

By 1900, the Indigenous people have killed 90% of white people. That's pretty bloody racist if you ask me.

Stan Grant. Image via Twitter.

But they're not done.

There's a second wind in their attempted genocide, when, in the 1930s, Indigenous people start taking away the children of white people, and trying to assimilate them into their culture. Historians will call it 'The Stolen Generation'. But in the decades since, Indigenous people continue to deny it ever happened, despite the evidence/accounts etc. And if it did happen, they didn't mean it #sorrynotsorry.

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Today, white people have a significantly shorter life expectancy, are far more likely to take their own lives, have higher rates of infant mortality, poorer health, and have lower levels of education and employment. And every year all the Indigenous people have a piss up to celebrate the day they came and largely destroyed the longest surviving culture in human history. Woohoo!

Now that, Pauline Hanson, would be reverse racism.

Image via ABC.
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Or perhaps 'wogs' are white people and vice versa.

There were world wars, you see, that forced/prompted white people to migrate to the other side of the world.

When they got there, they couldn't speak the language. Not because they're dumb or lazy, but because they've been busy speaking their own language, in their own country, much like the wogs in Australia who can only speak English.

They don't have a lot of money because of the whole war situation, which occurred through no fault of their own.

The white people work hard, and try to learn this new and absurdly difficult language. but are made fun of by the wogs who call them awful names.

Their children are ridiculed at school because of the sandwiches or pies their mums and dads pack them. Kids call them "weird".

Ah yes. When the whites first immigrated they were made fun of for eating Vegemite...Image via iStock.
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Whenever they open their mouth about any of the injustices they are facing, wogs yell that they should be "grateful", and insist that they need to properly assimilate into wog culture. The barbecues, Southern Cross tattoos and "mates" best be left behind, thanks.

Now that, Pauline Hanson, would be reverse racism.

Hanson argues that because some have labelled her "white trash", she's been the victim of 'reverse racism'.

But as it stands, there is no such thing. It is simply a contradiction in terms. Her comment indicates a critical misunderstanding of what the term 'racism' actually means.

In order for reverse racism to exist, we'd need to rewrite history.

And until the, Pauline Hanson, the term 'racism' is not yours to use.