Victimhood is more corrosive than payments with obligations
Again, this wasn’t surprising, or shocking. Neither of these moments would have been notable, except that they came first, and I could list hundreds of others, because the amount of addiction in the aboriginal community is absolutely absurd. Being in any Australian neighborhoods with a significant aboriginal population means seeing the dysfunction from their addiction, or more commonly, ignoring it, because it’s politically impolite to talk about.
That’s not to say every aboriginal is a drunk — sobriety and moderate drinking do exist — but they are something to be celebrated rather than expected.
There is also a different tenor to the dysfunction — it’s largely confined to alcohol abuse, so gone are the tweakers, leaners, and twitchers — and it’s rarely aggressive to outsiders (although domestic abuse is a substantial problem). Almost everyone involved is polite, keeping to themselves, and even when they do approach asking for money it’s with an apologetic tone, giving it almost an “old school charm.” A “Never mind me, I’m just the lovable town drunk” ethos that populates US sitcoms of the past.
