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10 Steps to a More Tolerant Australia
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
11 people want to read
About the author
Donald Horne
56 books13 followersDonald Richmond Horne AO was an Australian journalist, writer, and public intellectual. He was editor of The Bulletin, The Observer, and Quadrant, and was best known for his 1964 book The Lucky Country.
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July 16, 2016
I think this book said much of value. I didn't completely connect with it because to me it was missing a critical lens (examining whose interests are served with the sort of inequities and xenophobic discourses that are around), but in a simplistic way, taken at face value it made a lot of sense.
It's possible that the fact it is quite a conservative book would mean it speaks to the sort of people who are put off by my more radical politics. Certainly anyone who is tempted to blame "muslims" or refugees for social problems and hardships they experience should read this.
A failing I perceived was an apparently naive belief in the good intentions of the government and media. Calling both of those to a more ethical approach ought to be done, but relying on their basic goodness I think is fated to fail. Call me cynical, but I think Mr Murdoch is very aware of the sort of hate-mongering he is circulating and extremely satisfied with the result. The media and power-hungry governments need to be challenged, rather than us just hoping they will behave honorably when they realise. At the same time I like some of what Horne says about rule of law. I am a bit suspicious of some of it, but certainly a complete free for all is NOT in the interests of the majority.
To me assuming that the answers lie within capitalsm (even if we re-lable it "liberal democracy" is also beyond questionable, and I think the years since Horne wrote this book have hit that home). I think we need to really break through the "capitalism is inevitable" hyper-individualist mindset. So in that sense this book might be dated (sadly much of what Horne says to critique the nonsense that is xenophobia has not yet been taken on board, if anything the government and media have escalated their irresponsible practice).
All in all a valuable book, and one which should be more widely read. Horne's no-nonsense explanations of why xenophobia makes no sense are a great starting point. Once people can at least accept that, then we can all discuss the details further!
It's possible that the fact it is quite a conservative book would mean it speaks to the sort of people who are put off by my more radical politics. Certainly anyone who is tempted to blame "muslims" or refugees for social problems and hardships they experience should read this.
A failing I perceived was an apparently naive belief in the good intentions of the government and media. Calling both of those to a more ethical approach ought to be done, but relying on their basic goodness I think is fated to fail. Call me cynical, but I think Mr Murdoch is very aware of the sort of hate-mongering he is circulating and extremely satisfied with the result. The media and power-hungry governments need to be challenged, rather than us just hoping they will behave honorably when they realise. At the same time I like some of what Horne says about rule of law. I am a bit suspicious of some of it, but certainly a complete free for all is NOT in the interests of the majority.
To me assuming that the answers lie within capitalsm (even if we re-lable it "liberal democracy" is also beyond questionable, and I think the years since Horne wrote this book have hit that home). I think we need to really break through the "capitalism is inevitable" hyper-individualist mindset. So in that sense this book might be dated (sadly much of what Horne says to critique the nonsense that is xenophobia has not yet been taken on board, if anything the government and media have escalated their irresponsible practice).
All in all a valuable book, and one which should be more widely read. Horne's no-nonsense explanations of why xenophobia makes no sense are a great starting point. Once people can at least accept that, then we can all discuss the details further!
Displaying 1 of 1 review