Disengaging From The Long Goodbye

These were the times to say goodbye, not just to old friends but old selves, gangs which had been so fraught with belief, who thought they mattered. We were slow on the uptake and dissolved as we aged. We moved from our twenties, slid through the thirties, still partying, still young enough to get away with it, survived through our forties, through long nights of introspection and discontent, and emerged as relics in our fifties. We were often saddened by the disappearance of hope; but there was no excuse. We had known better. Or to be more precise, we should have known better. We just didn't go down that path, into rectitude, self-righteousness, Christian beliefs, high moral and ethical standards. We just survived, and our hopes to write all those great novels, perform those great sympathies, paint in ways that nobody else had ever painted before, they all disappeared.

And now Ian has gone, too; and we're all left like shags on a rock, watching the sun set and even now disengaged from any true meaning; any normal depth, any normal way of thinking. What club was it anyway?

Ian, I want to say goodbye now, I want to thank you for the mysteries you showed me; I want to thank you for the good times we had; I want to apologise for the hurt I created. I didn't mean to hurt you, anymore than I meant to hurt so many others. I remember your kindness; I remember those few moments of intimacy, when tenderness and thrill was at the core of the moment; I want to thank you for the amused, ironical, kind view that you took - and imparted - and I want to thank you for the gift of creativity. You were always encouraging. You were never the one to say go get a job boy, work in an office, become a nine to fiver, have a normal career. You were always the one that thought our destinies were singular, that we could perform, write, paint, act, that there wasn't anything else in life worth pursuing. So thank you and goodbye, dear friend. See you on the other side.

NEWS:

Howard has sparked a furore by suggesting that muslims should learn English.
But I don't think he's going to lose any votes.

Here's a sample of the coverage:

DAILY TELEGRAPH:

Muslim free speech blackmail

ISLAMIC leaders are trying to gag Prime Minister John Howard from speaking out against Muslims who refuse to integrate, threatening that any criticism of their culture could lead to another race riot.
The head of Mr Howard's own Muslim advisory council, Dr Ameer Ali, yesterday tried to shut down debate on whether Muslims should learn English and treat women as equals by raising the spectre of the shameful Cronulla riots.
Dr Ali warned: "We have already witnessed one incident in Sydney, in Cronulla. I don't want these scenes to be repeated, because when you antagonise the younger generation they are bound to react.'' ....

John Howard's column in The Tele:

AUSTRALIA has been greatly enriched by immigration and most people who have come to this nation have happily integrated with the community.
They have willingly embraced the Australian way of life. They have become part of the fabric of the nation and have helped make Australia the great country it is today.
I have said many times that people who come to this country - no matter where they are from - should become part of the Australian community.
For new migrants, that means embracing Australian values, accepting our culture, being able to speak English if it's not their first language and understanding that men and women have equality. But it is an undeniable fact that some who have come here are resisting integration. There are pockets of this resistance in different migrant groups but it is perhaps most visible at this time in a small section of the Islamic community.
A small minority of this community, and other groups that reject integration, regard appeals for them to fully integrate into the Australian way of life as some kind of discrimination.
It is not. It is commonsense and, importantly, it is also a powerful symbol of a new migrant's willingness and enthusiasm about becoming an Australian.
It is difficult to get anywhere in this country without learning English. It's the common language of Australia and is, quite simply, a passport to the future.
Simple tasks like securing a job and making new friends would be so much harder in Australia without a working knowledge of English.
Treating women as equals is an Australian value that should be embraced. Australians generally do not tolerate women being treated in an inferior fashion to men.
There are some societies that do not treat women equally. Migrants from those societies must be fully prepared to embrace Australian attitudes towards women.
We are an egalitarian nation that prides itself on the concept of a fair go, our equal treatment of men and women, our parliamentary democracy and free speech...

ABC:

Prime Minister John Howard has restated his view that Australian Muslims need to learn English and treat women as equals, in order to fit in with Australian community values.
Mr Howard's comments on a talkback radio station made national headlines this morning, with the Prime Minister accused of singling out Muslims.
He was quoted as saying that Muslim migrants need to make a greater effort to embrace Australian values, treat women as equals and make a better attempt to learn English.
As he opened a new school building in his own Sydney electorate of Benelong this morning, Mr Howard said he stood by his comments.
"It's wrong, I haven't singled anybody out," he said.
"I said yesterday what I've previously said, that there is a section, a small section, of the Islamic population which is unwilling to integrate.
"And I've said generally of migrants who come to this country, no matter where they've come from, they have to integrate.
"That means speaking English as quickly as possible, it means embracing Australian values, and it also means making sure that no matter what the culture of the country from which they came might have been, Australia requires women to be treated fairly and decently and in the same fashion as men.
"If any migrants coming to this country have a different view, they'd better get rid of that view pretty quickly. "

SBS:

Comments spark fury

The prime minister’s comments sparked fury among some Muslim leaders who say they were offended by what the prime minister had said. The chairman of the government's new Islamic advisory committee, Dr Ameer Ali, has warned of more trouble unless Mr Howard tones down his rhetoric on Muslim migrants. "We have already witnessed one incident in Sydney recently in Cronulla, I don't want these scenes to be repeated because when you antagonise the younger generation, younger group, they are bound to react," Dr Ali told Macquarie Radio. But Mr Howard today stood by his comments. "I don't apologise," he told reporters."I think they are missing the point and the point is that I don't care and the Australian people don't care where people come from. "There's a small section of the Islamic population which is unwilling to integrate and I have said generally all migrants ... they have to integrate."

The Age:

THE Prime Minister's "divisive line" on Muslims was alienating and ostracising the Muslim community, according to one leader.
Sherene Hassan's comments followed an attack by men with crowbars on two cars belonging to another community leader on Thursday night.
Ms Hassan, an executive committee member of the Islamic Council of Victoria, said the council had received more abusive and threatening emails this week than at any time since the Cronulla riots.
One read: "F--k off back to where you came from and rape the women there."
She blamed John Howard's radio comments on Thursday, in which he urged Muslims to learn Australian values. The emails have been referred to Australian Federal Police.
The vandalised cars belonged to the council's past president, Yasser Soliman, who said the attacks were being investigated by local and federal police and ASIO.