As a surfer I take offence to this parallel with religion 😄
I agree about the "we" that should exist in our society but have to disagree with the seismic jump in interpretation of tourist definition.
Printable View
Whispering: the tourist def'n thing and telling you all you got it wrong was a bit more tongue in cheek than is apparently realized.
The "we" thing is the key point though. "We" are either all tourists (Domestic as opposed to overseas tourists) or "we" are all not tourists - for the discussion at hand. Who was here before Uluru?
I don't accept the argument that you, as a domestic tourist to Uluru, are somehow no different to foreign/overseas tourists and as such have less rights to walk on Uluru than those who live near Uluru. Point: Where is the line drawn? How close to Uluru must you live to not be seen as any other "tourist"?
I do think a valid discrimination can be made between foreign tourists and locals on holiday. I call into question any discrimination amongst the "we" Australians - no matter how far your home in Oz is from Uluru.
I think a lot of people are really OVERTHINKING in this thread now....
That's what I said put Chops put it much more eloquently.
In any event I'm not going to take any further part in this discussion as it appears to me that some people can't accept that others have different views. That is, if I disagree with their "don't climb the rock' then it MUST be me who is wrong.
I'm off to read about Land Rovers....
Agree,.....but you ain't wrong at all my friend, because you are right in that We can all have differing opinions, and you are also right in that some, as they have demonstrated, cannot accept that.
What I find rather silly, is the people who cannot accept that there are other opinions than theirs, and so make vitriolic, derogatory, "personal" comments, try to make a lot of "noise" to get their point across, get the thread closed etc.....just decreases their credibility in my eyes.
In this case, we have had enough sensible people of various opinions, to have a great discussion.
Pickles.
This has been an interesting conversation. Once again it points out the fact never tell an Australian he can't do something. I need to make this point. It is not my intention to say people must not climb Uluru. And indeed, it is not in the interests of some indigenous people to say that. After all, it is money in their pockets. Or, some ones pockets, at least. The point I am trying to make is, try to learn about the culture, and respect the old ways. Those who say the indigenous people must assimilate, and be like us, without the discipline of the old ways, be careful what you wish for. Any one who has lived in the Territory, or North Qld. , will know what I mean.
Bob, I have a question for you.
Despite what you may think, & despite the fact that We disagree, maybe you may choose to believe that I have been giving this issue some thought.
So, I've been doing a bit of "googling", and I have discovered that some of the signs around The Rock, placed there on behalf of the Anangu People say, words to the effect, "Please don't climb", "We'd prefer that you did not" etc. I have read that these words are sort of a "characteristic" of Aboriginal People who do not like to use the word "No". Is this correct?
Anyway, with respect to that, if those words remain, and that is all there is to disuade climbing, I would say there will be no end to it.
Pickles.
The wording of those signs is an appeal to the readers to have the good manners to respect the wishes of the land owners.
If you come to my house and I ask you to take off your shoes to avoid tramping mud through the house, but you say you don't care what I think and you'll wear your shoes any where you damm weĺl like, including inside my house, then what will I think of you? I will think you're a rude and ignorant pig and I'll get you out of my house ASAP.
This whole debate reminds me of one of the reasons we used to usually avoid tourist areas while we lived in Thailand - they were full of Aussies and others behaving badly and we didn't want to have to apologise to our Thai friends for the bad behaviour of fellow Aussies. I have similar feelings about Uluru.
Sent from my SM-G900I using AULRO mobile app