Saturday, December 09, 2006
GANG ASSEMBLES
Clockwise from left: me, Toby, Norm Geras (visiting Australia for the first time), Sgt. Ivan Butzen (who dropped by the Telegraph’s offices on Friday for an informal, and massively informative, 45-minute Q&A with staff), Time magazine’s Elizabeth Keenan, and Jim Nolan. Takin’ the picture and cookin’ the food: a multi-tasking Wogblogger.
UPDATE. Hugh Mackay whines about conservative rejection of diversity:
Among conservatives, it’s become fashionable to dismiss the entire concept as tired, divisive and dangerous …
True multiculturalism is about far more than ethnicity. It’s about a society being committed to the idea of diversity in all its guises - ethnic, religious, political, social, generational. It’s about building bridges across cultural chasms and being determined to master the art of getting to know each other better.
Well, Hugh, take a look at the image above. Shot by dual Italian-Australian citizen Wogblogger, represented are veteran lefties Norm Geras (born in the former Rhodesia) and Jim Nolan (born in Queensland), who are both Of A Certain Age; 25-year-old Chicagoan Ivan; fortyish hetero right-winger me; Elizabeth, whose life is too diverse to summarise here; and scholarly gay car-freak lawyer Toby. The political, social, and generation range should be obvious. Religious adherances in this small group extends from devout Catholic to athiest. Mackay should talk to Roger L. Simon or Alexandra Wolfe about the left’s fondness for diversity.