Can't say I agree with you. You say you don't care about the situation 100 years ago, but it is exactly that situation from 100 years ago that led to what it is today. Of course they can't go back to what they had 200 years ago. They don't bloody well know how to go back to what they had 200 years ago. They're stuck in this excruciating limbo between the primitive hunter-gatherer culture which they left behind and the wildly accelerated modern world society to which they were expected to transition overnight. To argue that they have it "better off" is an extremely subjective debate. Do you honestly think that being stripped of their dignity and culture is 'better off'? We stole their way of life from under their feet. Now they cannot fend for themselves. They were once a proud race comprising 250 nations and thousands of clans. And now they're at the mercy of government welfare. You tell me that that is a "better way of life". We took their independence. The very least we can do is provide the monetary support required to help them get it back. To educate them to the point where they can fully adapt into our society. We have already passed the point of no return.
They didn't have a choice. So now you say "oh but now they have equal rights and citizenship"... So what? Their communities are so broken, that this tokenism of "come live in our society" is supposed to rectify the fact that we destroyed their culture and imposed ours upon them in such a way that for the majority of them, they live in a complete shambles? The irony of this is also that they don't really live in our society, do they? How many aboriginals do you know personally? I know very few. They are almost completely isolated from metropolitan society. They don't HAVE equal opportunity, and won't have it until we repair their broken communities.
Also, back then, the colony had far less of an impetus to educate its own citizens about gun use because by and large, most of them had adapted to their culture's values for hundreds of years and were brought up as such. That is why the idea of educating its own citizens was preposterous - they already knew the rules of the game. The aboriginals didn't. And every single generation of aboriginal from the time the early settlers came until now has been conflicted by that culture confusion.
I think your IQ claims are ludicrous and belie a complete ignorance of the fact that studies have shown that education during formative years greatly affects a person's IQ and EQ. Yes, EQ is very important as well. The current education programs available are clearly not working, and banning alcohol would be the wrong move (and would truly be discrimination). What we need is to pour a fuckload more money into the programs which will hopefully arrest the cycle as it begins - with the children - and teach them how to properly deal with their culture clash, so that they can still retain their proud heritage, whilst adapting to modern day society.
I've saved your first point till last, because it ties in here the best. Actually, holocaust survivors and aboriginals are extremely analogous. Both were the subjects of attempted genocide, and both are still recovering from the wounds of the atrocities committed against them. I think you'll find that it is incumbent upon us to support their welfare.
I'm not arguing that aborigines be individually compensated for their ancestors' suffering. I'm arguing that the aborigines today be compensated with education programs, medical care, and yes, money in the bank each week, so that they can achieve a standard of living comparable to that of the rest of Australia. Those that manage to become independent and make the transition back to independent, proud lives, should not receive compensation, I agree. But those that don't or are yet to do so are most certainly deserving of such compensation. And I gladly give my taxes in support of such endeavours, as do the majority of all Australians, who elected Kevin Rudd to power in 2007 on that platform of indigenous welfare and apology.
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