And not because it tastes like pureed roadkill with bitter herbs. No.
From what it sounds like, Aborigines get drunk off it or something. It's ok for white people to buy this rancid stuff from the store, but apparently there are aboriginal communities in which alcohol isn't allowed. Seriously. Some blonde guy named Nigel gets to be the indigenous affairs minister of the country because he's really in touch with stuff like that and that's what he said.
When I read stories like this, I'm not sure if I should feel insulted that Aborigines are assumed to be such stupid people or if I should be outraged that suburban kids, in some horrible expression of reverse racism, are subjected to Vegemite on toast each morning.
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Look Out, Dad!!
My father is the purple dot above the blue weather station. He's juuust outside Milton's evacuation zone. Well! My brother and I jus...
Just think what a homeschool education this could be. Who knew you could make alcohol out of the stuff! Science is extraordinary, isn't it? ☺
ReplyDeleteOr meth out of cough syrup! Can we get chemistry credit for all this!??
DeleteI don't think the government should be restricting the sale, but if a shopkeeper sees some guy with 500 tubs he should be able to say, nope. Not selling. But hey, I'm for freedom and stuff, how odd is that?
I know. People should be able to go to the devil in their own way if they want but we have such a huge alcohol problem in some communities it is destroying the people. And the kid's already have a glue/petrol sniffing problem under 10. What would you suggest?
DeleteI'd imagine the same laws for all Australians. The Aborigines are either Australian, and have the same rights to buy Vegemite as you do, or they're not. If they're not, some blonde dude named Nigel shouldn't be telling them what to do, it should be the tribal elders or however they organise that.
DeleteBut hey! I'm not saying my country is NOT more messed-up than yours in many ways, esp. in regard to how we treated our native people. This story just struck me as very odd so I'm sharing. :)
Some communities are *dry* because the tribal eldership has decided that's what they want for their community but equality has never been a reality in regards to the Aboriginal communities & fixing it is really difficult. The complexities of culture play into it & something as simple as education [which should be an equalizer] isn't because of the way the tribes educate. So different to a white, European classroom setting. Even eye contact rules are different. The buying, or not, of vegemite is small cheese by comparison. Just sayin'. I can tell some absolute horror stories.
DeleteI guess how you want it dealt with depends on what you think the proper role in government would be. Oddly, I'd be ok with zero alcohol and temperance rules but this whole "it's perfectly legal to buy cough syrup and vegemite but only one jar" really rankles me.
DeleteIt's silly, I know. :)
This is a news creating story, you can make alcohol from pretty much anything.
ReplyDeleteI had the black spread all my life being a Aussie, it something I have when I have a upset tummy always makes me feel better but only a scraping on toast.
Often the elders in the communities ban grog because of the domestic violence, aborigines who do not live in the our communities often live in the traditional way and are tribal in their structure but there are problems in some areas.
Merle..........
Yeah, it makes sense if it's a tribal law on tribal land, but canya see where having some blonde Nigel guy running the show looks a little odd to foreigners like me? :)
DeleteI like vegemite but very thinly spread. On toast. With real butter. If margarine is used it just tastes awful.
ReplyDeleteThe alcohol addiction is a very severe problem in many of our indigenous communities and there are stories recently of children as young as 7-10 roaming around blind drunk after drinking the 'vegemite booze'. I agree with the restrictions here. Police and governing parties in the areas are trying to help these people break out of the alcohol, aerosol, petrol and glue sniffing that goes on and kills so many.
But who teaches kids how to get drunk at seven?
DeleteI see the same sort of restrictions placed on cough syrup here. COUGH SYRUP. I should be able to buy 50 containers of cough syrup all at once if I wanna.
Not that I would. But I should be able to.