"Victor Manta" wrote in message
...
Our current Prime Minister hasn't the bottle
to offer a simple apology. (Rodney)

Hi Rodney,

Of course, it is your right to "feel in my heart, not my head" or anyway
else. :-) You are also free to present your excuses to anyone you wish for
anything you wish (as long as you do it in your name).

It isn't the same for a Prime Minister to present excuses, as long as
neither s/he nor people that s/he represents directly participated in
these
crimes.

It is necessary and sufficient that the Constitution of a country
qualifies
these kind of behavior as crimes and enforces the corresponding laws. As
much as I know, this is the case for your country.

This hopefully answers your second posting too.

Greetings,

Victor Manta


Victor,

I think you nee to realize that apologies fall into two categories. One, the
kind you are talking about, is when there is direct personal responsibility.
The other is simply a way of expressing regret. For example, if your
friend's mother died you might well say "I am sorry that your mother died"
even though it had nothing to do with you. I think this is the sort of
apology that is being discussed here. If the prime minister made such an
apology it would not be an admission that present day white Australians bear
any personal responsibility for events long ago. Rather it would be an
acknowledgement and expression of regret that this wretched treatment of the
native people *did* happen.


--
Peter Aitken

Remove the crap from my email address before using.