If Aborigines are to be written into the Constitution, what is that must be added? More than that, will a few sentences of feel-good boilerplate make the slightest difference in remedying the dysfunction and abuse that marks so many Indigenous communities?

Apart from calls for yet another royal commission, what sense can we draw from the appalling number of Aborigines who die by their hands? Again, we hear that a renewed celebration of heritage will make all the difference, yet suicide in remote communities is far more common

Promoting the meme that Aborigines are inevitable casualties of white injustice enshrines the victim/enemy mentality as a bogus but sacred truth. The ongoing tragedy is that this sadly palatable cliche diverts attention from the need to "just get on with it"

The modern world, especially its Western incarnation, often has been seen by those whose cultures it has disrupted as an assault on faith, tradition and identity. Islamist aggression is one manifestation of the reaction, a renewed reverence for the Rainbow Serpent another

The leading Indigenous proponent of constitutional recognition is articulate, possessed of a legally trained mind and keen to advance a slate of what are often radical and irrational proposals. The Recognise campaign's most visible advocate may well prove to be its opponents' greatest asset

Critics lined up to wield the axe handle when the Prime Minister described residents of remote communities as making 'a lifestyle choice'. Sadly, much of the rhetoric was no less distant from reason than are bush settlements from hospitals, schools and the opportunities of the modern world

The PM's adviser on Indigenous reform has a sharp tongue and quick temper, but what his critics dislike most is his recognition that a traditionalist mindset hobbles both initiative and hope. To those who value and promote group identity above all else, that sentiment, rather than his language, is the proverbial red rag

First, know that accusing someone of racism is enough, as a mob of keyboard warriors will soon take up and amplify the cry. Second, don't spare the emotive language. And finally, close tight your eyes to demonstrable fact and inconvenient evidence

Words can be troublesome things, as their accepted meanings might derail an advocate's invoking of emotion in lieu of the more relevant examination of unpalatable fact. No wonder so many discussions of Indigenous betterment come couched in the vocabulary of vacuity

Australians will likely have the opportunity to vote on amending the Constitution to 'recognise' Aborigines. How that vote goes may well be influenced by another recognition -- a weariness, perhaps even disgust, at the sort of unalloyed victim-mongering that animates the ABC series 'Redfern Now'

When the dust settles and the Goodes Affair fades from the front pages we may once again be able to enjoy football's innocent pleasure. Well, some of us. Count on the race hucksters whipping up some fresh faux outrage to obscure Aborigines' genuine problems and keep their names in the headlines

The rhetoric of the Recognise campaign is generating a heady brew of myth and imagery, melding a reverence for the cliches of an idyllic past with the aspiration that some deftly turned words can lift the burdens and curses of Indigenous Australians. They won't -- and this attitude guarantees as much

It is all very well to sermonise about Aborigines and the inherent right to celebrate their heritage. But without a related emphasis on responsibility such talk amounts to nothing more than platitudes for papering-over the need to examine traditional mores mesh that do not mesh with the modern world

Half the 21st century has gone and with it the dreams of a separatist movement which won its independence from the country formerly known as Australia. The rationale was a fervent and fashionable belief that Indigenous ills were all the white man's doing. Reality remained unpersuaded

Bill Leak's cartoon set the twittering class to displays of by-the-numbers outrage. Rather than hashtag sermons they might have addressed the actual causes and problems afflicting so many Aborigines. Yes, they might have done that but, sadly, they never will

The University of NSW demands a keen reverence for the ways and customs of "pre-invasion" Aborigines -- an astonishing admonition in the light of current attention to domestic violence. Were those same standards embraced on campus, few female professors, lecturers or students would go unscarred

A new book makes the plea that Aborigines be allowed "to be who we are" -- an intriguing theme that, alas, the author fails to explore. If he means that Indigenous Australians want to run their own show, the similarly un-examined corollary is that conduct and culture must not be at odds with the larger society

Whatever the final wording, the proposal to acknowledge Aborigines and their culture in the Constitution will present but a single theme for endorsement or rejection. That's a pity because, with a a dash of reality on the ballot, some good might come of the exercise

The first and saddest reaction of far too many Indigenous activists and spokesmen is to see the past as a crushing burden, one that can only be lifted by profuse apologies and, the most recent demand, a re-written Constitution. It is an attitude no less destructive than delusional

The hunter-gatherer ethic continues to prevail in remote communities, minus the obligation to actually hunt and gather. Vast infusions of cash and sincere concern can never hope to lift pathologies rooted in the rejection of Western mores