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

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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

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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

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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

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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"

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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'

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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

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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

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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

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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

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