Go back or move forward?

It's been an interesting week of driving, writing and viewing. As usual I've covered many kilometers, had much time to think and take in the diversity of Melbourne and its suburbs.
I watched SBS's 'Go Back to Where You Came From' and I'm not sure how I feel. Don't get me wrong, I'm in no way against asylum seekers and I'd like to find work supporting refugees. I have a problem with reality style television and 'social experiments'. When some of the participants spoke to the camera in their introductions, sharing their views and beliefs, I felt ill and ashamed for them. When they were told the boat was never really under threat of sinking or catching fire I felt very concerned. Were the producers of the show serious? Could they re-enact a situation and think this would show the 'asylum seeker' experience, as if you could ignore individual plights and say "this is how it is"  and change people's beliefs by forcing them to experience the same thing? A manufactured situation at that. The raid on a construction sight in Malayasia sickened me and I wondered if I was correct in thinking some of the participants were helping to locate runaways. Was it ok to put them into a refuge camp in Africa? People there filmed as a mass of nameless faces. Was their consent given? What about their safety? Who's coming to get them out? The women in the Congo sang the happy song about how they will not be raped. Was an 'Other' created or did people really see individuals and struggles with freedom?
 Raquel said at one stage she wasn't brought up like these people so it was harder for her, suggesting they were used to it and the camp situation was normal for the sea of nameless faces. It reminded me of those ads from my childhood asking for donations to help famine victims. I was so used to seeing african people in deserts and 'camps' I didn't know it wasn't normal. When I was older I understood that they had been forced into these situations due to political reasons. Were viewers horrified when they heard the stories of toture, the scars and injuries suffered by bombing victims and the familes left behind to struggle or are they desensitised and see an unidentified group rather then individuals suffereing enormously? Do they know that the violent behiviour in detentions centres is not about genetics or culture but rather a reaction to the conditons and delays of detention? Do they know Australia takes in less than our quota of refugees? In 2010, Australia accepted 0.03% of the world’s refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people; of the 43.3 million refugees globally, we took just 13 750 http://www.asrc.org.au/media/documents/myths-facts-solutions-summary-sheet.pdf 
 What I found most interesting from this show was how people justify their beliefs and how they can change them. The show has been very successful in providing a forum for the debate and hopefully insighting people to get involved, be informed and  care about the policies regarding aslyum seekers and the proposal our government puts forward in dealing with the 'problem'.


I cringe when I think of the international coverage we have received and how the rest of the world views Australia as a racist and homophobic country with a shocking human rights history. As I drive around the city and surrounding suburbs I see so much more.