Welfare and the Destruction of Manhood

Muriel Newman quotes Australian commentator Keith Windschuttle on the corrosive effects of welfare on Aboriginal males.

From Newman Weekly

Historian and author Keith Windschuttle, in an article entitled “Manhood Whitewashed” examines the effects of welfare on men. In particular he looks at the appalling situation where indigenous Australian men commit horrific acts of violence and abuse against women and children:

“The root cause is that white Australia has deprived Aboriginal men in remote communities of their manhood. The instrument we used was social welfare: giving handouts that did not require them to work. The social policy of the last thirty years is the principal culprit.

“The human male is a creature biologically programmed, communally socialised and psychologically motivated to be a provider for women and children. In outback communities, however, that role has been usurped by the state.

“The social consequences of this should have been entirely predictable. No matter what their race or where they live, men who do not work have no social status, no sense of self-worth and little meaning in their lives. Others think badly of them and they think badly of themselves.

“Sociological studies have long shown that in all cultures many men respond to unemployment with alcoholism and domestic violence, one problem feeding the other.

“The loss of manhood has direct consequences for Aboriginal boys. They have no incentive to go to school. When they reach adolescence, their most attractive and adventurous options are the subcultures of crime and substance abuse. Some consume vast quantities of pornography.”

New Zeal For the word Aborigine, just substitute Maori, or indeed Kiwi.