https://cairnsnews.org/2026/03/14/indigenous-virtue-signalling-reaches-absurd-heights-as-sa-hospital-given-bizarre-new-name/ To judge by Cory Bernardi’s name he is of Italian origin, which may give a hint to his evident sensitivity to considerations that escape certain dangerous unfortunates who almost certainly know no other language than English. This is speculation, but even the term “virtue signaling” becomes less opaque if one knows Latin or Italian and know that “vir” is Latin for “man”. Australia is now importing population from almost everywhere and if everyone starts insisting on their “native language rights” we are back at the Tower of Babel. Portuguese and Spanish imperialists had no qualms about conflating linguistic and religious considerations. It is only since the French got involved in the colonial (and enslaving) project that the idea gained ground that colonialists should be “on the side of the natives”. A knowledge of Latin (or indeed Italian) helps one understand the English language but if one really wants to go “back to the roots” one will learn Greek, modern Greek preferably because one cannot speak with the dead. There are good reasons for Australians to know something about the origins of human habitation on the Australian content, but for the purposes of politics, going back to the roots means … Continue reading →

If, as it seems, the president of the United States takes orders from Israel, this makes Israel today’s arch-imperialist power, which is strange insofar as Israel apparently, alone, among history’s successive hegemonic powers, is uniquely lacking in an ideological justification with something approaching plausibility for external, and not just internal, consumption. To be God’s chosen people can surely be flattering and praiseworthy only to those who can see themselves as included in this category. Does this mean that such an imperialist power can rely only on blackmail to maintain its position? The first of the European powers to seek hegemony over the New World was Portugal, whose supremacy was quickly challenged, with the assistance of the Dutch, by Spain. Here is a timeline, presented by Robin Blackburn in his book “The Making of New World Slavery” (p.9) “The theory of empire which the Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch and English came to expound appealed to God-given rights, but with interesting differences of emphasis. The Portuguese emphasized their rights as “discoverers”, not so much of the land as of the sea-routes between Europe and the newly discovered coast; Portuguese captains were required to register navigational details of their discoveries as well as … Continue reading →