ABSTRACT
The dilemma for Australia today is to recognise and tackle the disproportionate pain caused by racism, yet to affirm—as Jones does—that Australia today is not fundamentally a racist nation. The ‘logic’ of racism turns out to be a form of crisp logic that does not always refer to ‘race’, and isn’t always a simple response to difference. Racism often produces paradoxical effects: In addition to the attacks on schools and restaurants described earlier, several incidents have been reported in which deliberate damage has been done to motor vehicles driven by women in traditional Islamic dress. The advantage of schismogenesis as a model of human behaviour is that it is schematic and suggestive, rather than detailed and restrictive. It is compatible with many other ways of examining the issue, including much theory about the nature of racism in the modern world. But it offers help in making broader sense of racism, as well as in devising strategies for combating its reach.
