Patriotism - oh hey there.

Overseas, Australians have become known chiefly as racists in the last few years. The old defense, "I'm not racist, but..." just isn't cutting it anymore. And I mean, I know a lot of you really aren't racist, but you're xenophobic. And the only defense for xenophobia is ignorance.

And that is why I get wholly confused when people start asking everyone to "assimilate" or leave. There will always be a problem while we still use words like assimilate and tolerate, rather than integrate and accept.

It's not fair or adult to ask someone to shrug off their culture just because yours has become the norm. Sure, you might want to be able to interact with them, and you might be a bit tentative because they have customs you're not familiar with. But the problem is, the people spouting these xenophobic lines - in my experience - live in almost wholly white neighbourhoods. Who are these people they want to assimilate into their culture?

I have to presume it's a media thing. And I guess the lack of diversity in their own neighbourhood fuels their disinterest in educating themselves about these other parties.

"Boat people" are generally people whose original country is in such disarray and so dangerous that they cannot reach an Australian embassy. They aren't "jumping the cue", and we aren't taking all of them. Britain, that tiny little densely populated country that we spilled off from, takes in more asylum seekers. In Australia, it's 1 for 1583 people (population of 22 million). In Britain, it's 530 (population of 62 million). And roughly 90% of those arrive by plane.

Asylum seekers are people who are seeking shelter from their country which is often categorised by cases of torture, starvation, war and death.

Moving on from asylum seekers, which aren't actually a big deal; if you still oppose them you obviously have a false sense of entitlement, which is my next issue.

Some Australians have this crazy mix of mindless patriotism and a sense of entitlement which borders on fanaticism. They're the people saying things are "Un-Australian", saying it's the best country in the world (without having left it - I mean, surely you need to do the appropriate legwork?), and telling people to "go home" if they want to change things.

Even if it was "the best", surely we could aim to make it better. If we forget everything about culture and diversity; we still have problems with our schooling, problems with our hospitals, and currently we are in a government deficit. So obviously, we still aren't perfect.

And this entitlement. Where does it come from? You managed to be born within the Australian borders. Cool. What have you actually done to be more worthy of being Australian than someone who comes here on a plane or a boat?

Okay, I'm done.