I have very mixed feelings about this sort of weapon. In one context it seems like a good thing, because it should minimise permanent damage. However, I am concerned that with weapons like this, military or civil forces will be tempted to use them far more readily than previously. The potential for total domination by a totalitarian regime are enormous.

Active Denial Ray Gun

Town troubles spelt in black and white - National - smh.com.au

Obviously, this whole incident is tragic. On top of that though is the hypocrisy of the reactions. The newspapers are being very careful not to explicitly mention that the attackers were aboriginal. I found the same thing when listening to talk back radio yesterday. People seem to be talking in a code that says, "nudge, nudge, wink wink." It does nothing to improve the issues of racism, because people are not talking openly, but it also shows how people continue to use labels like "aboriginal", "moslem", "do-gooder", "feminist" as an excuse to stop thinking of the person behind the label, to stereotype them and to assume that they will behave in a certain way. As the article indicates, most aboriginal people in Griffith are decent, law abiding, people who are just as concerned about the violence as everyone else in the community. That is what racism really is all about isn't it. Making assumptions about a group of people, just because other people who have one physical characteristic in common with them exhibit a particular behaviour.

This article in the SMH on how easily the rich (that includes you and me) can end world poverty makes it clear that the Make Poverty History is not a fruitless goal. The hard part isn't ending poverty, it is making people care enough to even bother.