Australians lack the identity and self-image to generate sufficient backlash to a conservative uprising that threatens to further erode our chances of a free and open society.
The ACMA is still suffering little-man syndrome, The Rudd government is still distracting us with shiny objects and Clive Hamilton is still in hiding on the filter issue. What has the blogosphere been doing in my absence? Did this whole situation go quiet at the same time I decided to train to the next level of political discourse or did the NBN issue accost the only minds capable of discussing the Clean Feed with any panache?
I’ve come to a frightening realisation. There is no Australian dream, the nation’s foundations are built on sand and Laurie Oakes is no Hunter S Thompson. Ladies and Gentlemen, we’re a microwave dinner away from societal collapse. There will be no conflict, no student protests, no fear and loathing. Australians are not capable of such character building melodrama. We won’t collapse through a lack of morals, we will recede into melancholy stagnation through a lack of outrage. There is no freak power movement here. Maybe we need one.
Peter Garrett used to sing about passion fatigue. I can identify with the feeling – idealism hurts and alienates, so why bother? Idealism is for those unwashed and unparented university students with long hair and hemp bags. Our inner monologue: I’m playing by the rules and social order serves me just fine. Freedom of speech is libel and freedom of expression is paedophilia. I can’t wait till Friday night so I can drink this unexplained knot in my stomach loose.
The EFA was just served with a link deletion order by the ACMA for linking to an abortion site in a political discussion. Trust Australian bureaucrats to make the USA’s legislative absurdities look sane. The only reason John Ashcroft lacks an Australian peer is because that would require more personality than we’re capable of producing. I’m seriously starting to think that the Aussie persona is a dead-set lie. We’ve spent so long telling ourselves that we’re laid back that we missed the signs of GET OFF MY DANG LAWN!
Little old ladies with glaucoma and leprous skin stand in line at Woolies telling Columbian students that they should leave their culture at home and embrace Australian culture. What is Australian culture? Tell me. First person to mention ‘mateship’ loses. Christians can sit back and be assured that I know your quantity and don’t want to hear it again.
Regardless of what merit lies in the Anti-filtering movement, it’s sad that there weren’t more people involved. Where’s the knee-jerk freedom culture? Where are the habitual protesters that show up to protest without knowing what’s going on?
For a country founded by convicts desperate for freedom from their legalistic oppressors, we’re doing a terrible job of embracing liberty. We’ve been sold on the same ‘freedom from’ rhetoric that fueled so many despotic regimes last century. Somebody think of the working family children! Respect for human life is non-core even if you make it to the mainland. Welcome to Camp Woomera; it’s not Guantanamo so stop calling lawyers.
Somebody tell me what our Nation stands for before I start filling in the blanks myself.
