So another year has rolled on, and I find myself reflecting on what I wrote last year, “Why I’m not proud to be an Australian today“.
In reality, the same holds true for this year as did for last year. Sure, there’s lots of things to love about being Australian. The recent floods in Queensland for instance yet again demonstrated the great Australian notion of cooperation and helping out others who have fell upon hard times. It’s a pity our governments (both state and federal) haven’t adopted that as … maybe, a policy, and do something about the vast mental health problems being ignored in the country.
So, I still live in a country where I’m treated as a second class citizen and the bogan media is still taking over. Too little has been done to correct our track record with the Aboriginal community, our Federal government has a policy of treating asylum seekers like shit and the mentally ill get mostly ignored. On a lesser note, if you can call it that, the country is still obsessed with sport at the expense of research and development. We need to stop caring so much about swimming records and gold medals, and more about solutions to energy issues, dealing with climate change, and cures for diseases. Oh, and to top it all off, the internet-censorship spectre still haunts the edges of government policy, but the alternative is a league of morons who think the internet is a passing fad and we don’t need to access it any more efficiently than we currently do, thank you very much.
Sure, I love being an Australian, and what good Australians are capable of doing. But I still can’t be proud about Australia. The bogan response is “if you don’t like it here, move!” Well, I’m better than a bogan – I’m a patriot. Bogans think that patriotism comes from buying lots of cheap nasty little flags to stick up on their cars to replace the reindeer antlers they had for christmas. Real patriotism though comes from being able to say that you still love your country, while admitting its flaws and hoping it can do better.
C’mon Aussie C’mon; make me proud for Australia Day 2012.
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Don’t feel proud then, the rest of us will.
Cheers.