Happy Australia Day!!!!!!!!!!!

[James the Giant]

Happy Invasion Day!
At my workplace, Australia Day is an excuse to moan about the "bloody brown boat-people swamping the bloody country" who need to be deported or sunk, and the "F*#%ing filthy abo scum" who need to be wiped out.
Even though my workplace is composed to about 30% immigrants, (UK immigrants) there is still an outright anti-immigration, openly racist attitude.
There is one Indian guy who works there, the rest are white. When they are ranting on about the blacks, they sometimes turn to the Indian guy and say "Of course, Deepak here is different, he's a nice bloke, we're not talking about you Deepak."
Deepak smiles a small, thin-lipped smile as they return to their bigotry.
I've worked in two "blue collar" jobs since I came to Aussie, and both have had this culture to varying degrees.
I'm sure the vast majority of Aussies aren't like this, but it seems Australia day brings the bigots out of the closet.

[Kim OHara]

* Australia, founded by convicts. The homicide rate is in Australia is 1.8 per 100,000 of population. The United States was founded by religious zealots. It's homicide rate is 6.3 per 100,000. Almost 400% greater than Australia.

I love that one. Thanks for the history lessons. Australia is cool.

And Australians are particularly good at sports, Olympic medals, etc., per capita.

We're pretty good at lots of other stuff per capita, too, but don't celebrate it enough ourselves or encourage others to notice it.
One of the people who is "pretty good" at some of it had something to say about that yesterday: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-25/rush-delivers-valedictory-speech/4484718


Kim

[Kim OHara]

Happy Invasion Day!
At my workplace, Australia Day is an excuse to moan about the "bloody brown boat-people swamping the bloody country" who need to be deported or sunk, and the "F*#%ing filthy abo scum" who need to be wiped out.
Even though my workplace is composed to about 30% immigrants, (UK immigrants) there is still an outright anti-immigration, openly racist attitude.
There is one Indian guy who works there, the rest are white. When they are ranting on about the blacks, they sometimes turn to the Indian guy and say "Of course, Deepak here is different, he's a nice bloke, we're not talking about you Deepak."
Deepak smiles a small, thin-lipped smile as they return to their bigotry.
I've worked in two "blue collar" jobs since I came to Aussie, and both have had this culture to varying degrees.
I'm sure the vast majority of Aussies aren't like this, but it seems Australia day brings the bigots out of the closet.

I'm sorry your experience has been negative, James. I know those attitudes are not exceptional (wish they were!) but neither are they universal.
One thing that may be biasing your experience is that the people nearest the bottom of the heap are keenest to find some people/groups they are "above".
Fairly recent arrivals want to look down on even more recent arrivals. When I was a kid in country Victoria, the immediate-postwar British immigrants (including my parents ) looked down on the Dutch and Italians of the next wave. Then the Dutch and Italians looked down on the Greeks ... and so on.
And I'm not even going to talk about the indigenous people ... but if you want to see a couple of good movies, find "Rabbit Proof Fence" or "Ten Canoes". I believe "The Sapphires" is good, too, but haven't seen it yet.


Kim

[cooran]

Having been through 40C ++ in the last month, and now the flooding rains - it reminded me of one of my favourite poems from primary school:

My Country
a poem by Dorothea McKeller

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins;
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies -
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains,
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me.

The stark white ringbarked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The saphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die -
But when the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The stealthy soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold;
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

You may find the images in this link to be of interest:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41188800@N ... 206818678/

with metta
Chris

[Kim OHara]

Happy-snaps from around the country: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-26/your-pics-australia-day-2013/4484330


Kim

[Kim OHara]

Having been through 40C ++ in the last month, and now the flooding rains ...

You could do both in one day yesterday - probably today, too - by driving from Rockhampton to Birdsville.

Weird country, this. I like it.


Kim

[Ben]

Weird country, this. I like it.

Yeah, me too. And I like the people - well, most of them.
For the most part it is a great egalitarian society.
I just don't like nationalism. And the flag for me has been tarnished even further since Pauline Hanson wrapped herself in it and the Cronulla riots.
kind regards,

Ben

[tiltbillings]

And the flag for me has been tarnished even further since Pauline Hanson wrapped herself in it and the Cronulla riots.

That can happen. "The Soiling of Old Glory" (1976, Boston):

[manas]

I love Australia, the land I was born in and in which I live, but this day, for me, is nothing more than a day of sombre reflection, and certainly not a day of celebration. More than 200 years have passed, and still no formal Treaty with the First Peoples of this land has been made. It's not good enough.

Metta

[Kim OHara]

And the flag for me has been tarnished even further since Pauline Hanson wrapped herself in it and the Cronulla riots.

That can happen. "The Soiling of Old Glory" (1976, Boston):

Yes ...

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

Kim

[Cittasanto]

Happy Oz Day!

[James the Giant]

Ooh ooh there's an FA18 flying up and down the river woo it's NOISY!
Plus some weird remote drone... Sinister.
Massive fireworks later, in the shape of a Koala!
I'm at work in the city now but we get to have 45 mins off to watch the fireworks.

Plus I'm getting paid a massive amount for working Australia Day.
Hmm... It's not all bad I guess.

[shaunc]

Australian Facts For Australia Day
January 26th 2007 00:25


* Australia, founded by convicts. The homicide rate is in Australia is 1.8 per 100,000 of population. The United States was founded by religious zealots. It's homicide rate is 6.3 per 100,000. Almost 400% greater than Australia.

The different countries gun laws probably have more to do with those statistics than their pedigree. If those figures are true or even close to true they are still quite impressive.