On January 26th Australia Day. A day when Australian's come together to celebrate how great their country is and how proud they are to be part of it.
The only problem is I'm rarely proud of our country. People always have a go at me for this. "How can you be ashamed to be Australian?" But for me, the question is, how can you be proud to be Australian? Quite often, people talk about how brave WE were at Gallipoli or how WE invented the cochlear implant or how WE are fighting the war on terror.
I hate that WE thing. No... you did are not fighting in Afghanistan. A soldier is. My brother did. You had nothing to do with it. You sat back comfortably at home and didn't even watch it on the news because it didn't make the news. When our soldiers came home, they were flown in on commercial airlines, picked up in taxis and weren't allowed to wear their uniforms off the plane. Then they get this whole spiel about how proud they should of their country and themselves and how Australia was so grateful. Guess what. THEY AREN'T! Our soldiers have to be ordered to march on ANZAC Day and Australia Day because they are pissed off at their country. Their country abandons them. Soldiers have a huge rate of homelessness. Should we be proud of that? No. We should be ashamed.
But it's not your fault Aidy. No. It's not. Just like it's not my fault that someon in Australiainvented wireless or that an Aussie doctor just installed the first artificial pancreas. I didn't do it and no-one I knew did so why should I feel pride for the achievement? I'm happy that someone in our country did somethign great for the world but I don't feel pride.
Then people will talk about how lucky we are to live in our country. Yes. It is luck. We were lucky that we happened to be sperm in the right pair of balls to go into the right egg. That is the only reason we came out of the right uterus to be considered Australian. But that doesn't stop people being oppressed and abused in our country. Our country neglects abused children and relies on charities to treat them. They under fund their public mental health system leading to homelessness, unemployment, depression and suicide. They then blame these ill people for their life choice of being ignored by our country and throw them in prison. But they scream and rant if their taxes are raised. Oh no! I might have to help someone through my taxes! Someone is taking my money! What is this country coming too?!?!?! I should be rich. ME ME ME ME
Speaking of the right uterus to come out of. Coming out of uterus in Australia is not as hard as having to take a citizenship test. I am ashamed of how Australian's think of people from other countries. The ironic thing is this is part of our national anthem. (Our song is really.. really bad.. The only thing that unites our country is that no-one likes it)
"For those who come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share
With courage let us all combine
And Advance Australia Fair."
Ironically, Australia generally hates immigrants. Not everyone. But the majority. The hate is so strong that it is actually a deciding issue in Australian elections. STOP THE BOATS! STOP THE IMMIGRANTS! THEY ARE ILLEGAL!
Illegal. We signed a convention back in the 1950s to allow anyone who got to Australia to apply for asylum. So it isn't illegal. It's lawful. It is our international obligation What is illegal is locking people of all ages up in prisons with sub-par medical treatment, documented cases of abuse, indefinite detentions and saying "It doesn't matter if you are a refugee, you are NOT being resettled in Australia." Instead, we "resettle" (we haven't yet) them in one of the world's worst countries that isn't at war. A country that has areas that still practise cannibalism and burns for witchcraft. A country that has only two high schools. A country that the world is trying to help. Papua New Guinea. We also are looking at Cambodia. You know that one? The one with the child sex trade? Yeah. Our country is looking at resettling families there.
Note. Our camps have been ordered to be closed down by the UN. We have not. The camps are so bad that our country has been tried and convicted of the torture of innocents due to the conditions of our camps. Many of my friends thought this was a good thing because than people wouldn't want to come to Australia. And it worked. People don't want to come to Australia any more. They would rather stay in refugee camps of millions of people where women are regularly raped, disease is rampant and, if you do survive, your children will have no education, mental scars and generally no future.
Then people say to me, "These people should come through the proper channels to get to Australia." Another area of shame. Our country makes the proper channels so hard that you have to be a lawyer to get through. If you happen to be in the wrong refugee camp (Pakistan) there is a 77 year waiting period to talk to an Australian refugee officer. Some camps get a visit every two weeks from an Australian official. We don't just take any old refugee the UN orders us to take. We choose them. We can choose them because we take less than nearly all the other developed countries in the world. Australia ranks 22nd in our refugee intake in the developed world. There are 26 developed countries. We rank 32nd in the world for accepting claims of refugee status. This isn't because we have so many people who are fake refugees. no. It's because we arbitrarily turn Tamil refugees back to Sri Lanka against international law. Sri Lanka is being convicted for genocide currently against the Tamils. Sir Lanka has the worlds worst record for unexplained disappearances. More so than Iraq, Afgahnistan and all other warring nations. I have a personal story. One of the boys in the last school I taught was Tamil. He was allowed to come here because his dad is a doctor. The government sent his uncle back. Last year his uncle was stabbed to death in front of his house. No investigation. He was Tamil. (Note: they weren't "boat" arrivals. They came on a plane. Rich people come on planes and can get asylum. Poor people come in boats and can't. Australia likes rich people)
Australia also hates Muslims. Apparently they are destroying our country. 84% of Muslim 15-24 year olds volunteer. This is compared to 34% of other Australian young people. (Note, I'm very proud of our young people. 34% is amazing stuff. My age group was the least likely to volunteer. This generation of young people are the second most likely)
Volunteering is a big thing for me. I get a lot of shit from friends for not exercising enough. Lots of people are trying to be buff and if you aren't, you're lazy. Anything less than 2 hours a day on your body is lazy. Except none of these people volunteer their time. They dedicate all their time to themselves. Bloody Australians. They love themselves.
Australia has cut a total of $11 billion from it's foreign aid budget. That's more than 50%. This is because Australia's last election was decided on "budget emergency." Apparently our country will go bankrupt even though we are the only country that got through the GFC without a recession and we're the best off financially in the world. Since our country loves it's money so much the government can't raise taxes. Instead, they take the money from foreign aid. Because Australian's don't care about anyone but themselves.
But we can spend $440,000,000 on WW1 "remembrance." (To me it looks like a celebration now). That's 200% more than the UK is spending. We love our national pride and patting ourselves on the back for the deeds of people hundreds of years ago. It's not longer about remembrance when you have fireworks and speedboats.
Australia is a lazy, selfish, unimaginative country that takes from the world, gives to themselves and thinks waving a flag means they contribute to their country.
Happy Australia Day.
(PS: I'm not talking about the Australian's who actually contribute to the country and the world in a meaningful way. These people are people I can be proud of.)
The only problem is I'm rarely proud of our country. People always have a go at me for this. "How can you be ashamed to be Australian?" But for me, the question is, how can you be proud to be Australian? Quite often, people talk about how brave WE were at Gallipoli or how WE invented the cochlear implant or how WE are fighting the war on terror.
I hate that WE thing. No... you did are not fighting in Afghanistan. A soldier is. My brother did. You had nothing to do with it. You sat back comfortably at home and didn't even watch it on the news because it didn't make the news. When our soldiers came home, they were flown in on commercial airlines, picked up in taxis and weren't allowed to wear their uniforms off the plane. Then they get this whole spiel about how proud they should of their country and themselves and how Australia was so grateful. Guess what. THEY AREN'T! Our soldiers have to be ordered to march on ANZAC Day and Australia Day because they are pissed off at their country. Their country abandons them. Soldiers have a huge rate of homelessness. Should we be proud of that? No. We should be ashamed.
But it's not your fault Aidy. No. It's not. Just like it's not my fault that someon in Australiainvented wireless or that an Aussie doctor just installed the first artificial pancreas. I didn't do it and no-one I knew did so why should I feel pride for the achievement? I'm happy that someone in our country did somethign great for the world but I don't feel pride.
Then people will talk about how lucky we are to live in our country. Yes. It is luck. We were lucky that we happened to be sperm in the right pair of balls to go into the right egg. That is the only reason we came out of the right uterus to be considered Australian. But that doesn't stop people being oppressed and abused in our country. Our country neglects abused children and relies on charities to treat them. They under fund their public mental health system leading to homelessness, unemployment, depression and suicide. They then blame these ill people for their life choice of being ignored by our country and throw them in prison. But they scream and rant if their taxes are raised. Oh no! I might have to help someone through my taxes! Someone is taking my money! What is this country coming too?!?!?! I should be rich. ME ME ME ME
Speaking of the right uterus to come out of. Coming out of uterus in Australia is not as hard as having to take a citizenship test. I am ashamed of how Australian's think of people from other countries. The ironic thing is this is part of our national anthem. (Our song is really.. really bad.. The only thing that unites our country is that no-one likes it)
"For those who come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share
With courage let us all combine
And Advance Australia Fair."
Ironically, Australia generally hates immigrants. Not everyone. But the majority. The hate is so strong that it is actually a deciding issue in Australian elections. STOP THE BOATS! STOP THE IMMIGRANTS! THEY ARE ILLEGAL!
Illegal. We signed a convention back in the 1950s to allow anyone who got to Australia to apply for asylum. So it isn't illegal. It's lawful. It is our international obligation What is illegal is locking people of all ages up in prisons with sub-par medical treatment, documented cases of abuse, indefinite detentions and saying "It doesn't matter if you are a refugee, you are NOT being resettled in Australia." Instead, we "resettle" (we haven't yet) them in one of the world's worst countries that isn't at war. A country that has areas that still practise cannibalism and burns for witchcraft. A country that has only two high schools. A country that the world is trying to help. Papua New Guinea. We also are looking at Cambodia. You know that one? The one with the child sex trade? Yeah. Our country is looking at resettling families there.
Note. Our camps have been ordered to be closed down by the UN. We have not. The camps are so bad that our country has been tried and convicted of the torture of innocents due to the conditions of our camps. Many of my friends thought this was a good thing because than people wouldn't want to come to Australia. And it worked. People don't want to come to Australia any more. They would rather stay in refugee camps of millions of people where women are regularly raped, disease is rampant and, if you do survive, your children will have no education, mental scars and generally no future.
Then people say to me, "These people should come through the proper channels to get to Australia." Another area of shame. Our country makes the proper channels so hard that you have to be a lawyer to get through. If you happen to be in the wrong refugee camp (Pakistan) there is a 77 year waiting period to talk to an Australian refugee officer. Some camps get a visit every two weeks from an Australian official. We don't just take any old refugee the UN orders us to take. We choose them. We can choose them because we take less than nearly all the other developed countries in the world. Australia ranks 22nd in our refugee intake in the developed world. There are 26 developed countries. We rank 32nd in the world for accepting claims of refugee status. This isn't because we have so many people who are fake refugees. no. It's because we arbitrarily turn Tamil refugees back to Sri Lanka against international law. Sri Lanka is being convicted for genocide currently against the Tamils. Sir Lanka has the worlds worst record for unexplained disappearances. More so than Iraq, Afgahnistan and all other warring nations. I have a personal story. One of the boys in the last school I taught was Tamil. He was allowed to come here because his dad is a doctor. The government sent his uncle back. Last year his uncle was stabbed to death in front of his house. No investigation. He was Tamil. (Note: they weren't "boat" arrivals. They came on a plane. Rich people come on planes and can get asylum. Poor people come in boats and can't. Australia likes rich people)
Australia also hates Muslims. Apparently they are destroying our country. 84% of Muslim 15-24 year olds volunteer. This is compared to 34% of other Australian young people. (Note, I'm very proud of our young people. 34% is amazing stuff. My age group was the least likely to volunteer. This generation of young people are the second most likely)
Volunteering is a big thing for me. I get a lot of shit from friends for not exercising enough. Lots of people are trying to be buff and if you aren't, you're lazy. Anything less than 2 hours a day on your body is lazy. Except none of these people volunteer their time. They dedicate all their time to themselves. Bloody Australians. They love themselves.
Australia has cut a total of $11 billion from it's foreign aid budget. That's more than 50%. This is because Australia's last election was decided on "budget emergency." Apparently our country will go bankrupt even though we are the only country that got through the GFC without a recession and we're the best off financially in the world. Since our country loves it's money so much the government can't raise taxes. Instead, they take the money from foreign aid. Because Australian's don't care about anyone but themselves.
But we can spend $440,000,000 on WW1 "remembrance." (To me it looks like a celebration now). That's 200% more than the UK is spending. We love our national pride and patting ourselves on the back for the deeds of people hundreds of years ago. It's not longer about remembrance when you have fireworks and speedboats.
Australia is a lazy, selfish, unimaginative country that takes from the world, gives to themselves and thinks waving a flag means they contribute to their country.
Happy Australia Day.
(PS: I'm not talking about the Australian's who actually contribute to the country and the world in a meaningful way. These people are people I can be proud of.)