Never have I been so ashamed of being Australian

Day by day, week by week I see things in the news which turn my guts. I am often left disgusted with this country and a lot of it's people. It is definitely not the country I grew up in and have loved so dearly, that country was long ago destroyed by greed.

For decades hard working men and women have toiled at fairly dull but absolutely essential work. Most of them loved what they did, some were just happy to have a job, put food on their families table, take the wife and kids away for a weeks holiday at Forster or Budgewoi or some such holiday spot. They were proud and happy to own a Kingswood or Falcon and to go watch a show at the RSL on Saturdays.

They were contented to end their lives in their little weatherboard home with the grandchildren coming to visit on the weekends and discussing the footy. They had worked hard, paid taxes, gone to war and been fairly solid citizens.

A lot of these people, myself included believed the words of our governments, we worked harder, we worked smarter, we embraced technology, we increased our productivity. Now increasing productivity, working harder, working smarter e.t.c also decreased the workforce size, that is what increasing productivity means. More product less wages.

Now we class those displaced as scum, as bludgers, we offer them minimal health standards only just scrapping us in under UN standards. Those that have worked hard to build this nation and those that have been displaced by our drive for better productivity, increased profits and greed have been totally neglected, proving that we have no respect for those that built this country.

We look at what is happening, the churches harboring criminals of the most disgusting sort, politicians engaging in abuse of their power and position. People pulling their money out of good solid Australian businesses to buy property or play the international stock market driven by greed without one thought for their children or grandchildren's future.

Business is walking the fine line only meeting the legal, humanitarian, ecological and moral considerations at the threat of legal action, some not even worrying too much about that.

 

One by one politicians took to lying to the Australian people, and in fact guns were taken from Australians in case one got so sick of the lies, they exercised ordinance 303 to lessen the cascade of dishonesty.

When a country is lead by those dishonest then its people accept dishonesty as being acceptable.

 

Agree...did I once start a thread entitled "The Decaying of Society"....

 

I do not agree

 

Which bit, politicians being terrified that a bang bang cleanout happen in Australia. Happened in an overseas Parliament.

Australians now follow their leaders, dishonesty is good.

 

I do not agree with this

You need to move to America, the HOME of conspiracy theories

 

You need to become alert

 

No you be a lert, I will be rational

 

A lot were murdered in Hobart being rational!

Hey mummy there's a man with a gun to kill us all, don't be irrational darling!

 

So now you want to turn back the clock! Haven't you been condeming 'conservatives' for wanting to do that?

 

Did you miss the 80's DV? Anyway yea I tend to agree but don't think its poverty which if the problem... its people being tailpipe-holes.

The rise of the 'egoist'.

I see it's endemic in traffic for example, if anyone see's any indication of a driver's body language or vehicle momentum to a likely course of action, they will dive into blocking it - just for some sensation of 'win'. People are putting themselves above others... that is what is wrong. It's not about money, you do not need money to be happy - though it helps. The root problem leading to this is that feeling behind others (a relative subjective view, unrelated to actual wealth) means people get selfish. This occurs more readily as wealth decreases, but its not a direct causality of wealth - its the ego.

What you've done here DV is full for that trap, and then fuel it to make it worse by blaming those who are better off!!!! You cannot really say those things and offer no solution.

Often 'wealthy' people are that way because they've worked harder and longer!!! The same things you use to define your struggle class.... its mixed signals with no accurate way to make distinctions based on effort. Not everyone is born into wealth who has gone onto acquire it.

The left has to stop this class warfare nonsense - and it is the left who perpetuate it the most, as the right is constantly telling people that to succeed you have to participate. The quicker people realize how the world works today the quicker they'll realize they cannot expect some magickal welfare nation with pensions and free uni education - its a BS pipedream used as spin bait for stupid fish swimming in circles because they are too lazy to eat anything except what is put in front of them ie adult babies who'd rather spend their days flinging political poop at imaginary postercard portrayels to feel good about themselves for finding their own butts.

 

nothing as usual?

 

Sounds like sour grapes to me. Sounds like an old man who has just realized he missed the boat.....

 

DV,
I partly agree.

Yes greed is a huge problem, and those self centered ones as well. A Falcon isn't good enough, nor is one home.
This damned greed is fukking up this planet, but is doing so from day one.

The other *problem* is our annual growth rate of an aimed 3%. More growth and more prosperity and more and more and more...

As long as we stay in that money creating world, we will be part of faster and faster with lesser and lesser qualities.....

I also miss my Australia, it is falling right through the cracks, especially under Abbott. However Labor wasn't much better...

Where I disagree is in the progress. What is progress? Progress to me means, that you need less people to build a car compared to 20 years back. Or that dangerous jobs can be done by machines and not humans. Progress means basically knowledge, and only knowledge makes us superior to those without the knowledge.

It also means we have to always raise the bar, whether in schools or at UNI, and yes education must be free, as it is the cornerstone for knowledge and a free and democratic world....

Life is still beautiful, said with a tear in my eye...
Regards

 

and what boat may that be... actually I am quite comfortable, I have all I need and see no reason to want more just for the sake of wanting more especially when so many have very little through no fault of their own

 

Me too, I have all I need but not all I want. I still haven't got a helicopter, a light plane, a 50 foot motor launch, a holiday home at Mission Beach.......

 

Living abroad I get asked if Australians are racist. I think there is something much deeper in that question.

 

You'd go well in the Bible Belt with gun in one hand, Bible in the other.

 

Thank you, however I am an explosives expert, no gun, no Bible!

 

Hi,
getting around heaps people sometimes ask me the same question, and I can assure you we Aussies are not any more racist than any other mob.
Whether its Abos or white Americans or French or Swiss or Indians, or Christians or Muslims or or or and and and....
Just returned from Zim, it is the same song. They reckon they are head and shoulder above South Africans, and wice versa.
Never ending story, we are all humans, but hardly anyone is a true humanist....
Regards

 

I do sort of agree with you there catter. I think we should drop the idea of constant growth and instead aim for sustainability. Any fool knows you cannot grow forever when you live in a finite world.

 

The whole "back in the good old days" mantra is generally misguided nostalgia. The quality of life for the average Australian now, is amongst the best that has ever existed. The growth of knowledge and data in the digital age is difficult to even comprehend. Truth is we have absolutely no idea what a future sustainable population even is and any estimates made now are almost certainly wrong. We already have corporations developing technology to mine asteroids so the finite earth thing is a bit of a misnomer as well.

 

Try being an American and watching the tapes of the torture in Guantanamo and hearing about water boarding and rendition knowing that your President condoned it, after reading legal briefs saying 'enhanced interrogation' was legally sound.

 

Looks like Bronwyn is going to have to pay for her choppers from her measly $250 000 per year pension, for the rest of her miserable life. About 12 times that of aged pensioners.