Halle Terry
12-08-2011, 01:53 PM
I'll probably get flaked about this, but whatever.
If, as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder, then these past few days in England have ensured that my love affair with my birth country is well and truly over.
Any vestiges of looking back at it with rose-tinted spectacles have evaporated in the flames of the riots that have rocked the country.
Selfish, divided, celebrity-obsessed and with a gaping hole where there was once a sense of community – this is the England of today.
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Australians are walking around under a cloud when there is no reason for us to be whingeing about our lot. Photo: Rocco Fazzari
It's why more than seven years ago I left those shores for here with my Australian wife in tow. To a country that carried none of the baggage of England, and represented the hope and optimism that all too briefly came and went in the wake of Tony Blair's New Labour revolution.
Just as the riots have confirmed to me that English society is deeply flawed, it has also prompted me to reflect on my adopted country and to conclude just how lucky we are.
Not that you'd know it. The collective bleating of Australians who forget just how fortunate they are is almost deafening. Trust me, it takes an Englishman to recognise whingeing when he hears it.
Our economy is the envy of the world, our nation is a peaceful one, unemployment is low, we enjoy some of the highest living standards in the world, and by and large multiculturalism has worked. And yet ...
And yet still we complain: of the hours we work; of the cost of living and real estate; of the number of "boat people" who are flocking to "our shores"; of the service we get in shops or the prices we pay for our iPods; of the traffic jams on our roads or the delays on trains. And, of course, the insult of not being able to get a good cup of coffee when we venture abroad on our biannual holidays. When such things are considered rights, it is little wonder that we protest so loudly when they are under threat.
Were you to search for something to complain about then you would not have to look hard. To Greece, where a generation of Greeks face rebuilding an entire social order; to Ireland, where the roar of the Celtic tiger has turned into a whimper; to Norway, Christchurch, tsunami-wrecked Japan, and to America, finally coming to terms with the fact that its days as a world leader are over and saddled with an economy that threatens to sit in the doldrums. And finally to Britain, which has been forced to confront the ugly truth of its social malaise and the hate that has long festered in its society.
I won't even bother to compare the hardships that many in this country believe they are enduring to what is going on in the Horn of Africa, so removed is it from our "world of pain".
The fact is that, far from appreciating what this country has going for it, our default position is to ask for more and moan when we can't get it.
That's not to say problems don't exist in this country but let's put these into perspective. This week's riots reminded me of a friend, a correspondent here for an English newspaper, who was sent to report on the riots in Macquarie Fields in Sydney's west. Back at his desk he called his editor in London to report that it was nothing more than a few scuffles, the like of which could be found in any English town after the pubs have closed on a Saturday night. "Well it's trouble in paradise though, isn't it?" was his editor's response.
Discourse around how to solve our country's problems is centred usually on the "me" rather than the "us" and is increasingly conducted against a backdrop of shrill tones of outrage by maniacal radio hosts and tabloid headlines.
I am deeply suspicious of people who continually raise the catch cry of "fair go" in defence of this nation. It is nothing more than a safety blanket for a culture that knows it is no more a true reflection of Australia today than John Bull and the Blitz is of England in 2011.
I make these points because I care and because, like many others who find themselves lucky enough to live here, are able to value what we have by looking at what we left behind. Unfortunately, I fear many Australians have lost the ability for self-analysis, assuming they had it in the first place.
At the risk of taking liberties with Donald Horne's oft-quoted line, this week more than any should remind us just how lucky we are.
Julian Lee is Deputy Editor of the National Times.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/stop-whingeing-weve-got-it-pretty-good-here-20110811-1iob6.html#ixzz1UnHGdXjU
I read this article this morning in class and I couldn't agree more.
I feel that as a whole, Australians whinge far too much about menial and trivial problems - even on this very forum people bitch about the most insignificant things. It's as if most of Australia has forgotten why exactly we're referred to as the 'lucky country' because compare us to any other spot in the world and it really exemplifies how good things are here.
If, as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder, then these past few days in England have ensured that my love affair with my birth country is well and truly over.
Any vestiges of looking back at it with rose-tinted spectacles have evaporated in the flames of the riots that have rocked the country.
Selfish, divided, celebrity-obsessed and with a gaping hole where there was once a sense of community – this is the England of today.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Australians are walking around under a cloud when there is no reason for us to be whingeing about our lot. Photo: Rocco Fazzari
It's why more than seven years ago I left those shores for here with my Australian wife in tow. To a country that carried none of the baggage of England, and represented the hope and optimism that all too briefly came and went in the wake of Tony Blair's New Labour revolution.
Just as the riots have confirmed to me that English society is deeply flawed, it has also prompted me to reflect on my adopted country and to conclude just how lucky we are.
Not that you'd know it. The collective bleating of Australians who forget just how fortunate they are is almost deafening. Trust me, it takes an Englishman to recognise whingeing when he hears it.
Our economy is the envy of the world, our nation is a peaceful one, unemployment is low, we enjoy some of the highest living standards in the world, and by and large multiculturalism has worked. And yet ...
And yet still we complain: of the hours we work; of the cost of living and real estate; of the number of "boat people" who are flocking to "our shores"; of the service we get in shops or the prices we pay for our iPods; of the traffic jams on our roads or the delays on trains. And, of course, the insult of not being able to get a good cup of coffee when we venture abroad on our biannual holidays. When such things are considered rights, it is little wonder that we protest so loudly when they are under threat.
Were you to search for something to complain about then you would not have to look hard. To Greece, where a generation of Greeks face rebuilding an entire social order; to Ireland, where the roar of the Celtic tiger has turned into a whimper; to Norway, Christchurch, tsunami-wrecked Japan, and to America, finally coming to terms with the fact that its days as a world leader are over and saddled with an economy that threatens to sit in the doldrums. And finally to Britain, which has been forced to confront the ugly truth of its social malaise and the hate that has long festered in its society.
I won't even bother to compare the hardships that many in this country believe they are enduring to what is going on in the Horn of Africa, so removed is it from our "world of pain".
The fact is that, far from appreciating what this country has going for it, our default position is to ask for more and moan when we can't get it.
That's not to say problems don't exist in this country but let's put these into perspective. This week's riots reminded me of a friend, a correspondent here for an English newspaper, who was sent to report on the riots in Macquarie Fields in Sydney's west. Back at his desk he called his editor in London to report that it was nothing more than a few scuffles, the like of which could be found in any English town after the pubs have closed on a Saturday night. "Well it's trouble in paradise though, isn't it?" was his editor's response.
Discourse around how to solve our country's problems is centred usually on the "me" rather than the "us" and is increasingly conducted against a backdrop of shrill tones of outrage by maniacal radio hosts and tabloid headlines.
I am deeply suspicious of people who continually raise the catch cry of "fair go" in defence of this nation. It is nothing more than a safety blanket for a culture that knows it is no more a true reflection of Australia today than John Bull and the Blitz is of England in 2011.
I make these points because I care and because, like many others who find themselves lucky enough to live here, are able to value what we have by looking at what we left behind. Unfortunately, I fear many Australians have lost the ability for self-analysis, assuming they had it in the first place.
At the risk of taking liberties with Donald Horne's oft-quoted line, this week more than any should remind us just how lucky we are.
Julian Lee is Deputy Editor of the National Times.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/stop-whingeing-weve-got-it-pretty-good-here-20110811-1iob6.html#ixzz1UnHGdXjU
I read this article this morning in class and I couldn't agree more.
I feel that as a whole, Australians whinge far too much about menial and trivial problems - even on this very forum people bitch about the most insignificant things. It's as if most of Australia has forgotten why exactly we're referred to as the 'lucky country' because compare us to any other spot in the world and it really exemplifies how good things are here.