Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/06/06/banana-republic.html
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Very slightly off topic here, but is the consensus that once these (old, asshole, racist) people die off, things will be somewhat better? Or are humans just going to continue to be dicks regardless?
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Man I heard they were re-designing the Australian flag. This one is a little kinky. I kinda like it!
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Has any generation dying off caused humans to not be dicks yet?
I can’t find the quote right now and don’t remember who it was, but riffing on MLK’s
“Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
Someone pointed out that it doesn’t bend on its own, but through the efforts and frequently blood of dedicated people.
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There will always be dicks, but yes, cultural views do change with generations.
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I think the problem with hoping future generations will do better is that it’s going to take awhile before the current crop of bastards die off and drop out of power, and in the meantime the younger generation that makes it through will have been hardened by the shit they’ve had to go through and tempted by the luxuries that power brings. So when they take control, it’ll be “say hello to the new boss, same as the old boss.”
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It will depend on the education of the next generation. No one is born with built-in hate or with racism.
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I think the emerging consensus is that capitalism produces monsters and will kill us all if we don’t stop it.
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Another slight coincidence is that these raids come just after the coalition of lying, nasty pricks has just sneaked back into office, and now needs to ensure that their rule won’t be tainted by any inconvenient information getting into the public domain.
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It seems we’re in another Dark Age. It’s hard to understand how the world has drifted back into the excessively oppressive times. Perhaps it’s too easy to get lost in all the shiny little distractions of life. All our electronic toys and other luxuries have lulled too many people into a false comfort. It has allowed the worst of humanity to rise into positions where they cause great harm for their own gratification. I fear for the world the younger people must live in. I also know that for many people there has always been oppression and misery. I hope the journalists all over the world can stay safe, their work is noble and necessary for society to survive.
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Which is why it is so important for them to control education.
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Sorry Cory, got to call you on the premise that the government routinely fails.
We do replace prime minisers a lot, so much so it’s becoming a sport. But governments run to the end of their term and elections throw them out or put them back in.
We’ve a lot of problems, but thats not one of them.
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That whole paragraph is hyperbole. Makes him sound like the only things he know about Australia is reading articles online…
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Not particularly, no. Although the Australian right routinely engages in small-scale electoral corruption (most recently, attempts to confuse the Chinese-Australian community with Chinese language partisan advertising disguised as official AEC materials), voter suppression isn’t a major thing down here. Compulsory voting makes it nearly impossible to do.
Australian political fuckery is primarily achieved via control of the media. Murdoch owns most of our press, and much of the rest is controlled by equally-evil local oligarchs.
In America, the problem is that the government does not reflect the will of the majority. In Australia, the problem is that the government does reflect the will of the majority. Most Australians are reactionary, racist pricks.
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Not only that, but it’s 5 PM’s since 2007 (Rudd, Gillard, Rudd, Abbott, Turnbull, Morrison).
So, while you can argue that we change PM’s more often than we should, we’re not as unstable as the article alludes.
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australia…great weather and even better waves. but that’s it.
we were founded as a prison nation. that basic dynamic remains. we weren’t founded on any principles of equality or betterment. we have no bill of rights. we don’t have basic freedoms and rights enshrined in a constitution. no freedom of expression/speech, no freedom of association. the queen of a foreign country is the head of our legal and judicial system.
we have secret courts where it is illegal for anyone secretly charged to even to reveal they have been charged. the police corruption is just outrageous.
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Trump’s dad was arrested at a Klan rally. Donnie Darko is no better, I’d proffer.
It’s happening in France too:
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Yes, humans will continue to be dicks. Yes, things will continue to get better. Humans have made massive moral progress over the centuries, no matter how far we still have to go.
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I agree with most of thid but, Australia is pretty much rhe opposite of voter suppression. Australia has compulsory voting. In the last election, over 95% of eligible people were enrolled to vote. Over 90% of us actually turn up and vote. There are fines for those who don’t vote. This means the government has to make it easy for everyone to vote. Polls are held on a Saturday. Pre-polling options include postal voting, polling booths in airports, officers going to remote communities and centralised early polling booths that are open for up to two weeks before election day (approximately 20% of votes were cast before election day in the last federal election). We are proud of our voting system, but not our government.
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