Australia Day. A day to, in essence, celebrate Australia and being Australian. Seems pretty straight forward and for many years it has been. Get a day off work, have a BBQ and a beer. Catch up with a few mates – all very uncomplicated.
But now we have the internet.
Every year Australia Day seems to become more and more ‘obsessive, angry fragger on social media shitstorm day’. Don’t dare log on to Facebook or Twitter or anything else because this is what you will see:
The Far Left: “It’s Invasion Day! It shouldn’t be held on January 26th! It’s a racist day! We should all feel shame for something we have 3rd hand knowledge of!”
The Far Right: “If you don’t like Australia then f*ck off. If you don’t like our customs then f*ck off. If you don’t conform to our norms then f*ck off back to where you came from!”
Well guess what – I’ll bet a lot of you who are not indigenous or listened to mainstream media talking about asylum seekers didn’t give a crap about all this 15 years ago! We have yuppies who have never stepped foot outside a capital city thinking that ranting on Twitter will make a difference to Aboriginal communities, instead of maybe actually jumping on a train to go visit one and lend a hand. Conversely we have yobbos yelling on Facebook that if you don’t like Australia Day and were not born here then piss off back to your own country, trying to somehow pass off blatant racism as patriotism. Seems like for the most part its Caucasians with too much free time and no real multicultural experience that are the actual problem. And most of these folk seem to be on social media trolling for someone to disagree with them so they can fly off into self-righteous tirades – oh yes, very Australian indeed.
For the record, if Aboriginal people have a problem with Australia Day and the date it’s held on, I reckon it’s probably valid. Most of the actual Indigenous commentators I’ve heard on the subject tend to be articulate and well spoken rather than simply screaming “INVASION AND MURDER!” on the streets. Let them have their say because at least they are saying it in an intelligent way. And for those who are not of indigenous heritage but are trying to highlight their issues and the inequalities inherent in society without trying to slam it down my throat I will happily listen to you as well. If the arguments are cogent I may well end up agreeing. For those that feel pride for being an Australian and want show it by hoisting the Aussie Flag on their front lawn and singing the national anthem on Australia Day, I don’t have a real problem with them either. If you aren’t bothering anyone or engaging in a ‘my country is better than yours’ mentality, go for ya life! I may even sing along with ya.
But for the Far Lefties screaming “Invasion Day” and the Far Righties screaming “Love Australia or get out!” all I can say is “Why don’t both sides shut the hell up!” Stop ruining the day for the rest of us! Many of the people that are yelling the loudest are screaming about issues that they have never been involved in and have never directly impacted on their own lives. It’s just a damn excuse for the right and left of politics to slam into each other in a big bitch-fest yet again. People that have never said two words to an Indigenous person in real life screaming about what happened to them centuries ago and conversely people who have never been personally inconvenienced by an immigrant or asylum seeker yelling that this is our day and our country and they should all piss off home. Here is an idea, why don’t both sides go out to a big paddock somewhere armed with padded bats and beat the crap out of each other for the day, preferably causing at least enough damage to render all their hands too swollen to type and their throats too sore to rant.
You wanna know what I’ll be doing on Australia Day?
I’ll be happy I have the day off work. I’ll be happy that I live in a country that, even though it has a splotchy history and is by no means perfect today, is still pretty damn good. I’ll cook up some Aussie-style burgers with fried eggs from my chookies and some tomatoes from my vege patch along with some beef and beetroot. I’ll enjoy these with my family and maybe have a few beers from one of the smaller Aussie brewing companies. Might even chuck on JJJ’s Hottest 100 on the radio while I do some farm work. I won’t bother anyone, I won’t scream at anyone, I won’t get angry on the internet at anyone who doesn’t agree with me. In short I’ll relax, chill the hell out and enjoy that I live in a country where I have enough to eat and no one is shooting at me. Because a f*ckload of people on the planet – far too many – don’t get to enjoy those two simple luxuries.
I suggest you all do the same and maybe give the self-righteousness a rest eh? Happy Australia Day!
Do you agree or have a different opinion? As long as you can state it without a bullhorn I’d love to read it in the comments below.