tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-324860522351083573.post1559931458925712307..comments2024-03-26T15:29:31.939+09:00Comments on on the edge of ordinary: Australia Day - my perspectiveWendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17882558757262419263noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-324860522351083573.post-8513923569048968272010-01-31T14:17:22.433+09:002010-01-31T14:17:22.433+09:00Thanks Ken, you've helped my understanding no ...Thanks Ken, you've helped my understanding no end. All a part of my re-acculturation.Wendyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17882558757262419263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-324860522351083573.post-44401590328415870372010-01-30T16:26:05.073+09:002010-01-30T16:26:05.073+09:00Yup, we've missed a lot in the last 8 years, t...Yup, we've missed a lot in the last 8 years, the Cronulla riot being one of them.Wendyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17882558757262419263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-324860522351083573.post-30160519497741977222010-01-30T08:18:58.789+09:002010-01-30T08:18:58.789+09:00Patriotism has become the first refuge of bogans. ...Patriotism has become the first refuge of bogans. You have to suspect it is a result of everyone in the world being sucked into the American empire. So the young think that patriotism is a matter of flags and violence against "foreigners".<br /><br />The Australian flag has become a very dubious symbol. You don't want to meet a gang of bogans drunk and wrapped in the flag. They will probably make you kiss it or else beat you up. Were you away for the Cronulla riot?<br /><br />At Jan's school (an Anglican high school in Sydney's Hills district) some of the kids stopped their car behind the car of another Asian student. They wouldn't let him leave the carpark until he sang the national anthem.<br /><br />This was all pumped up in the Howard era with all that rhetoric about "this is our place and we'll decide who comes here". In the end many of us were ashamed to be Australian. I suspect this was the main reason Howard was the second PM to lose his own seat in an election.Ken Rolphnoreply@blogger.com