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The Ugly Australian
by nano Saturday, Jun 4 2005, 1:49am
editorial / social/political / commentary

The Australian media has lost itself in a ‘feeding frenzy’ once again. The Corby drug case in Indonesia has struck a resonant chord in the cultural consciousness. Media analysts would recall a previous occasion when the local media lost itself in itself and careered into a back lot of a Disneyland film set. It was the (now infamous) Chamberlain "dingo baby" case, a perfect example of objective reporting! A drone population was whipped into a state of distraction only to later confront the reality of Chamberlain’s innocence. This is the result of the media displacing the ‘story' and becoming the event.

When the media embarks on one of these hysterical ventures, it never ‘gets it right.’ The Corby case is the rule rather than the exception. The local media has portrayed her as an innocent victim of a barbarian culture and corrupt judicial system. The media’s presentations reek of xenophobia and racism, tactics tailored for a public well trained by the conservative government of the day.

These negative characteristics of Australian culture were utilised to full advantage by the present (racist) government in previous election campaigns; is it now surprising that popular media is ‘running’ with these same sentiments? The ugly Australian is poised to usurp the ugly American’s reputation in South East Asia. Well done Oz! The retractive Howard government can now boast that it has incorporated the population in its giant leap backward.

Is Australia’s behaviour a nostalgic lapse or a real yearning for the ‘good old days’ of shooting Aborigines for sport, cutting Chinese hair to Western specifications, abusing European post-war immigrants, or more recently, developing quaint cultural artefacts like the detention centre? Only time will tell, but old habits die hard, if at all.

A former Prime Minister, Paul Keating, feared that the sentiment of the White Australia Policy would re-emerge and haunt the nation, placing it second only to South Africa’s apartheid regimes. Intentionally or otherwise he was able to keep the racist ‘genii in the bottle’ by distracting the population with deregulation policies that allowed the banking sector to exploit the public with parasitic fee structures. He also laid the foundation for the eventual take-over of Australia’s rich resource sector by foreign interests, Australian companies now own less than five percent of the nation’s mineral wealth. Excellent strategies for captivating the public’s attention!

But it took a conservative like Johnny Howard to resurrect every vile and distasteful thing in the Australian cultural unconscious and utilise it for his political gain. Howard’s manic need for power has cost the nation dearly. We now have nothing, not even the myth of mateship and an egalitarian society. Our wealth has been forfeited, we have been economically colonised by Transnational Corporations; we are detested (with a vengeance) in the region and have been relegated to irrelevance in the future leading economic region of the world. However, we can always console ourselves with record high debt and our nineteenth century Eurocentric ‘superiority’. It may prove helpful to think of the reality of a situation before being led to ruination. Even the Kiwis shake their heads in disbelief, contrast ‘Aunty Helen’ of New Zealand, who offends no one [the US being the single exception] while steering a balanced and sensible course, a winning formula in this extremely sensitive region

For the few racist drones that may not quite understand where we stand in the real world, I reiterate. Regardless of whatever you hear from the treasurer or that flea Howard, almost all of the nation’s natural wealth has been forfeited to foreign interests. We are now the esteemed bearers of the highest ever-recorded national and domestic debt; our Asian neighbours have no illusions as to our true sentiments. We have been economically colonised, plunged into horrendous debt and ostracised by our Asian neighbours. Australia has forfeited its identity and is now a defacto state of the US; this is the reality and legacy of successive cringing governments ruling a once proud nation. Think on these things as you plunge into slavery.

It you wish to recall how it once was or could have been with men leading the country instead of cringing cowards, take a hard look over the Tasman at New Zealand and see how well a woman manages to navigate a very astute course for her nation without surrendering sovereignty.

Thanks to Howard, holding an Australian passport is now an embarrassment and in some areas extremely dangerous. Compare this to the most desirable passport in the world, New Zealand. ‘Onya Oz, couldn’t have done better if the neo-con Zionists in Washington had planned it themselves.

Postscript:
Keep your eye on that blustering buffoon Beasley, his Washington connections have resulted in him now playing a familiar American tune. A newspaper placard in Sydney recently read, “Terrorism strikes on our Soil” – ring a bell, does it? The price of fear is Slavery.

I am proud to state that this paper was written in Kelly country Victoria, there is another side to Australia which serves her reputation well.