I hate to say it, but this is... Not as unusual in Aus as you might think.
We don't have the protections you guys have (presuming you're American). On anything. We don't even have a Bill of Rights. There is no requirement, in this country, that the Prime Minister consult Parliament before declaring war. Even in the US, that situation isn't possible.
So... I fear that this may have been inevitable. That we were always heading this way. Certainly, from where I sit, this has been the path we've been headed down since waaaaayyyy before the pandemic started. We've been going this way since... I'm gonna say at least 2013. This is just the inevitable point we have reached.
But culture plays a role, too. Imagine an almost completely unarmed populace, with a strong (for its size), highly technologically-advanced military, militarised police (yes, like in America), but also with the oddly collectivist, "do as you're told", dobber mentality and surveillance state of the UK (notably, their police do not carry guns. Ours do.), and then you might get a bit of an idea of how this has come to pass...
Something is rotten in the state of Ausmark. Something has been for quite some time.
I hate to say it, but this is... Not as unusual in Aus as you might think.
We don't have the protections you guys have (presuming you're American). On anything. We don't even have a Bill of Rights. There is no requirement, in this country, that the Prime Minister consult Parliament before declaring war. Even in the US, that situation isn't possible.
So... I fear that this may have been inevitable. That we were always heading this way. Certainly, from where I sit, this has been the path we've been headed down since waaaaayyyy before the pandemic started. We've been going this way since... I'm gonna say at least 2013. This is just the inevitable point we have reached.
But culture plays a role, too. Imagine an almost completely unarmed populace, with a strong (for its size), highly technologically-advanced military, militarised police (yes, like in America), but also with the oddly collectivist, "do as you're told", dobber mentality and surveillance state of the UK (notably, their police do not carry guns. Ours do.), and then you might get a bit of an idea of how this has come to pass...
Something is rotten in the state of Ausmark. Something has been for quite some time.
Being the lucky country has made us intolerably weak. We've always had a tall poppy cut people down culture.
Meaning anyone who stands out has to be cut down? Morally or in what way?