I mean this in complete seriousness. You all know what's been happening here in the last eighteen months or so, but I think, perhaps, at least, that some of you might not know or understand exactly how we got to this point. Even Sydney Watson, who is Australian, doesn't seem to get it...
Sure, you've got the "muh guns" thing, but there's far more than just that. We've always been more feminist than the US. Literally since Federation. We're more feminist than Britain. I would say we're about 20 years further down that pipeline than you. This is important.
Aboriginals, which are our "Native Americans" are... Not treated in the same way you treat your "injuns". Not for the most part. No, Aboriginals here are very much like Blacks in the US. They behave similarly. They have many of the same issues. And they are fucking WORSHIPPED by leftists, academia, and civil society. Like, as some sort of "ubermensch", who cannot ever be wrong, and who we should bow down before. It's utterly, utterly bizarre, and cannot come from anything other than white guilt.
You know what's worse, though? The one drop rule but woke. It's not full-blooded Aboriginals who we tend to lionize, and treat as our superiors, who we have to change our whole society to fit, it's the white, urban, Aboriginal middle class, who, FFS, are far more privileged than I will ever be. They're the ones who are utterly worshipped by the left, and they are the ones trying to break society apart from within. And guess what? They don't have to PROVE in any way that they are actually "Aboriginal". Just a claim is enough. So it's the perfect grift, really, with all the free money, affirmative action and easy passes that come along with that. It's a fucking rort.
Now, the nanny state: guns, obviously. No protections for free speech. None whatsoever. A culture of state censorship, corporate censorship, "cancel culture" (rife), false accusations, and, perhaps worst of all, "self censorship".
Then there's the bike helmets. The absurd drink driving, bike riding or even fucking "drink walking" laws (0.0 is being pushed). Smoking. Vaping. Anime. Manga. Insane advertising rules. Insane food laws. Ivermectin is now banned. You're literally not allowed to swim at beaches in Summer, below a certain latitude, "just in case". Absurd pet ownership laws. Absurd business restrictions. The whole nefarious shit that is "Responsible Service of Alcohol and Gambling", which EVERYONE in that industry has to go through. Restrictions on CAR ownership, and on disallowing any sort of "car mods", out of the ordinary, never mind the capacity limits on that, too. Oh, and that's without mentioning "social credit systems", "QR code check ins", vaccine passports, control of the internet, and increasingly arbitrary porn bans.
It's so incredibly expensive to live here, too. There is fuck all decent work, and we import vast numbers of foreigners, all the time, to fill the jobs that DO exist, so fat luck getting a job, in most industries, as an Aussie who knows your rights.
Everything is incredibly centralised. The cities are bursting, while everywhere else is falling apart. And that's if you can AFFORD to live in a capital, with the most expensive real estate in the world, but where the only decent jobs are. Best of luck with that, when you're competing against people who own three homes, and foreign (mostly Chinese) investors...
I could go on and on, but you know what I find most alarming, apart from how utterly compliant and quiescent everyone here is (tall poppy syndrome plays a big part in that. Also "fuck you, got mine".)..?
The fact that no one here has the capacity to really fight back. That's one major difference in America - ordinary people can actually have their voices somewhat represented, politically, or they can run for office themselves. Here, if you're not a woke, highly compliant, doubly vaxxed idiot? You won't even get on a local council. Hell, you won't even get IN to the council building. So fat luck in running for state parliament, or federal. It WILL NOT HAPPEN. Which means that when a terrible government or council decision is made, that you know is wrong - can you actually do anything effective to stop it? Lol, fuck no. Of course you can't. "Shut up, citizen. Don't you know that we're doing this for the betterment of society/your own good/the fyoootcha!"
We're not a democracy. I'm not sure we ever were. So please, don't think that Covid "broke us". We've been broken for at least a fucking decade. And I've known that for a long fucking time. However no one here ever admitted to it, and, even now... It's nigh impossible to wake them up from their utterly ridiculous "media stupor". :-(
All true. Australia has been taking the worst bits of American culture and forgetting the best bits about old English culture. Australians have begged the govt at every slight mishap to "think about the children and do something" which has made the entire country absurdly over-regulated. Over-regulated when it comes to trying to buy a third beer at the pub or being at the beach without a mask on, but not when it comes to chinks buying utilities and property, and certainly not when it comes to them sending ship after ship full of their garbage products to swamp our markets and kill any industries we might like to grow ourselves.
And the media has gotten way too many people way too comfortable with multiculturalism. There's way too many NPCs going around pontificating about how good it is, even when they live in the posh parts of Sydney and wouldn't dream or even dare to go in Lakemba or Bankstown. They sit around in Milsons Point talking about how wonderful it is that the western suburbs are increasingly diverse. Fuckers.
Very sorry fucking state of affairs.
Brit here who has been to Oz a couple of times. That was my observation re taking the worst things from the US. I wondered if they did that in their rush to distance themselves from the UK post independence.
When I went there, the shops, TV news and ads - all had a very US feel, which I wasn't keen on.
It did feel heavily regulated - heck, for 20m people they have state and federal agencies for everything. Must be such a high % in gov employment.
They have kept everyone happy using all the easy mining money that they basically just dig out of the ground but the wheels do seem to be falling off now
Did that have anything to w/ prices being in Australian Dollars vs. British Pounds?