I think it’s important to say this: Australians simply do not value freedom in the same way as Americans do, or even the French, or hell, even modern Germans…
I don’t know exactly WHY this is, but I assume it has something to do with geographical isolation, growing up in a complete nanny state, and the “fuck you got mine” attitude of a ridiculously swollen middle class, which controls ALL the discourse you are seeing, and which makes up our entire journalistic class…
I think class anxieties play a huge part, here. In Australia, if you’re not a “professional”, with a degree, you’re seen as a lesser person. If you don’t own your own house, unless you live in an incredibly expensive city such as Melbourne or Sydney (Melbourne less so now, post-Dan) you're seen as also lesser…
Finally, if you earn less than $100K per year (around $70K US), you are also seen as “lesser than”, even in subs like LockdownSkepticismAU (this came up in conversation there, and then I called them out on how ridiculous that is…).
So… Just bear that in mind. The people you are seeing support this stuff online, come from a very different… Perspective. They’re wrong, but it’s important to remember that.
Also, it’s utterly pervasive, here, in the media. There is no real Fox News equivalent, here, anymore. Even Sky News, which in theory is closest to Fox, is on board…
The ONLY real questioning, in 2021, is coming from The Spectator (and arguably Quadrant, more mutedly), and I suspect even then it is only because they are an international publication, so no matter how much the government threatens them, they don’t worry about “towing” the party line so much…
Anyway, just some perspective. Hope that maybe clears some things up, for y’all…
I think it’s important to say this: Australians simply do not value freedom in the same way as Americans do, or even the French, or hell, even modern Germans…
I don’t know exactly WHY this is, but I assume it has something to do with geographical isolation, growing up in a complete nanny state, and the “fuck you got mine” attitude of a ridiculously swollen middle class, which controls ALL the discourse you are seeing, and which makes up our entire journalistic class…
I think class anxieties play a huge part, here. In Australia, if you’re not a “professional”, with a degree, you’re seen as a lesser person. If you don’t own your own house, unless you live in an incredibly expensive city such as Melbourne or Sydney (Melbourne less so now, post-Dan) you're seen as also lesser… Finally, if you earn less than $100K per year (around $70K US), you are also seen as “lesser than”, even in subs like LockdownSkepticismAU (this came up in conversation there, and then I called them out on how ridiculous that is…).
So… Just bear that in mind. The people you are seeing support this stuff online, come from a very different… Perspective. They’re wrong, but it’s important to remember that.
Also, it’s utterly pervasive, here, in the media. There is no real Fox News equivalent, here, anymore. Even Sky News, which in theory is closest to Fox, is on board…
The ONLY real questioning, in 2021, is coming from The Spectator (and arguably Quadrant, more mutedly), and I suspect even then it is only because they are an international publication, so no matter how much the government threatens them, they don’t worry about “towing” the party line so much…
Anyway, just some perspective. Hope that maybe clears some things up, for y’all…