Oddly, perhaps, given my life history (I’m not working class. I didn’t really grow up in a working class area. I went to private school. But I am white, male, cis and straight), this is a hill I will die on: defending working class, rural, white people, especially the men, who I do not think receive enough attention and support.
I used to have a “friend”, who I think I can identify publicly, because she’s a “public figure”: Helen Bender. I haven’t seen her in years, but…
Her dad, George, killed himself, in the big drought around six seven years ago. He was a farmer in northern NSW. He got jack shit support from government, and the “mental health” support he received was atrocious… So he killed himself. And no one cared until AFTER he was dead, and Helen went on Australia’s QandA program (a public debate show) and raised attention to it publicly, on the national broadcaster and to a panel of politicians and “experts”…
I’m sick of the way rural people, especially men are treated. I’m sick of the abuse, the neglect, and the powerlessness of working class people in this country. I’m sick of seeing factories close, and wages cut, and people treated like shit by big corporate AND big government, while idiots in the media call it “inevitable”, and bastards on social media mock them for their suffering.
I’m sick of Australia killing all its productive industries, and literally killing our farmers and factory workers. I’m sick of whole suburbs being left to rot and die (Elizabeth, in Adelaide; Armadale, in Perth; Southwest Sydney and Penrith City; Western Melbourne; Logan City AND Ipswich City in Brisbane) because this country hates working class white families.
Oddly, perhaps, given my life history (I’m not working class. I didn’t really grow up in a working class area. I went to private school. But I am white, male, cis and straight), this is a hill I will die on: defending working class, rural, white people, especially the men, who I do not think receive enough attention and support.
I used to have a “friend”, who I think I can identify publicly, because she’s a “public figure”: Helen Bender. I haven’t seen her in years, but…
Her dad, George, killed himself, in the big drought around six seven years ago. He was a farmer in northern NSW. He got jack shit support from government, and the “mental health” support he received was atrocious… So he killed himself. And no one cared until AFTER he was dead, and Helen went on Australia’s QandA program (a public debate show) and raised attention to it publicly, on the national broadcaster and to a panel of politicians and “experts”…
I’m sick of the way rural people, especially men are treated. I’m sick of the abuse, the neglect, and the powerlessness of working class people in this country. I’m sick of seeing factories close, and wages cut, and people treated like shit by big corporate AND big government, while idiots in the media call it “inevitable”, and bastards on social media mock them for their suffering.
I’m sick of Australia killing all its productive industries, and literally killing our farmers and factory workers. I’m sick of whole suburbs being left to rot and die (Elizabeth, in Adelaide; Armadale, in Perth; Southwest Sydney and Penrith City; Western Melbourne; Logan City AND Ipswich City in Brisbane) because this country hates working class white families.
I will die on this hill.