Look, I get it. I can be pretty extreme, and pretty inflammatory, on some issues, at times. Which is odd, really, when you consider that I'm probably fairly close to a political "moderate", as compared to some of you.

I care far too much about certain things. Perhaps I value individual freedom more than you do. Fine. Perhaps I have less to lose than you do. Fine. Perhaps I trust the government less than you, and trust the cops, and courts, less than you do. Also fine.

But, with all that in mind, I must say that I'm finding some of the comments and posts, from some of you here, in recent days and the last couple of weeks, really do come across like some sort of... Controlled demoralisation, or something.

"Obey the law, bruh". "Think of your family, bruh". "Your job is more important than your freedom!". "They mean well!". "The pendulum always swings. It'll all be ok in the long term!". "Think of the collective good, dude!" "At least you're safe!" "You don't want a criminal record, bruh!"

I see all of this shit, and more, all over posts on this "community", now. And I really never thought I would see that, from here. Just the... Sheer amount of fear porn, and of "We should obey the government" is really quite... Disconcerting. And some of it is even coming from those of you who I normally find myself agreeing with, at least partly...

So here's my request: this isn't Reddit. Stop being so damn afraid of your respective governments. Stop being afraid to step on official toes, and to work outside the fucking law, in particular the emergency powers that these megalomaniacs have given themselves. Stop telling others to be afraid, or "You really don't wanna do that, bro". Sure, call out violence. Do not do that shit. But telling people to comply, and to just... Suck it up, and play along? You're better than that, or at least, you should be.

Sure, we need to be smart about this, and disobey in ways that are effective, and necessary. But to think the law will protect you, or that you should just play along, to keep the status quo, because you "value your job" so much? Well, I'm sorry, but that just ain't gonna cut it for some of us, anymore.

Look, I know this is going to be a deeply controversial and unpopular statement to make, and it is based on my observations, rather than significant tangible "evidence", but...

You all know what has been going on in Australia. You know how shit it is. However I thought I would share a... Bit of an anecdote, to support that.

Yesterday I went to a national football (in this case, not the round ball type) finals match, in my home state. I don't want to give too many details, for obvious reasons, but this was in a fairly conservative regional city, so not somewhere I would consider overly "liberal", by Australian standards...

So, here's what went down: to get into the match, we had to "check in" on thr government app. No smartphone to "check in" - no entry. Simple as that. The app allows the government to track you, and to see wherever you have been, outside your house. It uses QR codes, and it's mandated, everywhere here. This is in addition to only allowing pre-purchased tickets. You couldn't buy any at the ground, and, of course, you have to supply your address and confact details when you buy those tix...

You then get patted down, security guards literally CHECK your phone screen to see that you checked in "properly", bags are checked, and then?

Well, we only THEN were told we had to wear a mask. In a state where there hasn't been a single case in the community in 15 months or so, and no deaths in near 18. In this state, there hasn't ever really been a mask mandate at all, and I literally went to the football a few months back, with the pandemic in full swing, with no one even recommended to wear masks, in the same fucking venue...

So yeah... Shit then spiralled from there, and I saw security guards bash a man, and then have the cops drag him out, for not wes Aring his mask, and for "cheering too loud"...

Lots of other bad shit happened, and I videoed some of it, but it warrants a separate post, to go into details...

Suffice to say, after the bashing of the man near me, I was then verbally abused by a cop myself, and decided to give as good as I got straight back. But I wasn't arrested, so there's that. However I did have security guards stand near me to "keep an eye on me" for the rest of the match... Beyond that, though, it scares me to have paid $70 for the privilege of this "bread and circuses" bullshit, only to find the crowd around me so scared of the authorities that they didn't even fucking stop to talk to one another, while standing up, lest they be warned by the police, because that was made illegal within the stadium...

Now, to Russia: this morning I watched the final of the Beach Soccer World Cup, on the TV, live from Moscow.

Now look, I know this is a fairly obscure sport (in the Anglosphere, at least), and a small sample size of sports fans, but... The atmosphere was quite literally the exact opposite of what I experienced the day before. Partying, cheering, Mexican waves, Viking claps, fireworks, (presumably) drinking, and almost NO ONE was wearing a mask. Even the official party weren't.

Families were there. There was music and dancing. People were HAVING FUN. And fans had come from fucking Japan (they were playing vs the hosts), Switzerland, Africa and elsewhere in the world, to watch.

Gianni Infantino (head of FIFA) even "man-hugged" some of the players, and had a photo with them. All smiles.

And you know what the biggest thing was, for me? Everyone there was fucking smiling, and laughing/crying with jubilitation, which is the polar opposite of how Russians are stereotyped, in our media. People looked genuinely happy, and genuinely glad for one another's company...

This is in direct contrast to what I saw, and experienced, in supposedly the currently most "free" state in Aus...

And look, I hate FIFA. I know Russia has its issues, and I know... Things will be different, in the reality outside that stadium. I don't want to go with the line that "Russia is right". But... Seeing all that, and experiencing what I have, it made me realise that, in many ways, at least in terms of COVID restrictions, Russia is more free than Australia. Which is... Bizzare to think of, and also rather scary, when you consider that the media down here goes out of its way to say the exact opposite, especially the so-called "trusted" or "legitimate" media outlets...

Not to exaggerate, and sure, some of this is probably depression-related, but I find everything that is happening, lately, to just be... Exhausting.

Particularly the "coof" shit. Australia, where I live, is ground zero for quite literally the most oppressive approach in any supposedly "democratic" country (yes, some parts of the US are more restrictive in some ways, and yes, Ardernistan exists, but, overall, I'm sorry, but I would have to say we are worse), and it is just... EVERYWHERE.

Like, I try to get offline, I really do, but I am not kidding when I say it is everywhere, here. The TV (idiot box), of course, is utterly saturated with it. The newspapers are, naturally, too. When I leave the house, pretty much to do anything, now, I have to "check in" on my fucking smart phone, even just to buy bread, or I am literally breaking the law. This is all anyone talks about now (well, this and Afghanistan). This DOMINATES our fucking lives.

And I can't travel anywhere. Hell, I can barely even go interstate. The prevailing attitude in this country has always been "love it or leave", but now we can't even fucking LEAVE...

So... I'm just so very tired. "Get off the internet" isn't working. "Talk to someone, then"...

Oh sure, let me go talk to my doomer parents, then, who are so brainwashed by the news and their own agendas that they literally regurgitate it all word for word, and then yell me down when I try to literally SHOW them it is wrong. Or how about my girlfriend, who is so depressed, and so anxious, now, that she barely goes out except to work and to walk her dog (much like me), let alone bearing in mind that we live hundreds of miles apart, anyway... Or maybe my grandfather. Oh wait, I can't, because I'm not even allowed to visit him in his nursing home, because, get this, I haven't had the fucking FLU vaccination yet. Not Covid. The flu. Because they fucking can...

So yeah, I'm sorry, I just... I hope y'all are doing better than me, in your "righteous anger", because personally, after having learned that my country is fucking shooting rescue dogs (see the post yesterday), and laughing that "Haha, this is because of Covid", I'm just... Beyond exhausted by it all. And I'm not sure how much longer I can keep living like that, let alone all the other clown world bullshit that is going on, around, and in some cases allegedly unrelated to, the sniffles... :-(

I'll see how long anger can keep someone alive, soon, I suppose. Because there's not much else that burns me enough to keep the overwhelming sadness and sheer frustration at bay...

Look, I try not to care, too much, about what goes on in other countries. I try not to think about all the Afghans that will die, now; all the 12-year-olds who will be married off; the fall of an entire country; the fact that terrorists will have a breeding ground again; or the total waste of money and life that this all represents...

But it's kind of hard to just "ignore" what is going on. Your country has just capitulated, betrayed its allies and left complete destruction in its wake, for what, FOR WHAT?

And why, because a couple of old men (first Trump, and now dipshit Biden) decided it was politically expedient to do so...

I just... It's disgusting, to be frank. And you know what's significant? I suspect this represents the end of American "soft power", across much of the world. Because the world, including America's allies, will now see what a joke "that country's" military is. What lies America tells itself, and its allies. How "you" can't be relied upon. How utterly, utterly pathetic this whole debacle is. And how "your" president is a useless, lying, untrustworthy, duplicitous, idiotic fuck.

Look, I never particularly LIKED Trump, but I fail to understand how ANYONE can look at the fall of Kabul this week, look at the WORST US foreign policy failure in more than 40 years, and not see this as worse than anything Trump ever directly did, perhaps even including fucking Yemen...

I just... Fuck this. It is a fucking disgrace, and there is no room to make light of it. Biden and Psaki, and everyone else involved, deserves to rot in hell for this. Blood is on their hands, and no one, American, Afghan, Chinese or otherwise, should ever forget or forgive that.

I'm not just talking about where I am (Australia, as most of you already know, by now), either... Some of the stuff I hear coming out of the US is actually worse (mandates to even attend University, for example... That isn't legal here, yet...), and you guys are all about your "freedom", or so you claim, at least...

But it seems to be pretty much everywhere. Chile - mandates for everything, and masks everywhere. Peru - gender-based curfews. The UK - PCR tests to even fucking travel. Canada - increasingly awful mandates and restrictions. France, Italy, Germany - vaccine passports and masks. Japan - separating children and mothers, and forcibly quarantining them separately...

And you already know about China, and South Africa, and New Zealand, Australia, and of course the US, so I don't feel the need to go over all those shitholes again.

What scares me, though, is the COMPLETE LACK OF ACTUAL RESISTANCE to all of this, except for France, Germany and the UK, and even then it has achieved fuck all...

Seriously, I'm not advocating violence, I'm honestly not, but if people don't, and won't, stand up now... How the fuck are we going to avoid full global fascism, a la 1984..?!

I never thought people would be this fucking weak, or utterly, utterly... Worse than cowardly. I'm not sure "coward" accurately describes someone who snitches on their neighbours, or their family, or "reports" people to the authorities for posting old travel snaps (yeah, that happened here, last year). I'm not sure it applies to someone who LITERALLY WANTS PEOPLE LIKE ME DEAD, because I'm not willing to get the fucking AstraZeneca jab. Nah, I don't think "coward" cuts it. I'm not quite sure what does. Fascist? Bastard? Literal scum of the earth? How the FUCK did society fall like this, so quick, nevermind all the other insane bullshit going on right now, all over the place..?

Fuck.

I know that this forum isn't intended for this type of thing, but nonetheless...

There are relatively few places where I can ask this sort of thing without being laughed off, or having to pay, or being placed on some sort of watchlist as an "antivaxxer", especially now NNN is gone, so here we are...

Saying "private entity" felt wrong, in this case, because here I am referring to my University, which uhh, isn't private...

So then, here's the rub: my University wants to mandate that we, as students, need to be vaccinated. That's scary enough, but they specifically want to force us to take the AstraZeneca jab, because that is the only one currently available to people of our age group (i.e. students) across much of Australia. AZ is the one with most of the problems. That is what I really want to avoid, never mind the precedent of being forced to get a jab, overall, even just to complete my classes...

So... What do you think I should do? I'm serious, here. I'm not joking. I need this degree. I know education is overvalued. I know that. But I really do need this stupid piece of paper. So I wondered... What recourse do you think I have, to at least make them wait out a few months until Pfizer is available, if this goes ahead? Aside from "lawyering up", and becoming a "legal test case", that is..?

I should add that two companies in Aus, leaving aside the entire aged-care sector, already have vaxx mandates (fruit production, and an airline, FYI), so... The precedent has already been set.

But yeah, I'm worried about what this means, and I would genuinely appreciate your advice on this. Cheers in advance, and thanks for (hopefully) taking this somewhat seriously...