Monday, April 26, 2004
Psychoanalysing Anzacs
It's rather sad watching a historian turn pop-psychologist, and the results are usually pathetic. According to David Day, Australians have always felt the need to prove ourselves martially on foreign fields, because when "the continent had been forcibly wrested from the Aborigines" it had occurred without "any great battles", only "skirmishes" and "massacres."
So, you see, them macho Anzacs had to go over to Turkey to bash some wogs, because Abos have proved to be a push-over, giddit?
How f***ing patronising can our intelligencia get?
David Day is of course too sophisticated and too intelligent to understand such lowly emotions as patriotism, or (since he thinks that it's our collective national insecurity that makes Australia suck up to great and powerful friends) the feeling of community of ideas between nations sharing the same cultural and political heritage. It's a "supine attitude" to "march off dutifully whenever we hear the drumbeat of a distant war" - it's after all inconceivable that Australia, as a liberal Western democracy, could possibly have the same or similar interests as Great Britain or the United States.
Day finishes his sermon thus: "So long as we refuse to articulate our fears, we will continue to shoot at shadows. It is time that the Government spelt out the fearful consequences that it implies would ensue from taking a more pro-Australian stand in international affairs. What exactly is the great danger that we have to fear? What country has the capability and motivation to do us serious harm? It is time to confront our fears rather than leave them lurking in the depths of our collective psyche. We may well find that we have nothing to fear but fear itself."
Right on. Repeat after me, David: Australia never was and never will be a utopian workers' paradise blissfully drifting through a peaceful and joyful world where nations hold hands and cheerrfully skip along the road. You see, reality is not that bad, you just have to learn to deal with your fear, David.
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So, you see, them macho Anzacs had to go over to Turkey to bash some wogs, because Abos have proved to be a push-over, giddit?
How f***ing patronising can our intelligencia get?
David Day is of course too sophisticated and too intelligent to understand such lowly emotions as patriotism, or (since he thinks that it's our collective national insecurity that makes Australia suck up to great and powerful friends) the feeling of community of ideas between nations sharing the same cultural and political heritage. It's a "supine attitude" to "march off dutifully whenever we hear the drumbeat of a distant war" - it's after all inconceivable that Australia, as a liberal Western democracy, could possibly have the same or similar interests as Great Britain or the United States.
Day finishes his sermon thus: "So long as we refuse to articulate our fears, we will continue to shoot at shadows. It is time that the Government spelt out the fearful consequences that it implies would ensue from taking a more pro-Australian stand in international affairs. What exactly is the great danger that we have to fear? What country has the capability and motivation to do us serious harm? It is time to confront our fears rather than leave them lurking in the depths of our collective psyche. We may well find that we have nothing to fear but fear itself."
Right on. Repeat after me, David: Australia never was and never will be a utopian workers' paradise blissfully drifting through a peaceful and joyful world where nations hold hands and cheerrfully skip along the road. You see, reality is not that bad, you just have to learn to deal with your fear, David.
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