Gimbal Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Name the unelected leader who ousted a democratically elected prime minister with the help of the CIA Wouldn't happen over here would it? No, it wouldn't, because we don't democratically elect the prime minister in this country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
botanika Posted June 20, 2013 Author Share Posted June 20, 2013 No, it wouldn't, because we don't democratically elect the prime minister in this country. Come on, Im sure the mining exec's take a vote! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LokStok Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 i like living in australia because i get to have a sister - true, but if Australia had as many people as China does, you might feel differently i like living in australia because people dont hawk up and publicly spit anywhere, everywhere, anytime. - but they do vomit regularly in the street after a night out i like living in australia because i can practice falun gong, or any other religion/spitual disipline of my choosing, without fear of persecution & detention. - except if your spirituality includes entheogenics or cannabis i like living in australia because we didnt invade and occupy Tibet - but it did invade Indigenous Australia and left behind a broken wreck of a civilisation that still suffers i like living in australia bcause if i dont like something the government does, i can safely publicly say so, even by way of mass public protest - true i like living in australia because we dont have nuclear power stations scattered everywhere - true, but we do have a few uranium mines i like living in australia because because in the cities i can tell the difference between smog & clouds - totally agree, luckily it all blows out to sea (if you've ever driven down from the Blue Mountains to Penrith, you'll realise the air isn't all that clean) i like living in australia because i dont feel like i'm living in a complete dog-eat-dog, fuckyou, first-in-first-served society - the socialist protections will be next on the list for Mr Abbott to trash, cheered on by the anti-refugee mob i like living in australia because i can breathe - true enough i like living in australia because i get to have a sister - true, but if Australia had as many people as China does, you might feel differently *yeah possibly, who knows, but it doesnt and thats why i like living here. i like living in australia because people dont hawk up and publicly spit anywhere, everywhere, anytime. - but they do vomit regularly in the street after a night out. *you should change streets. If people in australia publicly vomited to the degree people in china publicly hawk up and spit, then we'd be paddling around in spew up to our ankles! i like living in australia because i can practice falun gong, or any other religion/spiritual disipline of my choosing, without fear of persecution & detention. - except if your spirituality includes entheogenics or cannabis *what, like the spiritual discipline of pulling a few afterwork cones on the couch! What entheogenic or cannabis religion/spiritual discipline in this country are you referring to? i like living in australia because we didnt invade and occupy Tibet - but it did invade Indigenous Australia and left behind a broken wreck of a civilisation that still suffers. *actually the invader was Britain. i like living in australia bcause if i dont like something the government does, i can safely publicly say so, even by way of mass public protest - true i like living in australia because we dont have nuclear power stations scattered everywhere - true, but we do have a few uranium mines. *agreed, and i'd like it better if we didn't. i like living in australia because because in the cities i can tell the difference between smog & clouds - totally agree, luckily it all blows out to sea (if you've ever driven down from the Blue Mountains to Penrith, you'll realise the air isn't all that clean) *you dont really know what air pollution is until you experience beijing! i like living in australia because i dont feel like i'm living in a complete dog-eat-dog, fuckyou, first-in-first-served society - the socialist protections will be next on the list for Mr Abbott to trash, cheered on by the anti-refugee mob *not sure what you mean, but an example of what i meant is that in australia i can cue up without getting constantly & blatantly pushed in on whereas in china its a sure bet that it will happen. And happen. And happen again. i like living in australia because i can breathe - true EDIT- spellin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foo Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 No, it wouldn't, because we don't democratically elect the prime minister in this country. The Prime Minster was democratically elected. Just not as prime minister. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitewind Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 i like living in australia because i can practice falun gong, or any other religion/spiritual disipline of my choosing, without fear of persecution & detention. - except if your spirituality includes entheogenics or cannabis *what, like the spiritual discipline of pulling a few afterwork cones on the couch! What entheogenic or cannabis religion/spiritual discipline in this country are you referring to? Umm, shamanic use of entheogens? Greg Kasarik, UDV and Santo Daime? Sikhism? None of the below would be allowed to practice in AUstralia. http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v12n1/12117stu.html i like living in australia because because in the cities i can tell the difference between smog & clouds - totally agree, luckily it all blows out to sea (if you've ever driven down from the Blue Mountains to Penrith, you'll realise the air isn't all that clean) *you dont really know what air pollution is until you experience beijing! Yes, I've been to Beijing Beijing is nothing compared to Datong, which is the coal-mining town that supplies Beijing with 2/3 of it's electricity. By the end of the day I had to go indoors into aircon because I couldn't breathe the air was so rancid. People walked around with dust masks on - if they were sensible. Some of the river pollution from factories is horrendous. It's like industrial age Britain. It's awful, but, the government is slowly coming around to changing things. You have to remember though that this is the country that supplies us with a lot of our manufactured goods - if we made them here our land and skies wouldn't be so clean, neither would we be so wealthy. China's pollution is OUR pollution - we helped create it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitewind Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 And what about the people who follow the religious practice of "making profit" (money is god etc) or simply trying to make a living by selling entheogens and cannabis so that others can gain spiritual insights or simply enjoy themselves? Persecution reigns rife, and detention quite likely. EDIT in bold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etherealdrifter Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 If you're not for China that's fine and if you want to start attacking me personally and aggressively that's fine too. If you want to change your opinion of me too that's fine also but I won't change my opinion of you because of your post. I dig ya and I also dig your music. You can try guilt trip me with this 'Botanika really?' shit. I don't really care. It's just more australian jingoism and internet jock talk. I'm immune to that style of internet criticism. And if I choose to live in China or australia it's my choice and I don't have to defend it to you or anyone else. Chillax man, I put this in the bitches and gripes section for a reason. It's not a scientific paper. It's about the potential that Australia is becoming anal. I don't want it to become sweden, china or america. I want Australia to be Australia like anyone else. If I didn't care about Australia I would write my post. Yeah, fair enough man................ I kinda went a bit berserk there. My apologisies for being so tightly strung about your choices and reasons - i should know better. The emotions obviously gang tackled my rational side. I hope there's no hard feelings bloke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incognito Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Your a good 'Ocker eth you can't be blamed. Thanks for being a part of oz I love x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
botanika Posted June 21, 2013 Author Share Posted June 21, 2013 Yeah, fair enough man................ I kinda went a bit berserk there. My apologisies for being so tightly strung about your choices and reasons - i should know better. The emotions obviously gang tackled my rational side. I hope there's no hard feelings bloke. No worries at all Ethereal happy friday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woof woof woof Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 never been in Austrailia........ seems like a super awesomely beautiful country,... cept the laws,...they seem a bit old skool to me,... it's as if a part of the mentality of Austrailia is stuck in the past........ I guess, when taking the good with the bad makes it a good place to live anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtarman Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 The problem isn't with Australia or China or any country. It's with the idea of a country, of identifying with some nationalistic ethos (be it BBQ's, football, beer, utes, Cold Chisel, or Waltzing Matilda, ACDC, Bundy rum etc). Does nobody else recognize how that kind of thing is damaging? How many atrocities and genocides have been committed in the name of cultural identity? People tend to forget that while land, continents, and people are real things, countries - and the lines we draw around them, and the qualities we ascribe to their inhabitants - are little but a shared fiction and a self-fulfilling generalization. The majority of people who stand around painting their faces and waving flags on Australia Day haven't even seen that much of Australia, sometimes they haven't even left their home state. They're blindly expressing their approval of this vague and abstract idea that they really know very little about, just because they've been conditioned to do that. And it's encouraged, because nationalism and a shared sense of identity is what makes populations manageable, and controllable, and predictable, and that's also why multiculturalism often fails or is unpopular in nationalist circles - because people of other cultures are "not like us", and they don't gel well with our systems of control and indoctrination. When it comes down to it, the same sun shines on China as Australia, the rain falls on them both from the same sky. You could take any human baby and ship them off to any country in the world, and regardless of their skin colour or the cultural background of their natural parents, they would adopt the language and customs of their new country as naturally as any other. Surely people have to see how arbitrary that makes these things that people seem to take so seriously like customs and culture and language? I fail to understand people that get so up-in-arms when somebody insults Australia, calling them un-Australian like it's some dirty thing not to identify with mindless flag-waving behviour. We all long for a sense of identity by our nature, but it worries me deeply when people place that need in the hands of something so dangerous as nationalism. I see people get so aggressive and sometimes even violent over things like this and I think, "What the fuck are you doing?". No matter what colour your skin is, no matter what country you live in or are born in, no matter what you think about any country, at the end of the day we are all humans, and I don't know why we insist on drawing so many god-damned lines between ourselves and causing so much hurt and hatred and even killing in the name of things that don't even exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incognito Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 I'm balls deep in patriotism,racism and homophobia where I work. I can forgive them for the simple fact that it really comes down to ignorance. These guys and girls have never really left the area, nor even had a conversation with someone who is gay, a different colour or from a different culture. They rely on heresay, and what their daddy's have told them. I can't be bothered getting into discussion about the matters any more, and just ignore and go about my day, or else I get in a ridiculous loop of the most stupid argument which really gets me riled up, if I could I'd take them all out in Vietnam and go partying in Oxford street, but until then I've just gotta ignore and well feel sorry for their ignorance, or else I would go freakin mad arguing rediculous points all day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bullit Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 i love aussieland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitewind Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 Ha ha I work in a place where homophobia, racism, sexism ANYTHING is utterly disallowed it's bliss I have to say. Can't stand the ignorance that brings people to that stuff. Unfortunately, it doesn't mean that people don't go out of their way to get you down, but at least it's on a professional level - and you can prove anything on a professional level if you have good reason. Patriotism is such shit, I have never called myself English - though I was born there - and I sure as hell aren't and Aussie either. What the fucks that? Do I have to drink beer and act all macho? Or does it vary a bit from place to place? I've met Japanese girls who sound more brummy than I do, and someone who spoke Chinese with the strongest brummy accent you've ever heard! I mean, it's all trying to place yourself within a group so you can say you belong - well I fucking belong wherever I want to be and I don't fit any of your goddammed stereotypes, none of them! I'll take the bits I like from everything and meld them, the rest is shit and is discarded, unless I get bored. Though, it does mean I can socialise reasonably well across the board, it does mean I never get in-depth with any of any groups. I've tried, and it all goes pear-shaped one day when I get bored and start challenging intrinsic "truths". I have come to the conclusion that most people really do behave like stupid apes - luckily there are places like SAB where people do think outside the box a bit. Big it up for SAB! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incognito Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 U obviously work in the city ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitewind Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 Obviously ;) I tend to pick and choose where I go to avoid undue harassment. I'm not really that brave 'Sides, I get bored of ignorance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoOnThen Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 I am a patriotic Australian but I don't drink beer I do drink bourbon and I played Aussie rules football most of my life. I have presented cyclists with an Australian flag to take with them when competing at world championships. I am not racist and I am sick of the generalization that any Aussie that loves this country is. I would also consider Australians less patriotic than people in most other countries. Stop looking at the negatives of this great country and open your eyes and see the positives. Cheers Got Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incognito Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 There are cool marsupials. And mad red river gums. Nah I was never generalising about the whole, just having a bitch really. There's lotsa good about aus. Lamingtons, Megan gale, Peter cundal erm... Wide open spaces Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incognito Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 I don't consider myself Australian I'm universalian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incognito Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 Universian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitewind Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 The best thing about Australia is that it is relatively underpopulated with vast expanses of beautiful untouched ecosystems and amazing geography. Oceans abound all sides and the sky is clear of pollution. The vegetation and wildlife are amazing, and we are all very lucky to be living here. Of course, my and many other immigrants are here partly by choice, but nevertheless... We are also relatively free to be who we want to be, that should also be valued. And relatively well off. But most of the good things are because of that first statement, that as a country we are relatively underpopulated... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incognito Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Vegemite! But only in 50/50 ratio with margarine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Presidente Hillbillios Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 Another good thing about straya, is that you guys accept kants like me as nearly one of your own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etherealdrifter Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 another good thing about straya is that in the nt you can bust the odo testing out how far the donk will go full bore before it busts it's head open. .....gotta love that edit i meant speedo bitch not edo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtarman Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 I am a patriotic Australian but I don't drink beer I do drink bourbon and I played Aussie rules football most of my life. I have presented cyclists with an Australian flag to take with them when competing at world championships. I am not racist and I am sick of the generalization that any Aussie that loves this country is. I would also consider Australians less patriotic than people in most other countries. Stop looking at the negatives of this great country and open your eyes and see the positives. Cheers Got My point is that whether you say good things or bad things about Australia, you're generalizing either way, and that whatever you think this "Australia" thing is (good or bad), you're wrong...as I would I be. This continent covers 7.69 million square kilometers, is populated by roughly 22 million people, from more than 200 diverse cultures around the world of roughly 260 different ethnicities. It's so mind-bogglingly big and complex and diverse that one person can't even begin to comprehend it in any sort of meaningful or definitive way. It resists generalization and definition completely. So we mix and match from our very limited experiences of the little bits and pieces that we've seen and what our parents and our friends and our friendly news anchors have told us to form a laughably naive and incomplete opinion and then proceed to insult anybody who doesn't share that opinion, because possibly the main tenet of any cultural identity is the presumed right to attack and vilify anybody who doesn't subscribe to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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