I’m an avid listner of The Ozone Nightmare, a regular podcast on all sorts of things by two regular nerds, Joe & Lando.
On Saturday, 12th May they ran the show, ‘Forced Perspective‘.
This week Lando and I are discussing the disturbing increase in people who are losing their perspective on the things that matter. Nitpicking on party affiliation instead of working to fix the problems in Iraq, sitting and back and relaxing without holding governments accountable, choosing sensationalism rather than truly hard news…there are times where we seem to want someone else to just take care of the big issues, ignore them in favor of assigning blame, or we simply can’t seem to focus on what they are. And what’s with that silly Electoral College anyway
After reading the following comments, I felt compelled to offer my own thoughts.
Most of my mates in Australia see the American Army as a bunch of ‘Trailer park trash’ that have no alternative other than join the army due to your lack of welfare system. Australia also sees America as a bunch of uncaring individuals were money takes precedent over the community. They treat their poor with contempt and as a burden especially with the recent and ongoing treatment of the blacks in the Mississippi floods etc. America should be ashamed at its minimum wage, lack of health care, imperialism war state like aggression and corporate greed. Unfortunately Australia is following your lead…I know this is a very broad overview but like you feel like the little people like us mean nothing anymore. I agree that political parties are no longer run by the working man but just puppets manipulated by bigger fish… If the Environment survives their is hope
posted by: Carl on Tue, 5/15 06:49 PM EDT
You mean I could have stayed with mama in her trailer and drank Fosters all day instead of keep those Godless East German Communists Bastards of the Warsaw Pact at arms length from the Free World? If only I’d been born in Oz.
“Any people that would give up liberty for a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin
posted by: darwingodwin on Thu, 5/17 09:46 AM EDT
Hahaha, classic. I think the above effectively pinpoints the ignorance of Carl’s remark. It should be obvious that anyone who would so readily generalize stereotypes to a whole nation is NOT, speaking for ‘all his mates.’
I think most people would be genuinely surprised how much in common they had with their counterparts in countries all around the world that are selectively vilified, manipulated and ‘filtered’ by the media and the elites with whom we share the least common ground except geographic location.
This is why it is so refreshing to hear some ordinary Americans speak passionately against the administration that (purportedly) represents your country. You only have to look at the polls to see that you’re not in the minority. If only this was the case before the war. Of course there was public opposition before the war here in Australia but not enough of it, and like John Kerry due to ineffectual political opposition we voted back in our Prime Minister in 2004.
So the elites takes our countries to war and misrepresent their people with the power of a manipulated media. Why wasn’t there enough opposition in the US or Australia or the UK? Because people got sucked into believing this was the same fight as Afghanistan. That this war was a continuation of helping defend our allies after the unprovoked attacks of September 11. People still don’t really appreciate the difference, because as support for Iraq drops, so does support for Afghanistan. Hell can anyone point to a mainstream source that published the offers that Saddam Hussein was willing to negotiate, including the “unconditional return of UN weapons inspectors”?
Perhaps a point of difference in Australia is the word ‘patriotism’. It has nothing like the kind of resonance it has in the US, we don’t adorn ourselves or our buildings in the Australian flag and our mythologizing of our armed services is limited to the bravery shown by the ANZACs (who were ordered to die by their superiors). Our force is too small to even consider things like ‘military families’ or much of a military culture and no public figure as far as I’m aware has used the ‘support the troops’ line. Our country’s ethos could never be “we’re the greatest nation on Earth”, if anything our national character attempts to be humble and suspicious of those in authority but supportive of our friends/mates no matter what. At least that’s what it says on the coffee mugs in the tourist shop.
Perhaps ordinary opinions by ordinary people can help breach these filters imposed on us, and people will see something more worthwhile than that laughable ‘objectivity’ of the mainstream media in podcasts and blogs such as yours.
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