Australia is brimming with culture and meaning. It doesnât have to be exotic or ancient to be âcultureâ.
Comment on Daily Discussion Thread: đ Sunday, November 17, 2024
wscholermann@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
Overall Australia lacks culture and meaning, and has unfortunately become a mere economic zone. Probably why in part so many people are depressed and anxious.
underwatermagpies@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
StudChud@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
Colonial Australia does lack a meaning and culture, because they genocided, murdered, raped, and stole First Nations people, refused a Treaty with FN, and they barely have a presence in Parliamentary (by design). Settler Colonialism is meaningless for itâs victims and those who vehemently disagree
wscholermann@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
Similar things happened in Mexico but they still have a distinct culture. Itâs not quite the same I guess because the Mexicans recognise the Aztecs werenât the nicest people either so I guess itâs more complicated.
But I think the fact that we were but a mere settler colony has a lot to do with it. Even then, the previous Christian traditions, whether you subscribe to them or not are also evaporating.
Seagoon_@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
you know, defeating the Aztecs was the right thing, just like defeating the Nazis was the right thing
wscholermann@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
For myself I am trying to be more forgiving and compassionate. Really looking at my own flaws and mistakes and then within that framework, keep that in mind when someone else is not being particularly nice. I like to imagine people as babies and ask myself, what happened to you in life for you to turn out this way?
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnât.
Seagoon_@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
It has always been an economic zone, thatâs what being a colony is.
If we want meaning and culture we have to create our own.
wscholermann@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
I think one of the greatest myths we are told in modern societies is that you have to do it all on your own and you have to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.
The truth is life can be terrible. No man is an island and humanity needs each other. I think the lack of care leads to an awful lot of problems and it starts in childhood.
Seagoon_@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
yes, humankind is naturally caring and co-operative
one of the aspects that differentiates our society from others is we have safety nets for those who donât have familial or social connections
wscholermann@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
Yes I was going to say the safety net is basically non existent these days. If you donât have friends or family unless you can get out of hot water relatively quickly you are in real trouble.
LowExperience2368@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
I had a class on cultural safety earlier in the year and someone in that class said she had no culture because she was born here and so were her ancestors up to her great grandparents. But just by living here and interacting with others, she has a culture.
melbaboutown@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
I feel like life really has become all about the overlords squeezing profit and making the line go up
CEOofmyhouse56@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
I think we do have our own culture otherwise we would still be a clone of Britain. We used to be but because of migration we are drifting further away from that which is a beautiful thing.
wscholermann@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
I think we still have an awful lot of Britishness Iâm our institutions and so on. And probably a lot of globalist corporate and consumer culture now as well - hence the emptiness.
CEOofmyhouse56@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
I mean this in the most nicest way possible. Just because you feel emptiness it doesnât mean everybody else does. Iâm an optimist and Iâm gonna find the good in as much as I can.
wscholermann@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
To clarify, I wasnât suggesting everyone does feel this way.
However it must be said that my view on Australian life is hardly an outlier. Official statistics on the matter are alarming and rising, and these are official numbers, to say nothing of all the people that arenât being accounted for.
www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/mental-health#%3âŚ.
To put it succinctly:
âIt is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. - Jiddu Krishnamurtiâ
Nath@aussie.zone â¨7⊠â¨months⊠ago
I am constantly aware that I work in a bubble of very smart, talented and fairly-paid people. That the people I work with arenât a slice of âaverageâ Australia. But within that bubble of IT workers, we absolutely have that global cultural influence CEO was speaking about.
Then thereâs the kids. They go to school in a mix of kids from all over. Its a great equaliser. They donât know where their mates âare fromâ, almost everyone was born here. I get it from their names.
Itâs easy to look at the news and think our influences are all US/UK. But I think as each generation goes by, theyâll be less central to what makes an Australian.
What emerges from that mix? Iâm keen to see it. What we already have is clearly recognised by the British themselves as something distinctly separate from their culture.