SpenniesAussie flag
January 23rd 2007 22:51
This has nothing to do with my usual science and technology rants but I am very angry about the way the media has dealt with the whole 'Big Day Out organisers discouraging people to bring the Australian flag to the festival' issue so I have to post something about it.
Reading the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday it was there was only one viewpoint being expressed: that of the government's. There were two articles on the issue, explaining just how angry our politicians are about the whole thing, and one opinion piece by Gerard Henderson about nationalism versus patriotism and how neither are bad and we should be embracing both.
[link]
I then decided to write my own opinion piece because I thought the SMH lacked some diversity in its views: it was time they heard from someone who'd actually been to the Big Day Out and knew first hand that people who carry the Australian flag are usually loud, drunk and violent. Surprisingly, they weren't interested. Not enough space in the op-ed page today. The diversity of views will be in our readers' letters. Really? There's a grand total of three (3) letters about the issue in today's SMH, one which supports the politician's views, one which is fairly neutral and one which attacks Henderson's personality more than what he says.
Of course there was a big forum on the issue on SMH online with approximately 80% of views expressed supporting the Big Day Out organisers in their decision, because, as can be guessed, these posts were written by people who'd been to the festival in the past. But how can the SMH think that's enough? Anyone who opens up the paper this morning will not be exposed to anything remotely close to a fair distributon of views on this issue.
Alas, here is my op-ed, for which there was not enough space.
IT’S obvious that our Prime Minister has never been to the Big Day Out. ‘A stupid ban’ was Mr Howard’s response to an attempt by the event’s organisers to discourage, not ban, the Australian flag at the music festival this Thursday. Mr Howard called the move ‘offensive’, prompting several other politicians to publicly agree with his sentiments.
But there are a few things that any festival-goer will tell you, starting with the simple fact that people who carry the Australian flag on the day, or have it tattooed on any part of their body, are usually the ones who cause trouble, usually the ones who have more than the recommended intake of alcohol, and usually the ones who are kicked out for ‘anti-social behaviour’. Try standing in a crowd for three hours next to one of them and you’ll see exactly what was going through the Big Day Out organiser’s heads when they decided to discourage people from bringing the flag.
Alcohol mixed with fervent patriotism almost always leads to violence, and that’s not what the Big Day Out is about. The festival is about music, it’s about people coming together to enjoy music and celebrate the atmosphere that is created. In his Herald opinion piece yesterday Gerard Henderson made the distinction between patriotism and nationalism, claiming that the former was ‘almost always a healthy phenomenon’. However, there is a difference between citizens feeling good about their society (Henderson’s definition of patriotism) and citizens imposing these feelings on those around them. If you think about patriotism and nationalism in their purest forms then neither words are free from negative connotations: ‘patriot’ is a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies at all costs; ‘nationalism’ is an extreme form of patriotic feeling, usually accompanied by feelings of superiority.
It’s therefore unclear what the Prime Minister and other politicians are referring to when they say the Big Day Out’s organisers’ attempt was ‘offensive’ or ‘political correctness gone mad’. Who exactly can are the organisers when they ask that festival-goers keep music and crowd spirit as their first priority at a music festival? It seems natural that anyone who doesn’t already know this wouldn’t be attending in the first place. There will be no enemies to country at the Big Day Out, there will be no political conflict, there will be no challenge to Australian identity, security or values – therefore there is no reason why patriotic feelings, and thus the Australian flag, should be present at all.
The Big Day Out organisers are not condemning those who choose to display Aussie pride, they are simply trying to remind them that it shouldn’t dominate the day. For some reason it’s believed that The Big Day out has always been an Australian tradition, simply because it usually falls on Australia Day, but in reality it’s a music festival like any other, and like any other festival, it’s first and foremost about the music.
The media hasn’t done much to help the issue, and the coverage of the ‘outrage’ will probably to more to prompt people to bring the flag than anything Big Day Out organisers said, and thus increase the chances that ugly things will happen.
Reading the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday it was there was only one viewpoint being expressed: that of the government's. There were two articles on the issue, explaining just how angry our politicians are about the whole thing, and one opinion piece by Gerard Henderson about nationalism versus patriotism and how neither are bad and we should be embracing both.
[link]
I then decided to write my own opinion piece because I thought the SMH lacked some diversity in its views: it was time they heard from someone who'd actually been to the Big Day Out and knew first hand that people who carry the Australian flag are usually loud, drunk and violent. Surprisingly, they weren't interested. Not enough space in the op-ed page today. The diversity of views will be in our readers' letters. Really? There's a grand total of three (3) letters about the issue in today's SMH, one which supports the politician's views, one which is fairly neutral and one which attacks Henderson's personality more than what he says.
Of course there was a big forum on the issue on SMH online with approximately 80% of views expressed supporting the Big Day Out organisers in their decision, because, as can be guessed, these posts were written by people who'd been to the festival in the past. But how can the SMH think that's enough? Anyone who opens up the paper this morning will not be exposed to anything remotely close to a fair distributon of views on this issue.
Alas, here is my op-ed, for which there was not enough space.
IT’S obvious that our Prime Minister has never been to the Big Day Out. ‘A stupid ban’ was Mr Howard’s response to an attempt by the event’s organisers to discourage, not ban, the Australian flag at the music festival this Thursday. Mr Howard called the move ‘offensive’, prompting several other politicians to publicly agree with his sentiments.
But there are a few things that any festival-goer will tell you, starting with the simple fact that people who carry the Australian flag on the day, or have it tattooed on any part of their body, are usually the ones who cause trouble, usually the ones who have more than the recommended intake of alcohol, and usually the ones who are kicked out for ‘anti-social behaviour’. Try standing in a crowd for three hours next to one of them and you’ll see exactly what was going through the Big Day Out organiser’s heads when they decided to discourage people from bringing the flag.
Alcohol mixed with fervent patriotism almost always leads to violence, and that’s not what the Big Day Out is about. The festival is about music, it’s about people coming together to enjoy music and celebrate the atmosphere that is created. In his Herald opinion piece yesterday Gerard Henderson made the distinction between patriotism and nationalism, claiming that the former was ‘almost always a healthy phenomenon’. However, there is a difference between citizens feeling good about their society (Henderson’s definition of patriotism) and citizens imposing these feelings on those around them. If you think about patriotism and nationalism in their purest forms then neither words are free from negative connotations: ‘patriot’ is a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies at all costs; ‘nationalism’ is an extreme form of patriotic feeling, usually accompanied by feelings of superiority.
It’s therefore unclear what the Prime Minister and other politicians are referring to when they say the Big Day Out’s organisers’ attempt was ‘offensive’ or ‘political correctness gone mad’. Who exactly can are the organisers when they ask that festival-goers keep music and crowd spirit as their first priority at a music festival? It seems natural that anyone who doesn’t already know this wouldn’t be attending in the first place. There will be no enemies to country at the Big Day Out, there will be no political conflict, there will be no challenge to Australian identity, security or values – therefore there is no reason why patriotic feelings, and thus the Australian flag, should be present at all.
The Big Day Out organisers are not condemning those who choose to display Aussie pride, they are simply trying to remind them that it shouldn’t dominate the day. For some reason it’s believed that The Big Day out has always been an Australian tradition, simply because it usually falls on Australia Day, but in reality it’s a music festival like any other, and like any other festival, it’s first and foremost about the music.
The media hasn’t done much to help the issue, and the coverage of the ‘outrage’ will probably to more to prompt people to bring the flag than anything Big Day Out organisers said, and thus increase the chances that ugly things will happen.
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Comment by Anonymous
Brits are murdering thugs and have been so for centuries, nothing has changed.
Send back the union jack!!