I was going to do this later, but I figured we might as well group the similar posts together. This is a little more general than Shapelle, but it's something that relates to her nonetheless. Quite honestly, I feel quite bad that she's getting all this attention, even for her own sake. It's about things I've been noticing in the years since Howard's been "in power". Maybe it's been my own coming of age, and noticing things that are more "beneath the surface" than I used to, but it's still something disconcerting.
So I submit this idea: I think Australia's become progressively more racist since Howard became prime minister. I can feel this in our foreign policy and our treatment of native australians, not to mention the alliances the the Liberals have with the National party (which is almost what Hitler was going for, right?) and Family First (which I see effectively as a watered down KKK). I really could never bring myself to vote for a group of connected parties which are almost wholeheartedly, and almost unabashedly, "evil", whatever that's supposed to mean.
This isn't just Howard's fault, however. I think the media, too, is getting a bit off, from a multicultural perspective. While I know there's a bit of back-and-forth, I also know that the media won't show what the public won't watch, so I think there are real people watching shit because they're receptive to it. Sports have always been racially charged, because it's pretty much competition between different races, but other than the occasional crap that occurs when you mix "the spirit of competition" and too much alcohol, it was relatively tame.
Then I start to notice people saying things like this: "It's official, we like to see ourselves win" (in relation to the olympics). Jokes pop up (this one regarding diving) like "Big splash, bad. Small splash, good. Medium splash, good for an aussie". It's not menacing, and certainly not hateful. Just something I noticed. I guess it's like combovers, the change is gradual.
More recently, though, things have become more pronounced. A lot of people believe that it's OK to have "illegal immigrants" in "detention", only now it's OK to have Australians with accents in detention, too? I think the real arseholes are starting to get the nerve to say what's been in their minds all this time. I'm talking about
this. What... the... fuck? I'm also talking about the kind of
propaganda that feeds these attitudes.
Quite honestly, this worries me far more than the one nation party. They're stupid, funny, and not really taken seriously. Pauline Hanson is even somewhat of a celebrity now. More importantly: no one votes for em. I fear the slow and steady intolerance growing within our people...