All that flag bullshit

Can't help m'self but to put in my five cents worth.

This whole Big Day Out thing hasn't turned out to be as bad as I thought, I recon. Yes the Big Day Out team was a little bit stupid not to predict the obvious backlash they're going to get by simply targetting the wrong thing. Its not the Australian Flag per se that's the problem its the hoolagans that misuse it to mascarade racism under patrioticism. Now that they're allowing the australian flag back in, at least people are treating the flag a lot more responsibly intentionally and are starting to question some of the current attitudes about national pride/racial tolerance/what the flag really means.

I'm not really qualified to tell Australians how their flags should be used, but personally for me national flags no matter which nationality, whether your own or others, should be respected and all that jazz, its a symbol of a nation's pride so if you're not in a proud state (ie. drunk or high or in the mood for mulsim-bashing) you shouldn't go around draping it around your shoulder. As far as I'm concerned, unless you've just won the 400m dash at the Commonwealth Games or something equivalent, sorry, not good enough for that. The irony is that, the person who actually won the above mentioned race chose to drape herself in the aboriginal flag instead and got completely crusified by the same mob that was also pretty upset three days ago. Such culturally embracing good sportsmenship.

And what does patriotism mean anyway? I'd say it sits on a Kensey Scale and can be up to no good at each end. Not only can it be interpreted/used/ taken as , as the case shows, into all sorts of other quite not so nice things, such as racism, pig headed nationalism, zenophobia, monarchirism, conservatism, and the likes, and then further picked up by the next Pauline Hanson and snowball into the mess as it is like the BDO saga. Just look at the line up of pollies we had coming out to give the BDO people a good slapp'n.

Even so, forgetting all the above, I question how relevant patrioticism is to Australia today anyway. Australia's not at war with any other nation (ah remember terrorism isn't a country or a person or an organisation?? not even an idea??) not invading anyone, not being invaded, not being threatened by economic sanction, no one's "defecting" on a jetplane, not being dumped from an international organisation, being sued, etc etc. (Being beaten at a sport doesn't count). I just don't think "loving your nation" is particularly relevant when it doesn't actually need your love. Plenty of people to take your place if you want to bugger off somewhere else. Patriotism played its part in different nation's history and times when national unity and pride needs to be ramped up by upstairs because a nation or its nationhood is underthreat. Like when Europe's countries are underthreat by fascism, or if the Mongols are trying to get over the wall, or Napoleon's trying to cross the snow... Now its like if you're Taiwanese, or Tibetan, or Greenlander, or Quebecan (or Quebecer?? Quebequai)... except you're loving a country that no one else knows exists... MY POINT IS, YOU'RE FUCKING LUCKY TO BE HERE - DON'T RUB IT IN!

Tears aside, I tend to agree with Tim Flannery in his fantastic interview on ABC on Thursday night - why don't Australians feel affinity to each other via the land they share, the very thing that nurtures life on this continent? why define Australian with shit like meat pie and man from snowy river, which is totally irrelevant to vegetarians and any one who lives north of the Victorian border. Or women. And how many Australian flags you managed to tattoo on yourself just so you could go to the concert.