Politics Is Australia becoming too obsessed with US political culture?

[Jammer]

Not the point i was making Sydney fan.

Your point about the lack of media 432 Indigenous Australian deaths in custody gets I most certainly agree with.
When you think of the bugger all attention it gets think of the energy time and passion that is wasted in marching, protesting for
things like "Change Australia Day"
In moving the needle forward for our indigenous Australians this wouldn't break into the top 100.

This is what happens when a narrative is pushed and hijacked in this case by the left. ( The right is just as guilty in plenty of ways also )
The left leaning voices are pushing this " we are just as horrible here " BLM which is very very different in the USA.

In what is starting to to be whipped up i would not at all be surprised if the police are abused or attacked by some fringe loonies during this protest March.

 

[Sydneyfan]

Not the point i was making Sydney fan.

Your point about the lack of media 432 Indigenous Australian deaths in custody gets I most certainly agree with.
When you think of the bugger all attention it gets think of the energy time and passion that is wasted in marching, protesting for
things like "Change Australia Day"
In moving the needle forward for our indigenous Australians this wouldn't break into the top 100.

This is what happens when a narrative is pushed and hijacked in this case by the left. ( The right is just as guilty in plenty of ways also )
The left leaning voices are pushing this " we are just as horrible here " BLM which is very very different in the USA.

In what is starting to to be whipped up i would not at all be surprised if the police are abused or attacked by some fringe loonies during this protest March.

I apologise for misinterpreting your point. One thing I have liked that this has brought to close attention Australia’s relationship with our First Nations people and given appropriate airplay and time to reflect on this relationship. I agree with you that what we don’t need is people to do-opt this moment for their own agendas and with that bringing unnecessary violence and hostility between competing camps. At the same time, if this attention causes people to reflect on our country’s treatment of our indigenous community, and perhaps causes one or two Police Officers to reflect on their approaches to unruly indigenous youth, or anyone for that matter, then that is a good thing.

 

[Sydneyfan]

Abuse is one thing, copping it goes with the job description, threats? I dont care if black, white or have red hair .....

Arrest him then, don’t throw him to the ground headfirst as well for no reason but to restore wounded pride. You saw the cop put the kid’s arms got behind his back with minimal effort, slam on handcuffs, nice and easy, done with no issue whatsoever. That judo move the cop pulled could have so easily cracked the kid’s skull - yeah, the kid will have learned his lesson, don’t mouth off to cops but then again that’s cause the kid’s dead, and you have to live the rest of your life knowing you murdered someone because you got upset at empty threats ... sorry I expect and would like to see more out of the police than that.

 

[Blue1980]

From an Australian perspective, how do you all view the race issue we have in the US? I have read about some Aboriginal biases in Australia, but am not sure how rampant that is. Unfortunately racism is somewhat an incurable issue in our world. All the best to you

I think the difference in our racism problems is as vast as our difference in Covid19 deaths

 

[Jammer]

Respect Sydney Fan,
I think we both share common ground, personally I'm close to finished with what the left have turned Indigenous welfare and health into in the last
10 years ...... appreciate others may see it differently.

 

[Engimal v3]

Yeah, fair dinkum. I get frustrated when I see people who I am certain don't know who their local MP is but feel the need to weigh in on US Politics and make comparisons here.

 

[Kwality]

Arrest him then, don’t throw him to the ground headfirst as well for no reason but to restore wounded pride. You saw the cop put the kid’s arms got behind his back with minimal effort, slam on handcuffs, nice and easy, done with no issue whatsoever. That judo move the cop pulled could have so easily cracked the kid’s skull - yeah, the kid will have learned his lesson, don’t mouth off to cops but then again that’s cause the kid’s dead, and you have to live the rest of your life knowing you murdered someone because you got upset at empty threats ... sorry I expect and would like to see more out of the police than that.

& its' taking the knee'.

 

[kober3742]

I can't tell you how all of us saw it, but I see you all - the collective you, not necessarily you personally - as flaming hypocrites who are able to dissonance your way out of the inconsistencies that should plague you. How can you stand for human rights and democracy when you maintained Guantanamo for a decade and overthrew democracies in Iran and Chile? How can you call yourselves the land of the free or your borders open to all seeking a better life, when you routinely imprison the poor, locking them into wage slavery, and you criminalise those coming from Mexico despite their work ethic and their desire for that better life?

Mind you, we can hardly speak; we have racial issues of our own up to the wazoo. But the idea here is, when you talked to an Aussie about it, we kind of owned up to it when it happened; "Yeah, you're probably right." But when you talked to an American, it seemed the response we got was defensive or outright aggressive; who are you to have an opinion on us?

Sorry if this post seems a bit aggressive, or accusatory. Part of my problem is the above paragraph has started to change here; where once people would have owned their mistakes, acknowledged their fault here, now we're getting that kind of pugnaciousness and determination to never be seen as at fault. It's happening while our culture is being steadily diluted by the influx of everything American via internet and TV, film and news. Australia is becoming more American in this way, and I don't like it very much.

Hi Gethelred,

The term flaming hypocrites is pretty strong and am sure it fits some people, albeit a very small group I am curious who you talked to that got defensive or aggressive. Is it people on tv you saw? Is it people that have a monetary interest in putting their head in the sand? I would believe that 98% of people in the US who would see what's been going on would freely admit that we have racial issues. There are always 2% that are out of touch and not owning up to reality.

While it is good you have concern for your own people, the fact that Australians are not owning up to the faults they have in the racial arena, cannot just be pinned down to a more influx of American culture. All humans,to some degree, are keen in some ways to bury their heads in the sand and say, there are no big problems.

I am not a sociologist, just a normal corporate worker in the US, so please dont get the impression that I am a know it all. I would think, instead of worrying about US culture, that everyone in the US and Australia focuses on what their country can do to improve the racial relations. The reason being is that other than monitoring what you watch and consume, you largely have no affect on what media comes in to your country's culture.

Just my opinion.

 

[Gethelred]

Hi Gethelred,

The term flaming hypocrites is pretty strong and am sure it fits some people, albeit a very small group I am curious who you talked to that got defensive or aggressive. Is it people on tv you saw? Is it people that have a monetary interest in putting their head in the sand? I would believe that 98% of people in the US who would see what's been going on would freely admit that we have racial issues. There are always 2% that are out of touch and not owning up to reality.

While it is good you have concern for your own people, the fact that Australians are not owning up to the faults they have in the racial arena, cannot just be pinned down to a more influx of American culture. All humans,to some degree, are keen in some ways to bury their heads in the sand and say, there are no big problems.

I am not a sociologist, just a normal corporate worker in the US, so please dont get the impression that I am a know it all. I would think, instead of worrying about US culture, that everyone in the US and Australia focuses on what their country can do to improve the racial relations. The reason being is that other than monitoring what you watch and consume, you largely have no affect on what media comes in to your country's culture.

Just my opinion.

No, I certainly get that, and I certainly am not saying that the way I see things is anything resembling reality. I've met Americans who are completely different to this, and the depiction I have made in this thread is uncharitable to say the least. But this is my perception, not necessarily of Americans, but of America.

 

[peternorth]

There certainly are people here who are all over US politics. I am in contact with some of them, and it astounds me how much they know/read/watch.

 

[Bombermania]

Two things our media fusses over more than the home country does. The English royals and American politics while mostly ignoring our own region and while I find American politics interesting but the way some Australians go on about it, you could think they actually had a vote in November. The American system is kind of similar to the Australian system but culturally is entirely different. Terms like Conservative or right wing / left wing mean different things there than here and the way politicians campaign is different with American politicians talking up their chances of winning while Australian politics try to claim underdog status.

 

[Kwality]

Arrest him then, don’t throw him to the ground headfirst as well for no reason but to restore wounded pride. You saw the cop put the kid’s arms got behind his back with minimal effort, slam on handcuffs, nice and easy, done with no issue whatsoever. That judo move the cop pulled could have so easily cracked the kid’s skull - yeah, the kid will have learned his lesson, don’t mouth off to cops but then again that’s cause the kid’s dead, and you have to live the rest of your life knowing you murdered someone because you got upset at empty threats ... sorry I expect and would like to see more out of the police than that.

With a daughter working in an ED, I've seen the bruises ....

 

[fleabitten]

432 Indigenous Australians have died in custody in the past twenty years after a Royal Commission into black deaths, in which not one cop has ever been prosecuted for - and which gets bugger all media attention. But it’s all just a coincidence- yeah, it is a coincidence, one that happens many, many times every day.

The problem isn't really indigenous deaths in custody, not specifically indigenous anyway, as the rates are lower than the non-indigenous prison population. It's indigenous rates of incarceration. And that's much more complicated to address because racism in the police force is only one of the contributing factors.

Also, throwing out these big numbers like 432 is misleading. There's no question of any police brutality occurring in the majority of them as it includes everything from dying of lung cancer in prison to crashing your car while fleeing the police. I believe it was just updated to 434 today because a 40 year old man collapsed in a WA prison. There will be an investigation, an inquest and an internal review but at the moment it is not considered suspicious.

Would be much better to just focus on those cases where there are suspicious/unjust circumstances and humanize those people in the eyes of the public, rather than using large but pretty much meaningless numbers in an effort to shock.

 

[Dan]

Not just Australia but other countries as well.

Protesting and propaganda online. It's getting a very culty........messages on posters or through social media ie - it's not enough to be non racist, to be silent is violent/compliance, check your privilege etc.

You MUST reform to my point of view!

This white self loathing purple patch in the protesting and on social media is ugly and causes more problems.

Keep protesting, keep vandalising, keep looting.....you're healing the world and making it a better place

 

[maryjames]

Yes.. the brainwashed are definitely sucked in by American politics.

The second half of 2020 is gonna change the world forever. Be prepared.

 

[Blue1980]

The problem isn't really indigenous deaths in custody, not specifically indigenous anyway, as the rates are lower than the non-indigenous prison population. It's indigenous rates of incarceration. And that's much more complicated to address because racism in the police force is only one of the contributing factors.

Also, throwing out these big numbers like 432 is misleading. There's no question of any police brutality occurring in the majority of them as it includes everything from dying of lung cancer in prison to crashing your car while fleeing the police. I believe it was just updated to 434 today because a 40 year old man collapsed in a WA prison. There will be an investigation, an inquest and an internal review but at the moment it is not considered suspicious.

Would be much better to just focus on those cases where there are suspicious/unjust circumstances and humanize those people in the eyes of the public, rather than using large but pretty much meaningless numbers in an effort to shock.

All correct. Though any negative views on the protests is seen as ignorant or racist, according to some.

Now the general gist of the protests I get, I just find the specific figures being latched onto very odd.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Some radicals i know have started using BLM discourse in our beautiful country

And so they should. Aboriginal people have suffered similar devastation to African Americans.

 

[Bareth Garry]

This thread has taken a turn in relation to BLM but I made this thread that culty propaganda and protesting is not beholden to one side and has permeated into our politics as a way to co-opt America. And that's the problem. People on either side think there are the awaken and enlightened ones.

And that's the problem. For example there were Covid protests in May outside political buildings where people gathered chanting "arrest Bill Gates" and holding QANON signs (how can he get arrested under Australian law??). Generally speaking our lockdown was followed successfully yet these people upon seeing their counterparts in America no doubt are using the same language, the same conspiracies, the same incoherent assertions mapped out to claim tyranny of a "deep state". What ****ing deep state is there in Australia?