> Andrew Fildes wrote:
> That's a good point Joel - I see myself as international and
> vehemently anti-patriotic but I am fond of the authentic Oz culture.
I must admit being depressed by definitions of what the "Real
Australia" or a "Real Australian", or (perhaps a descendent of
it's Stateside friend), "unAustralian", actually are.
For all appearances and mannerisms, I can be, by those standards,
as "Australian" as the next "bloke". But my family is a (happily)
mongrel descendent of Welsh and English with minor splits into
all manner of other areas, such as Jewish, German, Turkish, with
random in-shoots of even "indigenous" (real?) Australian and whatever
else came along during the tree's adventures, honest or nefarious,
and which also absorbs anything into it that comes along as
"family", irrespective of background or "culture". It's all just
grist for the mill (the mill being my mother, the matriarch :-) ).
My ancestors are many-and-varied, but my descendents will be nil.
It's all much of a muchness for me.
I hate vegemite; I hate beer (except for the ginger variety); I
hate Lamingtons; I loooooove Pavlova; I love the beach with all
my heart and memory, but think that snags and steak on the barby
isn't hurt by some culinary expertise; I hate football but love
Bathurst every October; I don't want to be told by some soft guys
and gals on the telly what furnishings are "in" for my interior
design this year when my table sits just the right distance from
my sofa for me to rest me feet on, but I proudly bumped and
grinded all my muscles to jelly one year marching in the Sydney
Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras; I like coffee - *really* like coffee
- but I'll drink instant happily like I did my entire childhood,
and I don't care if some pretentious, vacuous coffee snob from
Paddo or beer-swilling pub-stool-warmer from Stocko sucks air
through their teeth at the thought of either; I think having a
nice cold drink with friends is good, but I'm usually as gregarious
as a sloth and about as sporty; I work in an office, and use my
brain a lot for my job; but I don't think that makes me smarter
or better than a brickie, but nor do I think it makes me less
of a person than one; I'm from the typical, white, middleclass
background of the great masses, even if my father was a pommy,
but that doesn't mean I want to live in that suburban notch my
entire life (even if it wanted me there, which it only ever did
as a guest or a "token"); I come from a Christian background,
but I don't think it's unreasonable for me or government to
reject that as a basis for living; I think a society that aims
for a classless sense of "mateship" is great, but I don't think
it's achieved by the enforcing, by law or contempt, what a large
portion of folk might *think* is "normal" (like "normal" is
desirable or even believable).
I am very fond of "authentic Oz culture". I was born here, I
love most of the parts of here I've lived in or visited, and I
find almost every person from whatever background here to have
assimilated some of it (rather than been assimilated) in a
fashion that makes interaction predominantly as pleasant as
"authentic Oz culture" would have you think. However, I hate,
more even than the gormless adoption of other cultures for no
apparent reason (LA gang or otherwise), when people don't seem
to grasp that the *enforcing* of an "authentic Oz culture" by
aggressive "patriotism" and fear; by throwing phrases like "the
Real Australia" or "Un-Australian" at others contemptuously,
immigrants or those like me who have lived here all our lives;
is most likely to erode the very "authentic Oz culture" that they
think they know so well.
It grinds me down after a while. I think it's more important to
be me than it is to be Australian, but it's bloody hard to be
authentic me when being an authentic Australian is a "LOVE IT
OR LEAVE IT" proposition amongst more and more "Aussie" company.
To pervert a Ballard quote "In a completely normal world, madness
is the only freedom".
Cheers,
Marc
Sydney, Oz
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
|