an Aussies view of one of its famous ex pats
Jul 6th 2004, 2:01 pm
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an Aussies view of one of its famous ex pats
Who said the Aussies cannot take criticism of their beloved country????
Things you don't see in the Greer-view mirror
February 1, 2004
If Germaine Greer lived here instead of piddling on us from a great
height, she would know that we have other things on our minds, writes
Terry Lane.
Where would we be without Germaine Greer? Who else would
keep us on our toes and at the same time keep us humble?
There she is,
part Cassandra, part Gorgon, spoiling our Australia Day barbie by
reminding us of our lack of couth out here in our Ramsay Streets,
spreading "as rapidly as oil stains on water".
Except that it is not
quite Ramsay Street, she says, because in the real thing we don't even
know who our neighbours are, let alone live in each others' pockets.
It's enough to make one ache for the true camaraderie, community and
intellectual stimulation of Coronation Street, where films and books are
the constant topic of conversation.
Well, we haven't got time for films
and books. And if she lived here instead of piddling on us from a great
height, she would know that we have other things on our minds.
Does she
have any idea what it is like to live in a nation where there is so much
sport going on that, with the best will in the world, there are not
enough hours in the day to watch it, listen to it and read about it?
Where are we going to fit a movie or book into this crowded schedule,
never mind find time to talk to what's-her-name next door?
She makes a
big song and dance about the brain drain from the antipodes to the
civilised world. She reckons that 1 million of our best and brightest
have left to work in foreign laboratories and universities.
It's a
matter of priorities. First things first. We have the best sporting
stadiums in the world and we have more of them than anyone else. We have
domes and arenas and parks and grounds and God knows what. We have
Olympic games and Commonwealth games and grands prix, world
championships, Ashes, one-dayers and opens and at least eight institutes
of sport, state and federal.
Where does she think we are going to find
the money for schools, universities and laboratories and research and
development or even to make movies after we've paid for all this world-
class sports stuff?
Can't she get her head around the notion that you
can't have cutting-edge sports medicine and find a cure for warts at the
same time? We're not made of money.
Speaking of which, she also gives
us a serve for being underpaid and overcharged. She says that our wages
are low and our prices are high and we are teetering on the brink of
Third World-dom.
Well, that's globalisation, pal. It's no longer in
our hands. These things are decided by the Market. That's why our
political leaders can spend months with the hoi polloi watching cricket
and tennis, leaving the country on auto-pilot.
Or in the hands of
pilots in the cockpits of America, Japan, Singapore, Germany, Britain
and France. That's the way globalisation is supposed to work.
Greer
says: "Most of the manufactured goods on sale anywhere in Australia are
made somewhere in Asia . . ." Globalisation again. Posh nations like
ours don't do the dirty work any more. We leave that to the peasants.
We have the information economy. We are all computer programmers these
days, or at least we were until Telstra kicked us further into the
future by sending its IT work to India.
And thank God for that. Once
the IT, PR, HR and CC jobs have gone the way of the factories, we can
get back to cricket, footy and tennis without fear of interruption.
This story was found at: ]http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004-
/01/31/1075340889266.html[/url]
--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com
Things you don't see in the Greer-view mirror
February 1, 2004
If Germaine Greer lived here instead of piddling on us from a great
height, she would know that we have other things on our minds, writes
Terry Lane.
Where would we be without Germaine Greer? Who else would
keep us on our toes and at the same time keep us humble?
There she is,
part Cassandra, part Gorgon, spoiling our Australia Day barbie by
reminding us of our lack of couth out here in our Ramsay Streets,
spreading "as rapidly as oil stains on water".
Except that it is not
quite Ramsay Street, she says, because in the real thing we don't even
know who our neighbours are, let alone live in each others' pockets.
It's enough to make one ache for the true camaraderie, community and
intellectual stimulation of Coronation Street, where films and books are
the constant topic of conversation.
Well, we haven't got time for films
and books. And if she lived here instead of piddling on us from a great
height, she would know that we have other things on our minds.
Does she
have any idea what it is like to live in a nation where there is so much
sport going on that, with the best will in the world, there are not
enough hours in the day to watch it, listen to it and read about it?
Where are we going to fit a movie or book into this crowded schedule,
never mind find time to talk to what's-her-name next door?
She makes a
big song and dance about the brain drain from the antipodes to the
civilised world. She reckons that 1 million of our best and brightest
have left to work in foreign laboratories and universities.
It's a
matter of priorities. First things first. We have the best sporting
stadiums in the world and we have more of them than anyone else. We have
domes and arenas and parks and grounds and God knows what. We have
Olympic games and Commonwealth games and grands prix, world
championships, Ashes, one-dayers and opens and at least eight institutes
of sport, state and federal.
Where does she think we are going to find
the money for schools, universities and laboratories and research and
development or even to make movies after we've paid for all this world-
class sports stuff?
Can't she get her head around the notion that you
can't have cutting-edge sports medicine and find a cure for warts at the
same time? We're not made of money.
Speaking of which, she also gives
us a serve for being underpaid and overcharged. She says that our wages
are low and our prices are high and we are teetering on the brink of
Third World-dom.
Well, that's globalisation, pal. It's no longer in
our hands. These things are decided by the Market. That's why our
political leaders can spend months with the hoi polloi watching cricket
and tennis, leaving the country on auto-pilot.
Or in the hands of
pilots in the cockpits of America, Japan, Singapore, Germany, Britain
and France. That's the way globalisation is supposed to work.
Greer
says: "Most of the manufactured goods on sale anywhere in Australia are
made somewhere in Asia . . ." Globalisation again. Posh nations like
ours don't do the dirty work any more. We leave that to the peasants.
We have the information economy. We are all computer programmers these
days, or at least we were until Telstra kicked us further into the
future by sending its IT work to India.
And thank God for that. Once
the IT, PR, HR and CC jobs have gone the way of the factories, we can
get back to cricket, footy and tennis without fear of interruption.
This story was found at: ]http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004-
/01/31/1075340889266.html[/url]
--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com
