Jacqui

From the West Australian 25/10/03:

"Lucky country gives way to angry nation. Far from being laid-back blokes and sheilas, Australians are ticking time bombs ready to explode into violence at the slightest provocation. This is the conclusion from two studies released in recent weeks which document the rise of rage in Australia. Airport rage is the latest in the ever expanding list of rages - road rage, trolley rage, phone rage.......... It seems our fuses are getting shorter....... Up yours has replaced no worries as the national slogan......... An increasing population and cutbacks in services from many agencies were big drivers of frustration in the community, said Professor Byrne, and suggested that instead of misdirecting our anger at the person in front of us, we take a deep breath and count to ten."

tennisoz

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, ........10

TennisOz

I preferred 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 by Midnight Oil

HiddenPaw

I guess the newspaper is being polite there!!!

tennisoz

Or perhaps over-generalising. How can a whole nation be described as angry, or friendly, or arrogant, or hard-working, or lazy, or lucky or whatever?? Tabloid journalism.

TennisOz

HiddenPaw

TO, everybody uses 'stereotyping' to describe the traits of a nation - but only a fool would believe that each and every person falls under that banner.

Take the article for what it's worth - it's light-hearted.

It's like saying "Australia is a nation of sports addicts" - we all know it's not true - half of them are overweight for starters.

Are we only supposed to refer to articles from broadsheets, that truly reflect the thoughts and findings of a nation? If so, which broadsheet? They all seem to have their own bias one way or another (in my opinion of course).

tennisoz

Sorry but I didn't take the content of the article to be light hearted (my first response was though) and I'm only guessing but I don't think it was posted to be 'amusing'.

Sorry too but if a person was a sports addict it doesn't mean they PLAY sport and no 'fool' would dispute obesity is a problem in all western nations. Anyone can sit watching sport on their TV with a 6 pack and fast food and be called a sports addict. For what it is worth, in my sport Australia has the highest participation rate in the world (9.9% of the population regularly play tennis, UK 5th 7%).

True, bias is found in every newspaper. They quite often reflect the political views of their owner and it is unavoidable. I just think the thoughts and findings (?) of any nation is an elusive butterfly - is there such a thing? Probably I am just saying I disagree with stereotyping - the Scots are tight with money, the Irish are friendly, the English are whingers, the Germans are ..... we've all heard them and they are IMO meaningless.

Broadsheets vs Tabloids is another issue for another thread. Incidentally, just have a look at which thread has had by far the most number of views in this forum - Wife Swap! But I diverge

TennisOz

MrsDagboy

I used to work in customer service tracking down lost packages in a large national transport company, & liasing with the customers until I found them, so I know all about rage on the phone, I used to wish that most people could get to about 50 .

But maybe Im stupid, but what the hell is trolley rage & airport rage? Sure we get some incidents of road rage, but Ive never even heard of the others?

tennisoz

Mrs Dagboy

Why spoil such a good story, it said Australians are bashing each other with trolleys in the supermarket and at airports. The paper said it so it's true. When will you learn

'Rock n roll will never die'

TennisOz

Paul&Ann-Marie

we live in the uk, trolley rage has us in a strangle hold, why, every time we go to asda there's a police van parked outside breaking up a fight over who got the trolley first.
For this reason if no other is why we intend to leave this country behind and start afresh in brisbane with our two young kids.

If this is the breaking news in australia then it sure beats the hell out of what i read every day in the paper.

Full steam ahead ( if only we knew the direction lol )

Paul

MrsDagboy

It obviously depends on where you shop!! I can't imagine any of the elderly ladies at my local Coles supermarket fighting me for a shopping trolley! LOL

Seriously, that is just totally bizarre!!!

Kenand Nel

Paul,

Best post in months. This is also one of the reasons I am getting out of here - this sad angry island.

Ken

bondipom

I have witnessed trolley rage down under (people knocking into each other in a crowded supermarket) and in the UK. I have had people request fights with me from their cars down under. I generally pretend to pull in, they pull in and I over take them waving and laughing.

Rage is a growing global phenomenom.

jandjuk

I get trolley rage all the time. Not actual rage anybody else would notice - I keep it internalised! But underneath I'm swearing and cursing and knocking that old lady (who incidentyally, is taking far too long to choose her baked beans anyway) out of my way!

Seriously, I really do think my local tescos needs traffic lights. Some people just don't know how to handle their trolleys at all. I mean double/triple parking, dangerous overtaking, tailgating grrrrrrr

Drives me nuts.

MrsDagboy

You really HAVE lost it, havent you? LOL

mumomonty

You said it. It's global so any of you lot thinking you will get a way from it, think again. It's a disease of our Century. Hopefully that asteroid is well on its way. Cheery thought.