Lord Pom Percy

To say the UK has community spirit while OZ does'nt. Look at all the community spirit the chavs and some other groups you can think about in the UK have . People in OZ have probably gone though as much adversity if not more then people in the UK. The UK has'nt gone though any real great national adversity since WW2 , maybe there was a community spirit back then. Community spirit or community interaction is probably lacking in both countries not just OZ.

phoenixinoz

....and dog kennel...BBQ....spare bedroom...wardrobes.....

Pool...that's the best one. Takes a lot of ice to fill

kiwi_child

Agreed all western countries have issues in this regard, and I did mention this in an earlier post. However I still encountered a far different and more positive attitude when I was in the UK (admittedly a few years ago) than what I have found in oz. Part of the problem is that the urbanisation of australia and the political, social and economic factors have been poorly thought out and become a breeding ground for the problem.

I'm talking about community spirit at the level of say volunteer firefighters or the SES level. These are men and women of whom australia can really be very proud of. I'm talking more of the lack lustre, superficial sense of comunity local councils and state govts try to pass off to the rest of us as the norm. I'm talking about how as a society we keep to ourselves and fail to value and include others.

I'm talking about the superficial 'hand of friendship' that is seemingly extended but has no real authenticity beyond some burnt steak and a discussion of the weekend AFL game. A level of interaction that does not genuinely warm because it is by itself not genuine, merely an attempt to pass as such.

I'm talkign about the attitude that australia is the best and god help anyone who has any other viewpoint. If the place is truly so great and problem free (and I am struggling to think of anywhere that would be), then why not simply let it and it's people bask in their glory without all the rhetoric and continual push to make us all 'true believers'

Have a nice xmas and new year mate, to you and yours, and a good 2007

iPom

And yet this has never been my experience of Australia, ever.

zx10r_aus

I don't think you know what your talking about....

Am I the only one that thinks this post doesn't make sense?

ZX.......

kiwi_child

Sex Instructor ay...does it pay well

zx10r_aus

I'm just starting out..... I need to offer myself for free at first....


ZX.....

kiwi_child

I am pleased your experience has been a positive one for you (and believe it or not, I too have had some positive experiences in this country lol). But even so, I think it would be hard to deny that you have escaped the parochialism and constant carry on about how all things oz are just the bees kness...hmmm... maybe it's just more highly noticable in WA :scared:

Incidentally a lot of this carry on in my experience isn't necessarily from australians as individuals but from the media over here. Ask anyone in Perth who listens to say 6pr radio or watches channel 7 news etc. Yes I know I should quit them, but they do have some good shows on too.

Enjoy your xmas /ny break

DrWho

Nope, I'm with you too... But I put it down to being a bit early for KC...

kiwi_child

Well if you behave yourself you never know what the big man in the red suit and white beard might bring you

kiwi_child

Oh c'mon rodders..lift ya game u lazy bones

DrWho

Nope... I'm in truce mode until Boxing day... My own little contribution to world peace...

iPom

In my time travelling around Australia years ago, backpacking, I never came across the sorts of attitudes you are talking about. I just met a lot of really honest, salt of the earth people who were genuinely interested in me and I them.

I don't really watch tv and I don't read the papers, or watch the rubbish news channels...I do watch SBS or ABC news, current affairs. I just live a life, with my friends and my family, who are intelligent, articulate Australian people. I take no notice of what other people consider to be Australia, preferring to make up my own mind what I think. My life is all about my experience, not other people's, so others perceptions of what Australia is all about isn't really going to affect me.
At the end of the day, we are all humans, and as such, we are doing what humans do, world over. Whatever sociological slant people put on that, it's up to them, but people are people.
This is no utopian society, not that I have ever seen it claimed as such, and wherever you have people, you'll have the miriad of levels of intelligence that go with that.

I like Australia, I love people in general and I do like Australians very much. (After all, I married one) That helps, I find, when it comes to my levels of acceptance of other people and their acceptance of me.

Have a good christmas yourself.

kiwi_child

Bloody good post. Yes, personal experiences do have a lot to do with it. Can never really walk life in another's shoes.

kiwi_child

Yep... have a good one mate