Coronavirus/COVID-19

[dogwatch]

You people watch and read too much American crap.

I thought this was just a joke, but reading some of the posts here I realise this is true to a worrying extent.

The amount of US news content I read in any given year is so close to zero that it doesn't matter ... and it's mostly from links that have been posted here! Ditto with American sports and the entertainment industry. It doesn't interest me (except in a ghoulish voyeuristic sort of way) and I just don't go there.

Does that make me a xenophobe? (What's the USA-specific version of that word?)

Disclaimer: Some of my best friends are Americans.

 

[dogwatch]

I suspect you and I would disagree on quite a large number of things, but just wanted to commend your willingness to clearly explain what you think and where you're coming from.

I'll second that. Couldn't quite hit the like button on gcbc's post but I did appreciate the candour.

 

[ivan rassmussen]

One person’s political correctness is another person’s respect.

 

[Chicago1]

I thought this was just a joke, but reading some of the posts here I realise this is true to a worrying extent.

The amount of US news content I read in any given year is so close to zero that it doesn't matter ... and it's mostly from links that have been posted here! Ditto with American sports and the entertainment industry. It doesn't interest me (except in a ghoulish voyeuristic sort of way) and I just don't go there.

Does that make me a xenophobe? (What's the USA-specific version of that word?)

Disclaimer: Some of my best friends are Americans.

You, sir, might be a Yankophile or Rebophile, if referring exclusively to Southerners. (I'm not that fond of Southerners myself, though I guess Floridog is an exception. )

My experience living here from 1975 to 2000 was quite different compared to what I have encountered since my return three years ago. I watched a combination of Australian shows and American shows. In fact I watched mostly Aussie produced shows for the last 15 years of my first stay here. Of course back in those days I only had five TV stations to choose from. As for American news, whatever was on Ch 9 news is what I saw. I did get the H/S on weekdays and that and The Age on weekends. I was lucky to read the baseball scores in the H/S and rarely was there anything about my Cubs.

When I returned to Australia in 2017 I came back to a different country. Even though I had visited eight times in my 17 years away, living here has been a totally different experience. I guess I really do miss the days when social media did not control some people's lives. Having information at my fingertips has been both wonderful and frightening.

This post has taken me about two hours to write. I have deleted much of what I had originally written, since I'm sure that no one wants to read my ramblings yet again. I do appreciate the respectful way that most on here have expressed their viewpoints, even though they are so, so wrong.

 

[Floridog]

You, sir, might be a Yankophile or Rebophile, if referring exclusively to Southerners. (I'm not that fond of Southerners myself, though I guess Floridog is an exception. )

I'm actually a displaced Yankee. Though I grew up in the Bahamas and consider myself an Islander. Ya mon!

 

[Pugz89]

Seems like you've made some pretty strong assumptions about me, so I will give you a detailed background about me, what I listen to and an explanation. I do have very strong views about different things, but I think you'll find I am willing to listen and I do listen to some differing points of view.

A bit about myself. I am 29 years old, so yes I'm reasonably young. I grew up in a small country town and I'm back living in my hometown on a family farm now. I live in a conservative area, I believe it's been Liberal/National for as long as I've lived. I also have a Liberal Premier in NSW. I'm fine with admitting I have some bias, however I'm not a Coalition/National voter as such in fact I'm not a fan of either of the current leaders in my district and state. I like Scomo though. I moved to Melbourne/Geelong to do my training in agriculture after I left school (which is where I sprung a real love for the Western Bulldogs). This certainly exposed me to different viewpoints both political and in life. I've seen that city dwellers see things very differently to country folk. And a lot of the time we speak on totally different issues.

As for what I watch and listen to. I do probably listen to more American Media then I do Australian to be honest. In the mainstream American media side of things, I think it's been well established I like listening to Tucker Carlson. People here are implying he's a conspiracy theorist. Well if that's true, for a conspiracy theorist, he's right a lot from what I've seen. He's also someone that has different people on with complete differing opinions like ANTIFA for example which is a very left group... I have tried listening to CNN, but I just can't tolerate it. I can tolerate MSNBC to a degree, just don't make me listen to Rachel Maddow! I do read a bit of New York Times too, they have some good journalists.

On independent media (youtube), Tim Pool is someone I've listened to a fair bit. In his own words he's a left of centre, milk toast fence sitter. Even though he's left leaning, he calls out the left media a lot and the Democrats. Perhaps this is part of where my dislike for left American media comes from. He does call out Fox and the Republican's sometimes too though. I think he's got a fair bit of credibility as he's worked at some pretty big media organisations and played a big part in them. He's someone that cares about the truth more so then what any of the mainstream media outlets do IMO... Apart from that I like watching PraguerU videos. They look at things more from a philosophical point of view, but yeah they are conservatives. Steven Crowder I find funny, he's kind of like a late night talk show host only right wing.

As for Australian Media, I do listen to a lot of ABC radio which I find is left leaning. It does have some very good programs on the rural side. Alan Jones has some good opinions on the rural side of things as well.. I waver with Andrew Bolt, I think he tries too hard and generally has people that agree with him too much. I always take the time to listen to Martin Ilyes of the Australian Christian Lobby though. Yep I'm a Christian. He brings up a lot of social/moral issues on politics, a lot of things mainstream media doesn't cover.

So why do I think the country is moving too far to the left? Well the main issues for me are

- I'm very against euthanasia and abortion, I'm a strong believer in the preservation of life

- I'm very against what's happening in our schools. I think we are confusing our kids with this gender fluidity stuff and over sexualizing our kids. Drag Queen story time is insane. If someone wants to make that decision as an adult, that's fine. Just don't practice it at schools

- I believe in a multi ethnic Australia, not in a multi cultural Australia. I think people from different cultures should adopt our culture if they want to live here. A lot of European nations are having a lot of problems going down this road as it doesn't create a lot of unity, in fact it can create a lot of disunity when cultures start clashing

- I think political correctness is getting out of hand. It's getting harder to air your beliefs and to criticise certain ideas. People are losing their jobs over certain religious beliefs

- I don't know if this is a left or right thing, but I thought I'd mention it. I'm also an advocate against the trafficking of prostitutes. Australia is one of the top 20 trafficking destinations in the world. There's stories of women being forced to work in brothels from 9am to 11pm every day of the week. We are advocating for the Nordic model (used in Scandinavian countries) to be introduced which criminalises the purchase of sex and creates easy pathways for trafficked women to exit without fear of prosecution.

As for bitter politics and the lies. I agree. The problem is it's on both sides as I stated in an earlier post on this thread. Social media hasn't helped and the lines are blurred between opinion and fact.

Anyway that's a bit about me and my point of view. There's other things, but I'll leave it at that. At the end of the day I think we still live in a great country and we can air our views with a lot of freedom. I do fear we are losing our Identity as a nation though.

Good summary man. I hope you didn't feel like you needed to do that to justify yourself/your opinions.

Tim Pool's podcasts with Joe Rogan are great. Particularly the one where Jack Dorsey was involved.

 

[Pugz89]

I'm willing to admit I've made a few mistakes in my time, I'm not proud of going down certain paths. I wasn't looking for the Klu Klux Klan stuff though, someone I knew was into that crap.

As for the Socialism thing, I think this is what the government is there for and this is the perfect time for the government to intervene. Meaning you don't want to rely on the government generally speaking, but when your country is in trouble for example, this is the perfect time for the government to step up.

As for Hannity, he ain't that good. Give me more of Tucker. You know the guy that was all over the Caronavirus on the 28th Jan. Get around him.

I will say one thing though. Hannity was onto Spygate very early and the fact that story hasn't been picked up by any other major media is evidence enough of some bias within some organizations imo. If Sara Carter was doing the same work, but it was Trump spying on Obama/Obama campaign, she'd be in line for so many awards.

 

[ScragCity]

Seems like you've made some pretty strong assumptions about me, so I will give you a detailed background about me, what I listen to and an explanation. I do have very strong views about different things, but I think you'll find I am willing to listen and I do listen to some differing points of view.

A bit about myself. I am 29 years old, so yes I'm reasonably young. I grew up in a small country town and I'm back living in my hometown on a family farm now. I live in a conservative area, I believe it's been Liberal/National for as long as I've lived. I also have a Liberal Premier in NSW. I'm fine with admitting I have some bias, however I'm not a Coalition/National voter as such in fact I'm not a fan of either of the current leaders in my district and state. I like Scomo though. I moved to Melbourne/Geelong to do my training in agriculture after I left school (which is where I sprung a real love for the Western Bulldogs). This certainly exposed me to different viewpoints both political and in life. I've seen that city dwellers see things very differently to country folk. And a lot of the time we speak on totally different issues.

As for what I watch and listen to. I do probably listen to more American Media then I do Australian to be honest. In the mainstream American media side of things, I think it's been well established I like listening to Tucker Carlson. People here are implying he's a conspiracy theorist. Well if that's true, for a conspiracy theorist, he's right a lot from what I've seen. He's also someone that has different people on with complete differing opinions like ANTIFA for example which is a very left group... I have tried listening to CNN, but I just can't tolerate it. I can tolerate MSNBC to a degree, just don't make me listen to Rachel Maddow! I do read a bit of New York Times too, they have some good journalists.

On independent media (youtube), Tim Pool is someone I've listened to a fair bit. In his own words he's a left of centre, milk toast fence sitter. Even though he's left leaning, he calls out the left media a lot and the Democrats. Perhaps this is part of where my dislike for left American media comes from. He does call out Fox and the Republican's sometimes too though. I think he's got a fair bit of credibility as he's worked at some pretty big media organisations and played a big part in them. He's someone that cares about the truth more so then what any of the mainstream media outlets do IMO... Apart from that I like watching PraguerU videos. They look at things more from a philosophical point of view, but yeah they are conservatives. Steven Crowder I find funny, he's kind of like a late night talk show host only right wing.

As for Australian Media, I do listen to a lot of ABC radio which I find is left leaning. It does have some very good programs on the rural side. Alan Jones has some good opinions on the rural side of things as well.. I waver with Andrew Bolt, I think he tries too hard and generally has people that agree with him too much. I always take the time to listen to Martin Ilyes of the Australian Christian Lobby though. Yep I'm a Christian. He brings up a lot of social/moral issues on politics, a lot of things mainstream media doesn't cover.

So why do I think the country is moving too far to the left? Well the main issues for me are

- I'm very against euthanasia and abortion, I'm a strong believer in the preservation of life

- I'm very against what's happening in our schools. I think we are confusing our kids with this gender fluidity stuff and over sexualizing our kids. Drag Queen story time is insane. If someone wants to make that decision as an adult, that's fine. Just don't practice it at schools

- I believe in a multi ethnic Australia, not in a multi cultural Australia. I think people from different cultures should adopt our culture if they want to live here. A lot of European nations are having a lot of problems going down this road as it doesn't create a lot of unity, in fact it can create a lot of disunity when cultures start clashing

- I think political correctness is getting out of hand. It's getting harder to air your beliefs and to criticise certain ideas. People are losing their jobs over certain religious beliefs

- I don't know if this is a left or right thing, but I thought I'd mention it. I'm also an advocate against the trafficking of prostitutes. Australia is one of the top 20 trafficking destinations in the world. There's stories of women being forced to work in brothels from 9am to 11pm every day of the week. We are advocating for the Nordic model (used in Scandinavian countries) to be introduced which criminalises the purchase of sex and creates easy pathways for trafficked women to exit without fear of prosecution.

As for bitter politics and the lies. I agree. The problem is it's on both sides as I stated in an earlier post on this thread. Social media hasn't helped and the lines are blurred between opinion and fact.

Anyway that's a bit about me and my point of view. There's other things, but I'll leave it at that. At the end of the day I think we still live in a great country and we can air our views with a lot of freedom. I do fear we are losing our Identity as a nation though.

I don't think the left usually support human trafficking but I could be wrong.

What are your thoughts on climate change? What are your thoughts on science in general?

 

[ScragCity]

Good summary man. I hope you didn't feel like you needed to do that to justify yourself/your opinions.

Tim Pool's podcasts with Joe Rogan are great. Particularly the one where Jack Dorsey was involved.

Why do you think that he shouldn't have to justify his opinions? If you're not able to justify your opinions then it's probably worth having a good think about whether or not you should keep them. I honestly love it when people ask me to justify my opinions because it gives me an opportunity to examine them and find any flaws and sometimes change them. I'm also very willing to challenge other people's opinions and it's usually with my friends and people I respect intellectually. I think the idea of accepting people's opinions as if opinions are something we are all entitled to and should be held sacred is ridiculous. Some opinions are just objectively stupid, wrong or dangerous. That's not to say that we need to be hostile or condescending, but tactfully challenging each others opinions is very healthy for all of us.

 

[Mutt]

Why do you think that he shouldn't have to justify his opinions? If you're not able to justify your opinions then it's probably worth having a good think about whether or not you should keep them. I honestly love it when people ask me to justify my opinions because it gives me an opportunity to examine them and find any flaws and sometimes change them. I'm also very willing to challenge other people's opinions and it's usually with my friends and people I respect intellectually. I think the idea of accepting people's opinions as if opinions are something we are all entitled to and should be held sacred is ridiculous. Some opinions are just objectively stupid, wrong or dangerous. That's not to say that we need to be hostile or condescending, but tactfully challenging each others opinions is very healthy for all of us.

What have you done with ScragCity???? Someone has clearly hacked his account!

 

[King Harold]

Always surprised when I hear someone say they are a Christian , and at the same time defend Trump No matter what.
His whole life could not have been lived more un- Christian.
But just shows human bias is even more powerful than any religious beliefs.

For the record I’m a non believer for what’s worth.

 

[King Harold]

As I said I’m not picking one side against the other but the Democrats are no better, they all lie day in day out

For me got nothing to do with Democrat / Republican ideology.
Its all about Trump the person.

His bare face lying and incompetence make him the world champ by the length of the Flemington straight.
if some on here think that is all ok , as I have said , we have truly sunk to new lows.

 

[BRWB]

Does that make me a xenophobe? (What's the USA-specific version of that word?)

Disclaimer: Some of my best friends are Americans.

Patriot?

 

[Mattdougie]

For me got nothing to do with Democrat / Republican ideology.
Its all about Trump the person.

His bare face lying and incompetence make him the world champ by the length of the Flemington straight.
if some on here think that is all ok , as I have said , we have truly sunk to new lows.

I don’t think anyone thinks his BS is ok mate but with people like AOC and Pelosi on the other side I think Trump has some contenders if I’m honest.

 

[King Harold]

I don’t think anyone thinks his BS is ok mate but with people like AOC and Pelosi on the other side I think Trump has some contenders if I’m honest.

we agree to disagree old fella !

 

[The_torpedo]

I don’t think anyone thinks his BS is ok mate but with people like AOC and Pelosi on the other side I think Trump has some contenders if I’m honest.

Yeah you're not wrong there. I mean I support AOC but she does tell quite a few porkies.

 

[The_torpedo]

That said, Trump is still miles ahead in the lying department.

 

[Pugz89]

Why do you think that he shouldn't have to justify his opinions? If you're not able to justify your opinions then it's probably worth having a good think about whether or not you should keep them. I honestly love it when people ask me to justify my opinions because it gives me an opportunity to examine them and find any flaws and sometimes change them. I'm also very willing to challenge other people's opinions and it's usually with my friends and people I respect intellectually. I think the idea of accepting people's opinions as if opinions are something we are all entitled to and should be held sacred is ridiculous. Some opinions are just objectively stupid, wrong or dangerous. That's not to say that we need to be hostile or condescending, but tactfully challenging each others opinions is very healthy for all of us.

Justifying them to faceless people on an internet forum is different to justifying them to yourself imo. Obviously we all reconcile and justify our opinions within ourselves, but being pressured to do it on an internet forum shouldn't be a necessary (but welcomed if people choose to), particularly when things have already got heated and personal attacks have taken place.

 

[mattwa]

Jeez I know its bad times but it goes to show you how far out club has come off the field. The running of this football club has been second to none in recent times. Link from article below....

Only four AFL clubs would be able to survive through 2020 without help from the league and HQ will need to take further control of their bank accounts, reports Nine.

West Coast, Richmond, Hawthorn and Collingwood are the teams said to be financially strong enough to keep operating if there is no 2020 season and the AFL does not fund the clubs.



Gold Coast and North Melbourne are among the clubs most in danger according to Caroline Wilson, who reported they would need money within the next two weeks to remain solvent.

The AFL plans to “essentially turn league chief Gillon McLachlan and the AFL Commission into the competition’s banker”, as the teams will be able to borrow from the league interest-free until the end of October, before interest of 3.3 per cent is levied.

The league reportedly has $600 million on offer and if the AFL season begins by early August, the Bombers, Bulldogs and “potentially” the Crows would join the Eagles, Tigers, Hawks and Magpies as able to survive without borrowing

 

[Pugz89]

Jeez I know its bad times but it goes to show you how far out club has come off the field. The running of this football club has been second to none in recent times. Link from article below....

Only four AFL clubs would be able to survive through 2020 without help from the league and HQ will need to take further control of their bank accounts, reports Nine.

West Coast, Richmond, Hawthorn and Collingwood are the teams said to be financially strong enough to keep operating if there is no 2020 season and the AFL does not fund the clubs.



Gold Coast and North Melbourne are among the clubs most in danger according to Caroline Wilson, who reported they would need money within the next two weeks to remain solvent.

The AFL plans to “essentially turn league chief Gillon McLachlan and the AFL Commission into the competition’s banker”, as the teams will be able to borrow from the league interest-free until the end of October, before interest of 3.3 per cent is levied.

The league reportedly has $600 million on offer and if the AFL season begins by early August, the Bombers, Bulldogs and “potentially” the Crows would join the Eagles, Tigers, Hawks and Magpies as able to survive without borrowing

Given we are a smaller club, I wonder if we are somewhat better equipped to deal with this scenario, as we are used to operating on smaller budgets, whereas other clubs are used to having wiggle room. Obviously having the right ppl in place helps as well of course.

 

[Cadillac]

Having Gordon and Baines in our corner is a huge positive for us. I really hope we can hold on on to Baines long term. He seems destined for bigger and better things one day.

 

[Pugz89]

And this is why we are forced to lock people in hotels.. Absolute assholes!

 

[NBates]

Always surprised when I hear someone say they are a Christian , and at the same time defend Trump No matter what.
His whole life could not have been lived more un- Christian.
But just shows human bias is even more powerful than any religious beliefs.

For the record I’m a non believer for what’s worth.

Most Christian religions/churches are un-Christian......Jesus the person who actually existed was a rebel with a modest lifestyle & gave tips, not orders...

 

[NBates]

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Seems like you've made some pretty strong assumptions about me, so I will give you a detailed background about me, what I listen to and an explanation. I do have very strong views about different things, but I think you'll find I am willing to listen and I do listen to some differing points of view.

A bit about myself. I am 29 years old, so yes I'm reasonably young. I grew up in a small country town and I'm back living in my hometown on a family farm now. I live in a conservative area, I believe it's been Liberal/National for as long as I've lived. I also have a Liberal Premier in NSW. I'm fine with admitting I have some bias, however I'm not a Coalition/National voter as such in fact I'm not a fan of either of the current leaders in my district and state. I like Scomo though. I moved to Melbourne/Geelong to do my training in agriculture after I left school (which is where I sprung a real love for the Western Bulldogs). This certainly exposed me to different viewpoints both political and in life. I've seen that city dwellers see things very differently to country folk. And a lot of the time we speak on totally different issues.

As for what I watch and listen to. I do probably listen to more American Media then I do Australian to be honest. In the mainstream American media side of things, I think it's been well established I like listening to Tucker Carlson. People here are implying he's a conspiracy theorist. Well if that's true, for a conspiracy theorist, he's right a lot from what I've seen. He's also someone that has different people on with complete differing opinions like ANTIFA for example which is a very left group... I have tried listening to CNN, but I just can't tolerate it. I can tolerate MSNBC to a degree, just don't make me listen to Rachel Maddow! I do read a bit of New York Times too, they have some good journalists.

On independent media (youtube), Tim Pool is someone I've listened to a fair bit. In his own words he's a left of centre, milk toast fence sitter. Even though he's left leaning, he calls out the left media a lot and the Democrats. Perhaps this is part of where my dislike for left American media comes from. He does call out Fox and the Republican's sometimes too though. I think he's got a fair bit of credibility as he's worked at some pretty big media organisations and played a big part in them. He's someone that cares about the truth more so then what any of the mainstream media outlets do IMO... Apart from that I like watching PraguerU videos. They look at things more from a philosophical point of view, but yeah they are conservatives. Steven Crowder I find funny, he's kind of like a late night talk show host only right wing.

As for Australian Media, I do listen to a lot of ABC radio which I find is left leaning. It does have some very good programs on the rural side. Alan Jones has some good opinions on the rural side of things as well.. I waver with Andrew Bolt, I think he tries too hard and generally has people that agree with him too much. I always take the time to listen to Martin Ilyes of the Australian Christian Lobby though. Yep I'm a Christian. He brings up a lot of social/moral issues on politics, a lot of things mainstream media doesn't cover.

So why do I think the country is moving too far to the left? Well the main issues for me are

- I'm very against euthanasia and abortion, I'm a strong believer in the preservation of life

- I'm very against what's happening in our schools. I think we are confusing our kids with this gender fluidity stuff and over sexualizing our kids. Drag Queen story time is insane. If someone wants to make that decision as an adult, that's fine. Just don't practice it at schools

- I believe in a multi ethnic Australia, not in a multi cultural Australia. I think people from different cultures should adopt our culture if they want to live here. A lot of European nations are having a lot of problems going down this road as it doesn't create a lot of unity, in fact it can create a lot of disunity when cultures start clashing

- I think political correctness is getting out of hand. It's getting harder to air your beliefs and to criticise certain ideas. People are losing their jobs over certain religious beliefs

- I don't know if this is a left or right thing, but I thought I'd mention it. I'm also an advocate against the trafficking of prostitutes. Australia is one of the top 20 trafficking destinations in the world. There's stories of women being forced to work in brothels from 9am to 11pm every day of the week. We are advocating for the Nordic model (used in Scandinavian countries) to be introduced which criminalises the purchase of sex and creates easy pathways for trafficked women to exit without fear of prosecution.

As for bitter politics and the lies. I agree. The problem is it's on both sides as I stated in an earlier post on this thread. Social media hasn't helped and the lines are blurred between opinion and fact.

Anyway that's a bit about me and my point of view. There's other things, but I'll leave it at that. At the end of the day I think we still live in a great country and we can air our views with a lot of freedom. I do fear we are losing our Identity as a nation though.

Thank you for your respectful honest reply.

If you are 29 then your whole life has been under economic rationalism, you would have grown up never knowing a strong union movement that fought for the rights you still enjoy, as depleted as they are. You would have had little exposure to having a progressive government. You would have grown up hearing that people are poor because they are lazy. That trickle down economics works, and that there is no such thing as a community just an economy.

I for a good 25 years lived in a rural area where the Nationals had safe seats in the neighbouring areas, and these were the poorest communities. It always seemed ironic to me that they kept voting them in when they seemed to be more interested in big business, and big landholders not the communities. Fortunately one area came to its senses and has since been voting in independents who truly represent the needs of all the community.

The fact you have an interest in American politics and commentary is truly frightening, as I hope to god Australia never becomes America.

America is very polarised over abortion, yet ironically enough have no welfare state to support single mothers (unlike Australia). If you are a single mother in America, you are told about the level playing field. Don’t expect a hand up, with free education childcare or the like. Rape victims are expected to have the child at the detriment to the mothers mental health. Yet at the same time American States will not allow sex education or contraception in schools. Abortion clinics have been bombed in America, so I not sure if the right to lifers are about saving lives or “traditional family values” I.e maintaining patriarchy.

I prefer Abortion to be a personal decision, and not judge a woman if she decides to abort, give her some credit that she has considered all aspects of this and had made this difficult decision in the best interests of all. There are too many children growing up in miserable poverty, violence and abuse. I won’t even touch on the over population of the planet argument as it seems a bit insensitive.

Euthanasia, as long as checks and balances are in place to ensure the person fully agrees to this decision and it not the result of a depressive symptom or pressure from a spouse or family member. I still think it is a work in progress, but can really feel for people in intense pain with a terminal illness, long days, suffering family waiting to die.

Prostitution is the oldest profession in the world, it is fuelled by demand. Street prostitution is dangerous and only the sex workers are fined, which is interesting. The more patriarchal the State the more prostitution thrives. Victorian England for example, Saudi Arabia today. Sex trafficking is abhorrent and is a form of slavery and is a crime against humanity, there is no place for acceptance of this anywhere. Legalised brothels meeting OH&S and Award terms and conditions I think are acceptable.

Multi cultural society is about respecting diversity. I love it myself, and get a kick out of learning about other people’s cultures. This does not mean they should be above the rule of law though. Back in the 80s people were saying the Italians and Greeks were too foreign and the whinging Pom should be sent back as will, then it was the Maltese, Vietnamese, the Lebanese, the Turks, the Syrians.....

Political correctness has been distorted by the right, it is not meant to stifle, it is just meant to be respectful and sensitive to difference and therefore inclusive.

As for the safer schools program, it is a program to reach out to young people who are questioning their sexuality at an early age, young members of the LGBTIQ community are at high risk of suicide and poor mental health, how can we reach out to them in other ways? Especially if they come from a conservative or religious family.

A bit about me, I come from a very conservative middle class family, I am a accidental migrant to Australia, visiting and ending up staying. I am a couple of decades older than you. I have a strong sense of social justice, because I work in the welfare system, and everyday I see people who haven’t had the opportunities I have had. It is very rare for someone to rise above this level of disadvantage. I also see the face of the statistics you hear about and understand the whole story.

I have a son who is gay and I thank god everyday that he was born in this time. I still remember a time before Centrelink when the government helped you to get a job not punished you for being unemployed. There was something called the public service, before privatisation, which came with transparency not business confidentiality. Job security was a given, a sense of fairness was part of the Australian psyche. Higher Education was attainable.The environment mattered, hell a whole election was based on stopping a dam once. Politicians were held to account and everyone called the ABC Aunty. Things had a value not a price tag.

I love Australia, but I want to be proud of being an Australian.