Are we a nation of "Good Rule Followers"?

[stui magpie]

Waleed Aly wrote an article in the Age a few days ago about the current Coronavirus situation and made this statement.

Quote:

One of the reasons the rules-based approach worked so well for two years is that Australians, in spite of our larrikin self-image, are fantastic rule-followers. We’re a country of compulsory seatbelts, compulsory bicycle helmets, compulsory voting. In all such things we are early adopters, or just outliers. Our sensibilities mean we quite like government regulation in exactly the way Americans don’t.

The full article is here Australia’s current approach to COVID embodies a simple contradiction

It has a few out dated bits since the government has reintroduced the $750 payment, but this post isn't about Covid, it's about the notion that we're a good nation of obedient, compliant, rule followers.

I disagree with the premise, but I can only really speak for me personally.

The examples he used aren't great. Compulsory voting is in the Constitution and we've been conditioned to accept seat belts and bike helmets with a combination of health messaging and penalties for non compliance.

I do agree that Australians in general don't have the same culture of "rights" that the USA does, but I don't consider that makes us compliant. Yeah, most people accepted harsh lockdown restrictions over 2020/21 but those were combined with constant fearmongering tactics and fines for non compliance. That no one paid the fines is beside the point.

My view is that, as a nation, we are not compliant, we don't embrace authoritarian rule, but we have a degree of apathy and pragmatism. Government know which buttons to push and they do it.

Want to introduce a change that reduces people's "freedoms", just run a marketing publicity campaign that hammers the reasons for the change, usually health based, and attach big financial consequences for non-compliance.

Think Speeding and the TAC ads and the old "Drink Drive, Bloody Idiot" ads.

People, in my view, filter this though the pragmatism of "how does this impact me" and "what are the consequences if I ignore it?" rather than instantly getting their back up about rights like they would in the US.
It comes down to, "I don't really like it but I can live with it because I can see the logic" or "Meh, doesn't impact me, don't care"

Does that make us a nation of rule followers or a logical if apathetic people? I don't buy the notion that we like being told what to do.

Please discuss

 

[JB1975]

Waleed popped out with a similar article with a similar contention during the first year of the pandemic. It was hogwash then and it's hogwash now.

The individualism of the US is pathological, and stands as a detriment to the notion of society itself. The right to bear arms is only the most dramatic example.

A comparison with Britain would have been more appropriate.

To use a pandemic as an example of a rules-loving society is as absurd as pointing at the ways in which people toed the line during WWII. This ignores the history of protest and agitation in Australia, from unions to university students.

As much as local councils love to devise ways of making people's lives more difficult, Australians have developed a culture of pretending that the council and its petty autocrats don't exist. Fires are lit on days when they shouldn't be, trees go missing without permission, extensions appear without decree.

Australians are largely reasonable and pragmatic, and their political leaders have made a habit of appealing to the middle since Federation.

 

[Black_White]

We are a nation that prides itself on the legend of outlaw, and cop killer, Ned Kelly.
We believe we live as rebels. But we don’t.
We are a people who, subconsciously, need laws and rules.
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
This does not mean we go meekly wherever our leaders take us, in fact we also pride ourselves on the freedom to have a voice and express it.
In the end though, the majority of the population win. And that majority are rule followers.