Email and factual mistakes

"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time" - TS Eliot

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Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “ What is history but a fable agreed upon?" The same thing could be said for culture. This site is essentially about trying to ascertain why fables of history and culture might have been agreed upon. This requires speculation about the likely facts as well as the social identity and vested interests that have interpreted them, or corrupted them.

If any reader disputes a fact or believes an interpretation is flawed, please send feedback. As a website, this site is open to scrutiny from the cultures that it considers. This advantage can not be fully harnessed unless those who disagree state their disagreement and are prepared to justify it.

convictwally@hotmail.com

Author

The author is an well-travelled Australian of multiracial ancestry. For a number of reasons, he/she would prefer to remain anonymous.   People wishing to cite the website in any material can simply cite it without needing to refer to the author.

First published: March 2000

Motivation

The author has travelled to Europe, Africa, Nth America and lived in China and Japan. When travelling, he/she has always been stereotyped as an Australian before being seen by his/her individual character traits. In these situations, it was important to be aware of what the Australian stereotype is, and why it was created and applied. In addition, the discussion of cultural differences sometimes served as the kind of small talk that the discussion of work or football serves in Australia.

Although it was usually small talk, at times, it escalated into quite significant discussions that had political, social and vocational implications. Being able to discuss culture, its origins, myths, and influences, was a necessary skill in this global environment. Although some may argue otherwise, it is not possible to have an awareness of other people's culture if you have no awareness of your own. Furthermore, it is not possible to respect other people's culture if you have no respect for your own. This site records some of those ideas that were born out of those global discussions.

Is this site a reliable resource?

Because a website can be built by anyone with a bit of common sense, web content is sometimes derided as not being a worthy source of information. Although it would be true to say internet contributors are not always experts on the subjects they write about, it would also be true to say that writers for newspapers, magazines and academic publications are often pursuing an agenda. Perhaps a website constructed out of interest has some value over alternative resources that were made to pursue an agenda.

When considering whether it is a worthy resource in comparison to other websites, a book or a journal, a number of things can be considered.

Other websites sites

Anyone can publish a site but unless it has something useful, few people will link to it, its google ranks will be low and it will be one of billions of other sites that simply gets ignored.

This site has some measures that indicate that it has a degree of usefulness. From September 2008 to September 2009, there were 596,822 unique visits and 1,392,056 page views. Furthermore, it was linked to by 1,068 external pages. Whether criticised or respected, the site has distracted a significant number of people from other uses of their time. To be brutally honest, Australian history and culture is not exactly the hottest of topics world wide. Drawing any kind of attention to Australian history and culture is an achievement in itself.

In addition, the site has been used by schools compiling educational material, other websites for content, indexed by libraries for future generations, it has been plagiarised by lazy public servants needing to write content for government websites, and been used by students looking for ideas for their assignments. In this internet age, it seems google, rather than the library, is the first port of call and this site ranks well in google.

Admittedly, gaining traffic is not always a sign of quality. That said, the development of the site has taken approaches that have undermined its appeal. Firstly, the site approaches cultural comparisons in an objective fashion, which inevitable alienates it from both sides. For example, the discussion of the America versus Australia page has been criticized by Australians as being biased against Australia and by Americans as being biased against America. The criticism from both sides would indicate that it was probably fair to both. (The New Zealand page was biased against New Zealand. Old habits die hard.) If the site had simply supported one side, instead of alienating both, it would have built a cheer squad that would have made it more popular. (Ironically, there are some patriotic motivations for being objective in cultural comparisons. Cultures that find fault in others often do so to conceal the same faults in themselves, leaving the faults to fester and grow.)

Secondly, the site undermines popularist conceptions of issues in Australia. Once adults, most people don’t want to learn anything new. Instead, they want to validate what they already believe. Consequently, they seek out like-minded opinions that almost act as flag of their own beliefs. When those opinions are challenged, people suffer dissonance because it forces them to come to terms with the fact that the choices they have made, and the actions they have taken, may have been less than perfect. In other words, they really don't like new perspectives.

Ideologies involved in the site’s creation and that have come out the site's creation

Australia’s culture has always been characterised by someone trying to make rules to live by, and someone else trying to break them.

Australia’s greatest strength is that a tradesmen and CEO can sit down at a pub, share a beer and learn from each other.

Australia’s biggest weakness is that footballers and artists don’t want to sit down with a beer (or chardonnay) and learn from each other.

You can't take a stand against indency when your trousers are around your ankles.

A race-based identity, even if it is a self-flagellating one, still leads to racial segmentation and the exclusion of others.

People around the world are 95% the same, but use the 5% of difference to define respective cultural identities. Effective cross-cultural relations requires that the 5% of difference be acknowledged and the 95% of commonality be kept in mind.

You don’t need to treat a criminal, a terrorist, or a brain-dead hospital patient with dignity to respect their humanity, rather, you need to treat them with dignity to respect your own.

White society can not reconcile with black society until it has reconciled with itself.

As Hitler, Chairman Mao and Stalin showed, a right-winger is just a left-winger with power.

The conservative/progressive dichotomy is outdated. All political spectrums have morals that they assert, and they impose sanctions on individuals who stray from those morals. Progressives are part of a moral tradition, and so are conservatives. Both seek progression in some areas, and oppose change in others.

If a left-winger believes that the individual is not responsible for his or her social position in life, the only solution to the individual's problems is for the talented to control society and deny all individual choice. Therefore, denial of individual responsibility leds to totalitarianism.

The extent of free will is something psychologists have long debated, but the more it is denied, the more the possibility of it is taken away.

Being different is easy. Doing something better than others is hard.

Although there is a positive side to creativity, too much creativity produces a dogs breakfast.

Having pride in a group means having pride in the achievements of someone other than yourself, and supporting someone other than yourself. The service of something greater than the self is not something to be criticised, but something to be respected.

You can't expect Australians to respect other people's cultures if they are not raised to respect their own.

People who shit in their own nest do not smell like roses.

If an individual cares about the reputation of their community or their family, he or she will try to act in a way that brings their community or family respect.

Having an opinion is a lot like waving a flag. Those who agree with the opinion will like you. Those that diagree with the opinion will be alienated from you.

Victimising a people is an easy excuse to avoid learning anything about them.

Defining a people as victims is an easy excuse to avoid learning anything about them.

Criticising others can protect the ego. Respecting others can be educational.

Appropriating culture is a mark of respect.

Symbolism is the easiest way to pretend to do something without doing anything. In most cases, symbolic gestures are concessions that politicians have no idea how to achieve their goals, or are too lazy to try.

As long as a diversity of values exists, there will always be people criticizing those icons that are held up as the "model" that Australians should aspire to be like.

You can criticise people because you want to help them improve. You can also criticise people because you want to protect your ego. If you criticise for egotistical reasons, you are a bigot.

Although Australia was founded on bigotry, it was not racial bigotry. Anyone who has studied Australian history in a non-bigoted mind would realise that.

All morals, even if they are misguided, are exerted with the welfare of a community in mind. Amoral people are selfish.

The type of morals a society needs changes according to the operation of dissimilar circumstances.

Morality should be shared otherwise it has little value. There is little use in being the only honest person in a colony of thieves. Likewise, in line with the economic theory of the Prisoner's Dilemma, there is little use in staying silent in a police interview if your partner is going to blab. Either you conform people to your morality, or you conform to their's.

Being open-minded means considering new experiences, morals, and customs without excessive corruption by history. It also means having the confidence to embrace new things that are worthy of respect and criticising things that are not.

Although being apathetic is not the same as being open minded, being apathetic can help social harmony.

Being tolerant is not the same as being respectful or being open minded. Being tolerant means putting one’s prejudices out of one’s mind or looking the other way. It doesn’t mean eliminating prejudices or learning something new.

By implication, to define one group as "disadvantaged" is to define the "advantaged" group as the model all others should aspire to be like.

The community benefits when individuals contribute to it.

A strong community is better able to help individuals within it than is a weak community.

Every society, from a tribal group to superpower nation, needs to strike a balance between the needs of the group and the needs of the individual.

Although activists are needed to make a community strong, activists are more interested in telling others their opinion than hearing the opinion of others. As a consequence, a society with too many activists is an ignorant society.

Australia has overachieved in sport and business. It has underachieved in cultural industries, the humanities, environmental science and in industries involved in the alleviation of Aboriginal 'disadvantage.'

Providing monetary incentives for white people to define themselves as black has been an easy way for governments to lessen the social gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australia.

An artist's role is to ask questions in the logical, moral and emotional realms. An activist's role is to give answers in the logical, moral and emotional realms. Both are needed.

Art is a creation that displays higher human intelligence.

This is no glory in pouring honey on a turd and selling it as a desert. If you must feed someone a turd, be honest and serve it as it is. That way, at least the taste wont come as a surprise.

"Raising awareness" is the simpleton's answer to solving problems.

Australia is in the eastern hemisphere.

As long as an ecosystem, community or political party has the diversity that makes it adaptive to change, everything will be ok.

The greater the productivity, the greater the diversity that can be sustained.

It is far better to copy someone else’s recipe for something that tastes delicious, than create your own recipe for something that is unique, but tastes like shit.

Underdog culture is culture supported for reasons other than its quality.

Supporting the underdog encourages all participants to believe in themselves and to do their best. Being represented by underdogs invariably results in something other than achievement.

The only symbols of relevance are built from the bottom up. Top-down symbolism has never persuaded Australians to fall in line. It has merely resulted in alienation.

The media doesn’t inform. It stirs the red ants and the green ants into conflict, so it can give running commentary. Along the way, media consumers get an emotional workout and gain a feeling of belonging. They don't; however, become informed.

Although a myth might not be a fact, belief in a myth is a fact in itself.

Many supporters of Aborigines advocate a life for Aborigines that they do not want for themselves or for their own children. This would suggest they have violated the golden rule, which helps explain their failure to alleviate ‘disadvantage.’

Although painful at the time, hardship has been good for Australia. Bushfires have brought communities together, droughts have made farmers more efficient, and the needless loss of life at Gallipoli made Australian soldiers more humane.

Something good eventually emerges from something bad. As a consequence, weaknesses often become strengths.

If your sister said she was raped by your father, there would be an issue that needed to be addressed. A family movie or a tourism campaign would not be the arena to address it in.

Symbolism is to government what diet coke is to a fat man that loves eating Big Macs.

Due to the cultural cringe, Australia is a very critical place. Unfortunately, the prevalence of criticism that isn’t justified has been used as an excuse to evade criticism that is.

On January 26 1788, urban Australia got off to a very bad start when a load of criminals were dumped in a harsh land. Australia Day is an opportunity to reflect upon how far Australians have come, and how far Australia still has to go.

A Bill of Rights is a list of rules that force conformity. Although rules can help a society function smoothly, they can also be used to infringe upon freedom and stifle adaptation.

Although society needs revolutionary movements, the best revolutionary movements are the ones that force change, but ultimately fail to gain control. Ned Kelly and the Eureka diggers were great for Australia because they made a stand and lost.

Because poor decision making is an inevitable part of life, power must always be diversified so that one bad decision, or one bad ruler, doesn’t bring the whole ship down.

The Australian ecosystems in 1788 were as much human creations as golf courses are today.

Although it may be ideologically confronting to admit, a bio-diverse ecosystem that is adaptable to change is not one and the same as a pre-1788 ecosystem managed by a scientist receiving a government grant.