No Replacement For Displacement

Maybe the Australians will see now why they are hated.
Sure the Bali tragedy was a horrible thing. But it must be viewed in the context of years of Australian oppression.

Wait. I take that back. It is a brutally insensitive and hateful thing to say. Outside of the UK, Australia was the only country to really support the United States in the past year, and unlike the most of the world, it was on a grass roots level, and not driven by some sense of realpolitik. Even a year later, when the shock of the atrocity had worn off for the rest of the world, the Australians were still openly and unashamedly sympathetic to our plight. The picture of Australians on a beach forming the American flag during the anniversary of September 11 was something most of the rest of the world did not do, and would not have done.

The Australian people are probably the closest in temperament to the US. The deep roots of both countries existence is remarkably similar. The United States was formed and grew from the castoffs of the rest of the world. Australia's birth is formed by castoffs from English society. The influence of Aboriginal culture on Australia's heritage is very similar to Native American influence on American culture. Both Australians and Americans place a strong emphasis on self-reliance and individualism shaped in the crucible of our respective frontier cultures. Both also have a view of man and nature that is not based on a European romantic notion of nature, but on a real-world knowledge that not everything you see out in the wild is cute and cuddly. Australians and Americans are closer than either are to the British or to Canadians. With a few script changes, Crocadile Dundee, the quintessential movie about someone from the Outback transplanted to the big city, could easily have been Joe Bob Dundee, movie quintessential Nebraska farmboy transplanted to the big city.

Which is why I'm taking those statements back. The problem is, I still want to say it, just not to them. When I think of the reaction that the United States received and continues to receive from continental Europe, as horrible as it sounds, I wish that instead of hundreds of Ozzies and a few dozen French and Germans, the numbers had been reversed, and hundreds of French and Germans had died. Then maybe the French and Germans would understand just how grotesque it is to say something like that. The worst thing is that I feel bitter enough towards the continent to think such a thing. (And towards Fisk, Pilger, and the rest of them too).

Finally, when Australia starts taking strong action to capture/kill the bastards who did this, I wonder how many of those same bits of human fecal matter will publicly moan about how "Australia has now squandered all the sympathy they received because of the Bali tragedy." If I sound bitter, it is because I am.

I will be putting up a list of charities that will be used for relief for the victims of the Bali atrocity and their families. Any Australians who know of specific charities that are organizing themselves to the relief of the victims, please e-mail me. For right now, here is a link to the Australian Red Cross. We should return the favor for the support they have given us over the past year.