Heartache.

The emotions I'm feeling at the moment are a culmination of a series of Acts that have been passed by the Federal Legisature, most recently with VSU today. You know what? I think this calls for a rant. Beware any possible irrational or ridiculous thoughts. Just a warning there. A disclaimer, if you will.

Mateship. The word connotates to some notion that we as a body of people are in some kind of indissouble community. And it implies that we are all there for each other, to support one another when bad luck comes our way and to share in the fortunes when times are good. Mateship is the jewel in the crown of Howard's Australia. Unfortunately, it's no diamond. It's nothing but a cubic zirconia.

Mateship is a fun notion for Australians to have but in reality it's near nonexistent. Taxation is the primary fiscal manifestation of mateship. Wealth is redistributed from those more fortunate to those who are less so, by a group of elected officials on behalf of the of the electors, the citizenry, so that some semblance of equity exists within the society in which the citizenry resides. It appears though, that no appreciable understanding of the true value of consolidated government revenue exists amongst the voters in this country. Not only does the electorate want to minimise the tax they pay (which is understandable), but they also want to get as much of those tax dollars directed back to themselves as possible, regardless of the level of need of others. Such is the notion of entitlement, that there is even a feeling of downward envy upon those who receive assistance.

I suppose the people aren't themselves to blame. The people are in the service of the economy. It's a situation that never was and isn't supposed to be. But it's become the natural cultural paradigm, and it isn't even so much as questioned by the hoi polloi. While some draw benefit from the fruits borne of the 'strengthening economy', others suffer. And some see that purely as bad luck and that nothing, bar the trickle-down effect, can be done to help them. People, desperate not to lose their position, do all they can to defend their rung on the ladder and nothing will stand in their way.

Of course, it's a case of the chicken or the egg. Is the Government using this shift to its own advantage? Or is it all a product of Government policy? Either way, it sucks. What is true is that it makes the electorate all the more malleable. Strike the fear of God into them (or in the modern case, the fear of terrorists), and they have us all in the palm of their hands. Instead of government being a tool for society, the society is a tool for the government. It's the makings of a return to feudalism. Question their motives - that is, if you havent yet been dumbed down and re-educated - and it's seven years in the slammer.


Now thanks to VSU, the wheels are in motion. Hereafter, a great majority of Australian students won't get to have the character building experience that tertiary education provides. Instead of living and breathing the potent air of the powerhouses of politics that universities traditionally are, they'll be faced with sterile degree factories, where education only means a future income, and all without a shred of enlightenment.


In Another Life, I Was A Platypus v2.0 is hereby decommissioned.


Listening to:
Title: Won't Give In
Artist: Sara Storer
Album/station: She Will Have Her Way: The Songs of Tim & Neil Finn (2005)
Length: 4.18