TOMORROW is Australia Day! Time to get the Esky out and fetch a bag of ice to keep the brews cold. I’m sure you have noticed the flag covered cars and faces around town?
People are taking the business of showing their national pride serious, and there is nothing wrong with showing your national pride... on your hat, your car, your beer cooler, your apron, your swimwear, your singlet, your thongs and even your face with little temporary tattoos.
Any product you can think of can probably be found this week with an Australian flag printed on it, and on sale for half the price next week, but I digress.
Around the nation there are huge celebrations planned: fireworks, citizenship ceremonies, festivals, concerts - the works. It has become the biggest annual civic event in Australia. It was in 1994 that all the states and territories celebrated the day at the same time for the first time, and that’s when the party really got started.
This would also explain why I do not remember attending any Australia Day celebrations as a child, the most that would happen was a backyard barbie. How did the celebration get so huge?
Back then most people just had the day off, not a three day celebration involving the wearing of a flag emblazoned bikini and the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol. That brings me back to my earlier comment about flag wearing, now don’t get me wrong I believe we should be proud of our flag.
Choosing to stick a flag on your face to celebrate is your choice, it’s just not something I would do. The problem is I am starting to associate the flag with racism and ignorance, and this makes me sad and somewhat ashamed, but I don’t think I am alone in this.
Unfortunately it is at this time of year we also see the flag being used and abused, by dropkick yobbos who decide to incite hatred amongst our very multicultural society.
They position the flag alongside slogans that are aimed at migrants stating; If you don’t like it, leave! (Alright, I cleaned that up as the bumper stickers I’ve seen are far worse).
While I’m not saying everyone who wears the flag is like this, most people are far far from it and just want to celebrate. It is the people who choose to use the day as an excuse to be openly racist, that attract attention (think back a couple of years to the Cronulla riots and how many flag wearers we saw on the news throwing beer bottles) that embarrass us as a nation.
Let’s not forget that a lot of us are the descendants of migrants, and Australia day is also a painful reminder to some of our Aboriginal population of the loss of the country that they knew and loved.
If we are not careful our flag could start to represent the wrong kind of nationalism, and lose its value as a symbol of how much we have achieved under the flag as a nation. It is not about which city has the biggest firework display, or who drank the most.
I won’t be taking my children to any of big events planned for Australia Day, because I don’t want them exposed to the behaviour of flag wearing yobbos that are ruining it for everyone. I don’t want them to associate patriotism with that.
It is a shame that Australia Day doesn’t fall during the school term, that way it could be discussed and celebrated by the children in a manner more befitting. So Happy Australia Day, and please do wear your flag with pride.
We need to outnumber the yobbos, and bring it back to being a symbol of all we have achieved and are thankful for.
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