Has Australia lost it?

Be warned: Strong views ahead.

So this weekend we all wait with baited breath to see if the boofheads will be back out in force to beat the crap out of each other and any other poor suckers who get in their way. This week we have seen bashings, churches being burnt down, some shows of compassion, people being arrested for possesion of some pretty serious weapons, pleas for clam, seriously strengthened police powers, radio celebs being suspended and suspect politcal leadership. All this can't just happen overnight, it's been festering for a while.

As an English immigrant to this country I can certainly say I have a slightly different view on a few things. I always tried to believe in Australias capacity to be a great place to live and great people to be around. That has happened to some extent, but too many times I've seen and been on the receiving end of this kind of black and white pack mentality and bullying culture, intolerance and inflexiblity. And not just from anglo types. Are we really just seeing the true face of Australia now, a cultural nadir finally going into social meltdown? A complete failure of tolerance and imagination? A country where bigotry and bullying are accepted? Is this really what we are now? I truly hope not. I will be making a stand for what I think are decent, reasoned values and I hope others do to. I've met some fantastic people from many backgrounds here in Australia and place my faith in them to stand firm for intelligence and compassion also.

Another point, being of fairly much in the middle, maybe centre left beliefs politically, I have to say that I really think the shift to strong right wing and conservative attitudes in this country has created this. I hope a few people in that category have a good hard think about their words and actions, because if this is the society they want, it's going to get a lot rougher from here on in. Perhaps they should read some history books and remind themselves of the outcomes of deep racial hatreds, social division and just flat out greed. There's a lot there to learn from. And given the religious overtones present in all this perhaps reminding ourselves of the ten commandments or seven deadly sins, or teachings of Jesus might not go astray. The lessons are all there whether you believe or not.

It's time for all of us to pull our heads out and start listening to each other. It's not to late to change course.