You've seen them. Those bumper stickers saying "If you don't love it, leave". I recently heard another: "We grew here, you flew here". The expressions of Australian xenophobia. The true harvest of the Howard-Hanson years.
I have always thought the "If you don't love it, leave" one is particularly moronic. Presumably those voicing such ideas have no idea what life in a democracy is about - namely that if you don't like something about the democracy, you change it. Yet another example of how democratic ideas are only skin-deep?
Maybe it's coincidence Tony Abbott revived Howard's "We'll decide who comes here and the circumstances in which they come" on the eve of Australia Day? Or maybe not.
In the leadup to Australia Day, I've had discussions with a number of my friends about this distasteful side of Australian-ism - I don't like to call it patriotism, because it isn't. Such conversations have made me wonder:
Are there any aspects of Australian culture that are more than a small step removed from redneck boganism?Footy, barbecues, beaches, pub rock, utes, car-races, beer. They're all damn close. What else do we have though? Anything?
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