I am becoming increasingly concerned by what appears to be racism dressed up as national pride and identity. What follows is my comment on a blog entry, Halloween In Australia on the ‘Aussie Bloggers’ blog (although it was inspired more by the comments that followed it than the post itself).
I always think it is interesting that Australia is always being touted as being a “multicultural country” up until there is actually an opportunity to embrace traditions from around the world. Then somehow the wheels fall off the notion entirely.
I also find it disappointing that for people who exist so predominantly on the internet – the world wide web – so many of us have such a limited geographically entrenched idea of the world.
What is so offensive about taking an interest in the world outside your immediate borders? What is so offensive about taking an interest in the US presidential elections for example? The outcome will have implications for all of us. Of course as Australians we cannot vote, but when did that stop us from acknowledging things in candidates that resonate with us personally?
This is a hyperconnected world now. We share ideas and data from all around the world in an instant. There is really no way to justify burying your head in the cultural sands and hoping anyone who doesn’t do or believe what you do in your street doesn’t exist. Nor should you want to! Stop thinking of it as ‘us’ and ‘them’ and realise there’s only us. We are joined together by our humanity. Think about it.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
This national pride, I feel has come around since John Howard was Prime Minister. We’ve probably had more flag wearing and flag cape wearing than any other time in our small history as a national. I choose to hide when I see someone wearing a flag as a cape.
I completely agree with your response to that blog post. Like some other holidays we celebrate here in the US, Halloween is more about the events and experience than the “deeper meaning.” I think it is simply fun to dress up and get together with friends and people from the community and have a good time. The woman who wrote that blog shouldn’t be taking letting her son go out trick or treating so seriously because to him it’s more about the experience of going out with friends and showing off his costume than anything related to spirits or ghosts or what have you.
John, thank you for noting that your response was “inspired more by the comments that followed it than the post itself”. I would be deeply offended to be called a racist due to the fact that I do not want my children to celebrate Halloween. My husband and I do not celebrate Valentine’s Day, Mother’s and Father’s Day are generally acknowledged with small home made gifts so my aversion to these type of holidays are more due to their superficiality and lack of relevance to my family, than the culture from which they are based in.
Personally I have taken a close interest in the US elections (see my activity on Stumble and Twitter) and don’t believe that I am burying my head in the “cultural sands” due not wanting my kids to trick or treat. I will be very interested in the outcome of the US election and certainly hope that Obama will be successful. The US does have a dominating influence on the western world, an influence that I think will be vastly improved with Obama as President.
Hi John – I wrote a response to your comment over on the site to clarify some of my own reasons for being a little dismayed at the overwhelming embracing of American culture by Australia. As I mention though I am a huge fan of lots of aspects of American culture especially comic books etc.
The main theme of my thoughts are that US culture has a disproportionate representation within Australian society and that we don’t embrace our truly multiculturalism by placing attention as heavily on non-US international affairs. We rarely feature more than passing mentions on elections elsewhere yet the American elections feature daily (generally directly from the source giving an impression of first hand American point of view).
That’s what my concerns are, not in the ‘value’ of embracing American culture of which I’m sure there is much value in (as I say confirmed pop culture addict – much of it stemming from the US) but in the overwhelming nature of our media’s attention of which the US version of Halloween is an example. It doesn’t happen vice versa to be sure.
So in my case I probably would prefer not to be labelled a racist or anti American because I find the idea that there is such a heavy interest in American affairs over the rest of the world.