tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004769.post113819892649029773..comments2024-02-21T19:17:51.003+11:00Comments on Ari on the web: Rethinking Australia DayAri Sharphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06077102567908140945noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004769.post-1138591247458801432006-01-30T14:20:00.000+11:002006-01-30T14:20:00.000+11:00To John LeeAt the risk of seeming pedantic I want ...To John Lee<BR/><BR/>At the risk of seeming pedantic I want to say that Australia Day is nothing like your 'Columbus Day' and more like Thanksgiving in the US. They both mark the arrival of a permantent settlement (mind you there is a big difference between free settlers and convicts!). Still you have got me thinking - do we have a 'Cook Day' for the alleged 'discoverer' of Australia? Mothy will be happy with a day that everyone can cook on...<BR/><BR/>DanielDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12710148812664294219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004769.post-1138437470722502562006-01-28T19:37:00.000+11:002006-01-28T19:37:00.000+11:00Ehud, On your "sorry day" I will be certainly maki...Ehud, On your "sorry day" I will be certainly making burnt offerings of aboriginal flags to "indigenous" persons. Could be quite fun.<BR/><BR/>Australia Day does NOT celebrate any criminal behaviour. Perhaps your eyesight is starting to glaze over? Time to change hands maybe?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004769.post-1138417898684371072006-01-28T14:11:00.000+11:002006-01-28T14:11:00.000+11:00Spot on, Ari. Celebrating Australia Day is like A...Spot on, Ari. <BR/><BR/>Celebrating Australia Day is like Americans celebrating Columbus Day. <BR/>No one calls the the Fourth of July 'invasion day'...<BR/><BR/>We ought to have a national day everyone can spend drinking beer together rather than arguing about colonisation. Well, we're halfway there. <BR/><BR/>You don't see US Presidents calling for revision of the highschool history curriculum in their Independence Day address.boy_fromOzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12354698665016613894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004769.post-1138332161265301012006-01-27T14:22:00.000+11:002006-01-27T14:22:00.000+11:00White Europeans celebrating Australia day on the 2...White Europeans celebrating Australia day on the 26th is like seeing Jews dancing in the streets on Easter...commemorating the day they killed Christ.<BR/><BR/>Why celebrate a day which commemorates criminal behaviour (be it the deaths of native peoples or prophets) in the first place?<BR/><BR/>Couldn't we have a national 'Sorry' day where all the Europeans supply indigenous Australians with peace offerings while the Jews finally accept responsibility for massacring Christ.<BR/><BR/>Cheers,<BR/><BR/>Ehud Levi-Schlezinger GimpAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004769.post-1138331537262639742006-01-27T14:12:00.000+11:002006-01-27T14:12:00.000+11:00The anniversary of a vote to become a republic wil...The anniversary of a vote to become a republic will be a non-event for the main national day. It will be even less unifying than January the 26th.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004769.post-1138316723751850882006-01-27T10:05:00.000+11:002006-01-27T10:05:00.000+11:00May 9th - Horrible idea. F*ck history. We're lit...May 9th - Horrible idea. <BR/><BR/>F*ck history. We're little over 200 years old. We weren't discovered, we didn't fight for our independence (I'm NOT getting into a sematic arguement about whether or not we have it already or not), we were established. <BR/><BR/>F*ck politicans. Commemorate the first sitting of Parliament? In a country where 4% of the population are members of a poltical party? <BR/><BR/>F*ck the racists - some disturbing photos came out of Cronulla, among them the ultimate in un-Australian Behavior - people spilling their beer as they moved about in a crowd.<BR/><BR/>I saw a cartoon, I think it was in today's Fin Review, that had two people sitting on a picnic blanket, and one says to the other "What are we celebrating exactly", the other replies "Not working". That WORKS for me.<BR/><BR/>We're a sunburnt nation, a majority of who's people cling to the coastlines. We're defined by the summer. You just proposed moving Australia Day into Autum. Do you know what it'd be like hosting a BBQ in May in Canberra? I dread the concept.<BR/><BR/>Someone asked me yesterday what they were supposed to be doing to mark Australia Day. I gestured, with my tongs, to the lamb and steak on my BBQ, the setup in my back yard, and then waved away a fly with those same tongs. They then said that was all very well for me to be kept busy so, tending to the BBQ, preparing salads and icing the beer, but what were THEY to do. I pointed, again with my tongs, to the deck chair in which they sat, the Chardonnay in their hand, and the radio, playing Triple J's hottest 100 countdown.<BR/><BR/>Celebrate - for that's Australia Day to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7004769.post-1138247912536347662006-01-26T14:58:00.000+11:002006-01-26T14:58:00.000+11:00I have also long held the belief that January 26 i...I have also long held the belief that January 26 is an inappropriate date for our national holiday.<BR/><BR/>I think most Australians take greater pride in Anzac Day (Although that is a date we share with New Zealand) than they do in Australia Day. <BR/><BR/>As your fellow Republican, I agree that the day we become a republic (something I believe is inevitable, even if it does take another 20 years) would be a good date to make our national holiday. However, given the lack of consensus over January 26, you can imagine the uproar from monarchists - already sore over losing a future referendum - if we then moved to make that date our national holiday.<BR/><BR/>As for the dates you suggested instead: you're right in saying that January 1 is unsuitable. May 9 is a good idea, and shows you've thought well outside the square, but aren't we meant to be spreading the public holidays throughout the year? May 9 comes only two weeks after Anzac Day, so I'm not sure it would work.<BR/><BR/>On another topic, do you really think we can call the events at Cronulla a display of "nationalism". Sure, many of the locals at Cronulla were waving the Australian flag proudly, but in doing so they were directing their anger at their fellow Australians, including people with dark skin who just happened to get in the way. I know you qualified your statement by saying it was misdirected, but I'd argue it probably wasn't nationalism at all - they may have thought it was, but it wasn't Australian nationalism anyway.<BR/><BR/>But that's a debate for another day...<BR/><BR/>Happy Australia Day,<BR/>NadavAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com