Shallow triumphalism versus quiet confidence: Australia Day!

It wasn’t too long ago that the popular jingoist segment of Australia’s culture was dominated by the likes of the RSL.

Obviously, this is in part due to Bruce Ruxton, but I think mainly it’s got to do with the growing popularity of the shallow nationalist mentality. A mentality that sees certain values as somehow intrinsically Australian, often to self-serving ends and in total disregard to the orgins of these values or where else in the world they may be present.

Mateship is not uniquely Australian. The Kiwis have it as well (although one may grant them honorary Australian status). It was present amongst Scots and the Irish before Australia was ever colonised.

And at what arbitrary point do we decide that something becomes an Australian value? 2% approval? 50%? 85%?

Can we include hard work and the fair go at the same time as excluding the values of xenophobia?

Can we exclude either xenophobia or inclusiveness? In a modern democracy, which many would  argue that Australia is, conflicting values seem inevitable and both xenophobia and inclusiveness have enjoyed popularity even at the same time.

Xenophobia seems to be waning but still ascendant, with the values of pluralism prominent and rising. The xenophobia of 1994 wouldn’t have seemed out of place amongst the flag wavers of the RSL.

The post-Cronulla xenophobia of today would make the same RSL members recoil, and has made them recoil.

The RSL jingoism of today and of old seems to me to be more akin to a quiet confidence than shallow triumphalism, at least compared to those doing the most energetic flag waving.

I’ve recently been asked to add a “100% Aussie Pride” comment to my status on Facebook. Prior to this, and via someone else, I investigated an “100% Aussie Pride” Facebook group. While there was a token multi-cultural voice, it was dominated by white-supremacist types.

A bit like a “support the troops” group which was basically an anti-anti-Iraq War hate group masquerading as an anti-hate group, which while having a valid stated aim of eliminating anti-troop hate groups on Facebook, itself engaged in a while lot of anti-democracy hate-speech itself (indeed it done far more of the latter than the former).

“100% Aussie Pride” was put to me as a classic Australian slogan. Australia doesn’t have any classic slogans. “Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!”, is both too young and too contrived to be classic, yet it’s got more going for it in terms of tradition that “100% Aussie Pride”.

It also has the benefit of not being too serious, not being nearly as over-earnest nor being nearly as synonymous with “100% White Pride.”

I’d never, nor have I ever chanted “Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!”, but I’d sooner do that than push “100% Aussie Pride.” If you are confident in your pride in your country, you don’t need to spell it out to people. What ever happened to the once ubiquitous Australian quiet confidence?

I’m not a flag waver. If I want to celebrate my commonality with my fellow Australians, I’ll do so by living out what I have in common. Having a BBQ and watching out for my mates are candidates. But I can do that any day of the year, so I don’t see what makes Australia Day special in as far as Australian values.

Maybe if we tied Australia Day to something in our History more indicative of pervasive Australian values, it would be different. Australia Day currently celebrates British sovereignty over the Eastern coast established in 1788. Yet the Commonwealth of Australia, (i.e. the nation called Australia, not the previous scattered colonies) started in 1901.

The founding document of our nation which came into effect on the 1st of January, 1901, is more representative of our shared values than a simple English declaration of sovereignty.

I think there is a simple psychological reason behind this shallow nationalist triumphalism. It’s a kind of denial. The denial of threats to one’s notion of Australian pride.

Australia Day is also known as Invasion Day. Whatever the ongoing history of Australia, for good or for bad, a lot of bad came of the events on the 26th of January, 1788.

Aside from the more deliberate purges of colonialism, as with elsewhere, the pre-existing population was subjected to plague. The 26th of January does signify the beginning of a lot of death and you can’t reasonably expect everyone to want to celebrate that.

So people unreasonably expect you to celebrate it in its entirety. “It didn’t really happen” or “you just hate Australia!*” are the usual secondary red-herrings deployed when pomp and circumstance (the primary red-herring) are bucked. The history of January the 26th (as well as many other observations of Australian history) could make any reasonable white Australian unreasonably feel a twinge of guilt at a racist history, and to those less confident it is quite possible for these historical truths to make them feel racist merely for loving Australia. To the genuine racist in denial, these events serve as a reminder of what they are.

The more one identifies on some level as racist, the greater the motive for the denial of history and the blanket pomp and circumstance to cover up what is ultimately a point in history that shouldn’t define us. The more the 26th of January needs to be made into something less confronting.

Of course, if your love of Australia is held more confidently, there isn’t a need for all this noise and bother. If your love of your mates and your Australian values are built on steady foundations, you’ll spend time loving your mates and practicing in accordance with those values, rather than trying to prop them up against their imminent collapse.

So, on this 26th of January, I say to my fellow Australians, don’t bother learning the national anthem if you don’t want to, don’t stress if (like many of us) you don’t even own a flag, don’t waste energy convincing yourself that what happened in the past, didn’t, and just have a good time with your loved ones.

It’s not like a lot of Australians didn’t fight and die against the kind of regimes where the repetition of nationalistic slogans and ostentatious demonstrations of devotion were expected.

Relax. It’s an Australian value.

~ Bruce

* Why is it, that when multiculturalists criticise Australia, they are alleged to hate Australia, but when xenophobes criticise Australia for being too multicultural, nobody accuses them of hating Australia?

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