Harpodom Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Do you hate Oz? Do you think its OK? Do you love it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harpodom Posted February 4, 2013 Author Share Posted February 4, 2013 I'm regarded as an Oz8er (a term coined by the legendary Ropey Hoff) on the main forum. But I'm not. I just cannot abide mediocrity dressed as something special. If something deserves praise, then it deserves praise. If something is sh1t, it deserves to be called sh1t. Thats Australian 'culture', right there. I also do not like the sinister political agenda behind the vilification of 'illegal immigrants': I think it is cruel, inhumane, immoral and the complete antithesis of the 'fair go' attitude Australians are supposedly famous for. I dislike intensely protectionism, ostensibly in the name of 'giving our kids a chance', but anyone with a brain can see that it suits big corporations and retailers to try and block the effects of the outside world, like the influence of internet retail, or importing bananas at a time of national shortage, and create an artificially limited market with less choice and higher prices. I dislike the fact that anyone who provides a service* likes to gouge/degrade the customer/product as if they're entitled to a lavish lifestyle just because...what...they're Austrayan? *banks, supermarkets, airlines, doctors, dentists, pharmacists, physios, tradies, commercial TV stations....................... Aside from that, its all good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landv Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I don't hate Oz.... only occasionally (depending on my mood):cute:, after all, I chose to come here, made my bed now lay in it and all that. It's OK to hate it sometimes, occasionally we hate other things in life too... jobs, the boss, paying bills, the world, cleaning the house... you get the picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simmo Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I hated 99% of it and will never go back as long as i've go a hole in my butt. If i had the choice I would rather do my time again in Belmarsh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thistle13 Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 No I dont hate Aus......it does have its qualities. It ticks a lotta people's boxes. Overall it's just different to the UK, so just because some of us can't adapt to those changes, or that they don't suit our lifestyle, it doesn't mean we should bag it out. I just hate when I say to Aussies that I don't like living here, that they get so defensive and offended. I'm not bagging out their homeland, I'm simply saying its not for me, but they take that as a cue to bag the **** outta the UK when most of them have never been there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I'd love to see you try and flog these poll results on the main forum as evidence that Australia is crap! I do hate the place. Intensely. I'd agree with all the things you identified, but I'd add that I especially loathe it's adolescent need for praise and recognition, it's expectation that outsiders will be dazzled by it, and the mean-spirited chippiness which follows when these expectations are not met. The lazy, casual racism and the "If you don't love it leave" attitude that follows when concerns about racism are flagged. The lazy assumption that the Australian way is best and that Australia is a world leader in every field. You're great at BBQ's and rain-water storage technology, but let's not go overboard eh?. The parochial one-eyed popular media with it's tub-thumping nationalistic agenda. I swear they only cover foreign news to re-confirm to Australians that the world outside of their borders is dangerous and inferior. Much better to celebrate all that great news from home about big-hearted Aussies clubbing together to buy flood and bush-fire victims new homes. What, there was looting up in Queensland recently?, really?, nah, can't of happened, it'd be unAustralian. The joyless obsession with sporting success and it's cast of over-ernest, self-regarding automatons - Ponting, Waugh, Thorpe, Mcgrath, Fevola etc who make a John Terry interview sound like an audience with Peter Ustinov. The common use of retard-speak; "Ambos," "Fire-ees," "Pollies," "Obstetrician-ees?," "Quantity-Surveyero's?" The obsession with feckin' coffee! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harpodom Posted February 4, 2013 Author Share Posted February 4, 2013 I'd love to see you try and flog these poll results on the main forum as evidence that Australia is crap! I do hate the place. Intensely. I'd agree with all the things you identified, but I'd add that I especially loathe it's adolescent need for praise and recognition, it's expectation that outsiders will be dazzled by it, and the mean-spirited chippiness which follows when these expectations are not met. The lazy, casual racism and the "If you don't love it leave" attitude that follows when concerns about racism are flagged. The lazy assumption that the Australian way is best and that Australia is a world leader in every field. You're great at BBQ's and rain-water storage technology, but let's not go overboard eh?. The parochial one-eyed popular media with it's tub-thumping nationalistic agenda. I swear they only cover foreign news to re-confirm to Australians that the world outside of their borders is dangerous and inferior. Much better to celebrate all that great news from home about big-hearted Aussies clubbing together to buy flood and bush-fire victims new homes. What, there was looting up in Queensland recently?, really?, nah, can't of happened, it'd be unAustralian. The joyless obsession with sporting success and it's cast of over-ernest, self-regarding automatons - Ponting, Waugh, Thorpe, Mcgrath, Fevola etc who make a John Terry interview sound like an audience with Peter Ustinov. The common use of retard-speak; "Ambos," "Fire-ees," "Pollies," "Obstetrician-ees?," "Quantity-Surveyero's?" The obsession with feckin' coffee! Do you HONESTLY believe that the majority of Aussies are like this EW? Sure there are lots who are, especially in WA and QLD. But if you werentl trapped here, would you see things any differently? I've met a few Aussies who are exactly as you describe, but I've met lots of others who are nothing like this. TBH though, IMO there are lots of Brits who express shocking levels of casual racism and bigotry, who talk of 'darkies' and foreigners as if they're a different species: such bilge is posted on here on a daily basis. I'm sure thats why you hardly ever get any posters who are Asian or African background. Apparently, a while back, PIO kept coming up on searches as a white supremicist website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Do you HONESTLY believe that the majority of Aussies are like this EW? Sure there are lots who are, especially in WA and QLD. Yup. But I'll take your word for it mate that there are some who aren't! But if you weren't trapped here, would you see things any differently? I don't think so. Going back to your point about mediocrity, I've never tried to pretend that an average experience is anything other than, well, average, no matter where it happens. Someone repeatedly telling you how great something is when you're not feeling it is just going to compound the sense that you're being indoctrinated. I've met a few Aussies who are exactly as you describe, but I've met lots of others who are nothing like this. TBH though, IMO there are lots of Brits who express shocking levels of casual racism and bigotry, who talk of 'darkies' and foreigners as if they're a different species: such bilge is posted on here on a daily basis. I'm sure thats why you hardly ever get any posters who are Asian or African background. Apparently, a while back, PIO kept coming up on searches as a white supremicist website. Completely agree, but why is Australia so attractive to them?. Does it represent a safe haven for reactionaries to sound off about immigrants (sic), ethnic minorities, the unemployed, 'do-gooders' and political correctness gone mad?. How many opine on CTF that Australia has control of it's borders, has a no-nonsense approach to law and order, values it's armed forces and recognises the immeasurable contribution of your tradie mates to it's greatness?. If I belonged to an ethnic minority I couldn't read PIO, due to the thinly-veiled hatred and distrust that some posters have towards Black people and Asians. Now, I'd be the worst kind of hypocrite if I tried to suggest that the UK is some kind of funky melting pot of multiculturalism, whilst accusing Australia of being tainted by both casual and coldly deliberate racism. After all, most of those reactionaries on CTF are British after all. But my gripe isn't with individual Australians, it's with the views that this nation as a collective espouse, and the way it's media slyly insinuate that outsiders are untrustworthy, so that they have to visibly demonstrate their 'Strayan-ness' before they can even hope to be accepted by the predominant White Australians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amibovered Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Not long ago chatting to a couple of locals the question was asked "so how long have you lived in Straya" well this is my third time say I "gee you must really love it here" well I dunno I keep leaving I said, hurt and confused looks all round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Julz Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Not long ago chatting to a couple of locals the question was asked "so how long have you lived in Straya" well this is my third time say I "gee you must really love it here" well I dunno I keep leaving I said, hurt and confused looks all round. :biglaugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I definitely don't hate it, I just prefer the UK. There are things I don't like but then there are things I don't like in the UK too. If my family were happy here I could stay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conniebygaslight Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I don't hate it....It just gets on my nerves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sapphire Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I dont hate the place, its just not what I expected and I miss the UK far too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerry Pollard Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 (edited) To be honest I would say I hate it, I've had so many problems since being here, i actually blame Australia for nearly breaking my marriage up but i know deep down being here has just showed us we want different things, most of u will know my story but if my hubby stays here then I would probably come back to see him but never to live. I can't wait to see the back of it really. 6 weeks on Friday and I'm out of here. X Edited February 19, 2013 by Kerry Pollard Spelling mistake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 I certainly did while I was trapped in it. Now I can look on it with some sort of equanimity but a lot of resentment for the way that it took my life away from me (better than blaming the husband I suppose) - I just couldnt live my life the way I wanted to live it while there and the past 18 months have been an absolute revelation - I havent been so happy in many many years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amibovered Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 How are things looking in Cambridge Quoll, job wise, economy an all that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 How are things looking in Cambridge Quoll, job wise, economy an all that? Apparently has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. Rents and real estate to buy are quite expensive relatively but still down on where thy were a few years ago. Not too many boarded up shops although quite a few pubs are shut. Seems to be a lot of disposable income around. So much going on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amibovered Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Apparently has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. Rents and real estate to buy are quite expensive relatively but still down on where thy were a few years ago. Not too many boarded up shops although quite a few pubs are shut. Seems to be a lot of disposable income around. So much going on! Thanks, look after the old place, see you next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perthbum Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 I don hate oz I just hate the way it is sooo overrated and the way smug Brits pretend it is the dogs balls when in real life most would return if the circumstances were different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harpodom Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 I don hate oz I just hate the way it is sooo overrated and the way smug Brits pretend it is the dogs balls when in real life most would return if the circumstances were different. ditto mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 (edited) I don't know if they'd return, but they do have a habit of being blind to it's short-comings, whilst rhapsodising about it's mediocrity. These are people who will complain at length that the UK is over-priced and suffers from poor service, but will defend Australia to the hilt when posters complain about Harvey Norman and the supermarket duopoly. Can't be seen to being whingers about Aus can we? My favourites are the ones who claim to be willing to spend most of their weekend in the car driving miles to purchase their meat straight from the abattoir, or to go scrumping for apples because they're free. They always claim to make everything 'from scratch' like it affords them the moral high ground over those of us who are too knackered to ever do this and just want to stick a ready meal in the oven and open a bottle of wine!. Can anyone tell me what's wrong with M&S Thai Fishcakes or Waitrose Chicken Makhani?. They're bloody lovely and even if I took the rest of the year off I'd never be a good enough cook to make anything so beautiful! Seriously, with some of them, if they lost a leg they'd be cheerfully recounting how great Medicare was and how there are loads of free activities for uni-dexters (copyright Derek and Clive) like them, only in Australia! :biggrin: Edited February 21, 2013 by User70277 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mygirlies Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Great thread. I don't hate it, but I agree...it is extremely overrated and not the fairy tale lifestyle we all think when watching all the Aus programmes on a cold winter evening in the UK. I think I am going to be a yoyo ex pat who just can't decide where I'd rather be...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest74886 Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Excellent posts, some very erudite thoughts, like some posters have already said it's not that it is all cr*p, it's just that over time all the niggling things start to irritate more and more, a bit like having one mozzie bite then 2 then 3 and then you really are peeved with the mozzies. The casual and calculated racism (I was sat at a caff by the entrance to my local mall and two African girls were manning a UNCHR stall and people were blindsiding them and deliberately walking on the furthest side away from them!), the acceptance of cr*p politicians, worse than the poorest of UK Councillors in my experience, the quality of the newspapers er, sorry comics, and the acceptance of every monopoly and bit of price gouging under the sun if its perpetrated by an Australian, the lack of any real consequences for the most appalling white collar crimes in the civic arena and the hero worship of police forces that act like para-miltaries on the street and who are obviously beyond any control by their employers. At first they are little niggles and then they become bigger niggles and then the niggles start to interlink and a pattern starts to emerge, or it has for me, of a country which is deeply parochial and authoritarian, seems to revel in its inability to think and has some really serious challenges to overcome in its approach to equality and civil rights. Every country has these problems to some extent, but for me what marks Australia as a no-go country is its completely myopic self belief which no one, absolutely no one ever challenges, it is so like their beloved USofA, it believes it is without reproach and how the sun and the coal and the iron ore miraculously makes up for all its short comings. It really does make it hard to love it for what it does have and I do wish it had more to fall in love with because the opportunities it does have are huge but it seems like the Australians just want a rough little continent where they can exercise all the worst aspects of society, they just want to be left alone to do as they want without teacher ever telling them that isn't how nice children play. I know that all sounds very preachy but that's the guts of it to me and is one of the main reasons I have decided to get the hell out of Dodge:rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simmo Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 re: post 21 Absolutely spot on. The defenders sprout on about Australia NOT being expensive - you just need to shop around. Now I know in the tedium of living in Australia some people might find shopping a pleasurable activity but driving miles for meat them jump in the car drive more miles for fruit n veg ect ect... is not my idea of fun i tells ya.. You would also be led to believe that only in Awesome Oz© can you find farm shops and local butchers and that because pommy shops sell ready made meals that you HAVE to eat them.. My local co-op does ready made Indian takeaways for 2 people for £6.00 and its better than a lot of Indian restaurants. What about the drive through "bottle-o's" dont know about anyone else but when i'm bying my booze i like to take my time and browse, not pull up in a warehouse and have someone throw a "carton of p!ss" in my boot, pay and drive off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirsty M Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 I don't hate Oz. In fact there are lots of things I like, principally lots of fine weather (not the really hot days), nice parks and larger living areas in houses. But the things that annoy me, really annoy me. I don't know how people can deny that Australia is expensive and that there is not as much choice in the supermarkets. This, as far as I am concerned, is not a matter for debate...it's a fact. The people that talk about shopping around must be mentalists...I have no desire to drive around like a blue @rsed fly with a two year old and baby, trying to find things on offer or driving miles to farm shops. I have a life! Also, the 'lad' mentality of some Australian men with their bourbon and cokes, unwashed look and 'how ya goin?' patter really makes me vomit. Loads more irritations, but I'll leave it there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.