A mature society
September 22, 2012 in Collage Nation | Tags: A mature society values love over fear, is there a more emotive issue than marriage?, isn't it time we just do this and move on?, Julia Gillard is a fool on this issue, the fight for marriage equality in Australia, Tony Abbott values fear over love
Under the counter or a flutter in the dovecote 
6 comments
Comments feed for this article
September 23, 2012 at 9:16+00:00Sep
Chantal Spit
Truth!!!!
September 23, 2012 at 9:16+00:00Sep
Nigel Featherstone
Truth indeed!!!!
September 23, 2012 at 9:16+00:00Sep
Gabrielle Bryden
Exactly – and just when is society going to mature! Hurry up peoples.
September 23, 2012 at 9:16+00:00Sep
Nigel Featherstone
Hi Gabe, glad you’re back from hibernation! In Australia we don’t want to be ‘swamped’ by people from over the waters to our north because they look different to us, and we don’t want to tamper with the ‘bedrock’ of society by accepting that there is more than one type of sexuality amongst us. The commonality? Fear. How have we got to this point? Because (most of) our politicians use fear as a tool; they forget that encouraging us to be better people is a better tool. Um…here endeth the lesson!
September 26, 2012 at 9:16+00:00Sep
Tristan
Hi Nigel. On the one hand I’m glad you’ve made and published this collage, and on the other hand I’m sad that it had to be made at all. For a while now I’ve been getting the feeling that this small country of ours has been loosening at the seams. And little things like the above – the idea that we value fear over love and are not, therefore, a mature society – increases this feeling. Where do we go from here? I don’t know, but I think a good place to start is to have actual conversations about these things. Maybe then how simple they are, and that they are nothing to fear, will become known.
September 26, 2012 at 9:16+00:00Sep
Nigel
Hi Tristan, I think it was Carmen Lawrence who once said that at our core we’re all islanders, so we have a deep fear of being invaded; worse (and this is my own interpolation) we have a deep fear of ‘the other’. The whole same-sex ‘marriage’ issue is that, I think. Then there’s the underbelly of religious conservatism. Perhaps like you, I grew up thinking that Australia was one of the most progressive and open-minded countries on Earth, but the older I get the more I realise that it’s certainly not the case. And now that I don’t any longer live in the ACT, which really is one of the most progressive and open-minded jurisdictions in the world (because it is one of the most educated?), and live in regional Auustralia, I see that for most – the majority? – people they just want things to stay as they are: mostly white, mostly ‘traditional’, don’t try to be radical or creative, leave us all alone and go away. Perhaps it’s why we need leaders who elevate the population? Or do we just need artists who aren’t afraid? (PS: By no means am I equating the image that forms this post ‘art’!) Thanks, always, for your thoughtful comments.