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Last updated on August 8th, 2017 at 04:51 pm
Sydney Morning Herald reader Sean Woodland asks a series of challenging questions:
The season of frivolity and celebration is here. It brings with it a time for reflection. But on what specifically should I reflect? The need to remain patriotic, proud and positive? Or the unabated complacency and apathy that continue to engulf the collective consciousness of Australia?
I can’t be bothered reflecting on apathy. Who cares?
As I watch the cricket, should I revel in the genius of Shane Warne, or hang my head in shame as fans in the outer racially abuse a member of the visiting English cricket team?
Who was abused during a match in which Warne played?
As an authoritative voice at the airport instructs me to be on the lookout for unattended baggage, should I contemplate why I look immediately and suspiciously at anyone whose skin pigment doesn’t match my own?
Possibly Sean is another knee-jerk leftist frightchild.
When on a camping holiday at Christmas, should I mock the size of my tent, or compare its size to David Hicks’s home of the past five years?
Sean is beginning to lose me here.
When I read of the continued unfolding tragedy of one Australian soldier, can I find it within myself to think about my own and my country’s complicity in the deaths of more than half a million Iraqis?
Name one.
When I watch the news, should I ponder that it seems the only man in a position of authority left on the planet who questions the threat posed by global warming is the leader of my country? Or that he refuses to concede the invasion of Iraq was a mistake? Or that he continues to extol the virtues of the Vietnam War?
This kid should be on suicide watch.
Should I be confused why Muslims, such a minor proportion of Australians, can persistently dominate the news broadcasts and headlines, when drunken rugby league players present a far greater danger to my personal safety?
Oh, sure they do. Rugby league players are notorious for stockpiling weaponry.
As I watch colleagues humiliate themselves at the staff Christmas party, should I pass it off as a bit of a laugh or recognise that in every family I know someone is mentally ill and/or an abuser of alcohol?
Every family he knows should bar Sean from their door.
While my teeth are being whitened and my skin tanned orange before Christmas, can I reconcile that extravagance with the $2 rubber wristband I bought for charity this year?
No, you can’t. And drunken rugby league players—many of them mentally ill—will soon arrive to inform you of this.
Should I ever even think about the plight of indigenous Australians?
Up to you, Sean.
What should I do? What can I do? There’s probably nothing I can do.
Well, at least he was able to write a letter.
(Via Gravelly)
