Australians losing the plot.

[Rorschach]

Pardon the pun.
But Australians are losing the plot.
We have ANZAC Day and I can understand that and think one day a year is more than enough to commemorate those that have fought and died for our country and way of life. It is a good thing to remember and hope for better.

But over the years things have been getting out of hand. With the advent of more and more ethnics we now have shrines by the roadside everytime there's an accident where someone dies. I'm sick of it. I find it personally unpleasant. I don't need it, it's an intrusion on my life. Have your funerals, create your memorials, but do it in private. Like most people still do. Australians never used to do this.

I hate the Oi Oi OI which was started by a handful of boneheads who follow sporting events. Wouldn't it be a more apt Jewish chant?.

We have people telling the Turks what they can do with and in their own country. STFU! It's their country.
Now we have people thinking they can tell the Balinese what to do... go away!
Now Malcom Farr has caught the bug and thinks we need a Bali Day. Should we have a Hilton Bombing Day or a Port Arthur Massacre Day too?

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/To- ... -bali-day/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Thankfully there are more Australians who remember what it is to be an Australian and who refuse to be carried along on this pathetic path to becoming a nation of hand-wringing victims. I can only hope we win out in the end.

Charles says:

12:54pm | 12/10/12

For heavens sake Mal, how many days off do you want? If we make a day to commemorate every bad thing that has happened to us as a nation, then even over the past couple of hundred years we would have more than enough to fill up every day in the year, and most likely a few days where we had more than one commemoration.

I don’t know whether this is the new site for silly ideas, but this is a trivial response even for one like yourself.

Warrenz says:

01:01pm | 12/10/12

I don’t think its a good idea when Bali survivor Peter Hughes says that the 10 year anniversary will be his last trip to Bali. He said he needs to put it behind him and you would expect many more of those that survived, and many of the families of those that didn’t, would be like-minded. A national holiday commemorating a criminal act sets a bad precedent too. Imagine having to relive something like the Port Arthur massacre once per year.

neil says:

01:21pm | 12/10/12

Bali was not a defining moment in our countries history, Bali is not part of our country. In a generation it will just be another note in the history books and most people will not have heard of it.

Of course it’s tragic for those involved but it was a criminal act in another country, the perpetrators have been brought to justice so it’s time for our nation to move on.

RJH says:

02:07pm | 12/10/12

Should we have a day to remember every Australian killed in a criminal act overseas? or just when there was more than 1 or more than 5 or more than 10?

Clare says:

02:18pm | 12/10/12

Why do people react as if terrorism is so much worse than anything else? It just gives it more momentum. Any loss of life is utterly terrible whatever the circumstances - natural or otherwise. What about the Port Arthur massacre, the Thredbo landslide, the Boxing Day tsunami, the Black Saturday fires and the Queensland floods. Should all these victims be forgotten? Don’t they deserve a national commemoration?

Chris Dewberry says:

03:19pm | 12/10/12

“Wow, what a great idea” said no-one ever. We’re supposed to have a national holiday that will probably lead to more racism and hatred because of one terrorist attack? What about victims of car crashes, or the people who died on boats on their way to Aus?
Maybe we could have a whole string of national days to honour everyone and every event that has ever made headlines!
Or maybe you’re just an idiot.

ramases says:

03:43pm | 12/10/12

No, no a thousand times no. This preoccupation with disaster is getting out of hand. People have to move on however hard it is or their lives become meaningless. If people involved directly or indirectly want to hold memorial services then so be it but most people have moved on and a constant reminder is not what is needed.
It was sad that it happened and I feel sorry for those effected and it woke Australians up to the fact that we were no immune to terrorist actions but to perpetuate the day is no way for a country to move forward. There is no possible excuse for having a special day for this in any way.

Trevor says:

12:38pm | 12/10/12

Or not. Let’s not add to the notion that we are a country of hand-wringing victims.

[Aussie]

Right here:

With the advent of more and more ethnics we now have shrines by the roadside everytime there's an accident where someone dies.

....is where you shoot yourself if the foot.


Please clarify.

[Rorschach]

I checked...
Both mine are fine thankyou.
Have you taken yours out of your mouth yet?

The roadside shrine has been a more recent advent, started by ethnic Australians. It was never a constant practice in the past. Now it is even being practiced by non-ethnic Australians (usually bogans). Haven't you noticed? Where have you been living?

[Aussie]

You absolute idiot:

The roadside shrine has been a more recent advent, started by ethnic Australians. It was never a constant practice in the past. Now it is even being practiced by non-ethnic Australians (usually bogans). Haven't you noticed? Where have you been living?

How long is it since you travelled the Bruce Highway, Queensland? For every one 'ethnic' name you see on a shrine, you pay me one carton of VB cans. For every non 'ethnic' name you see on a shrine, you pay me 50 cartons of VB cans.

[boxy]

I might have had a bit of a listen to your rant, ratty, but then you started in on the ethnics and jews, as if they had anything to do with it.

You absolute idiot. Go sit in the corner with MelBart

[Rorschach]

You absolute idiot:

The roadside shrine has been a more recent advent, started by ethnic Australians. It was never a constant practice in the past. Now it is even being practiced by non-ethnic Australians (usually bogans). Haven't you noticed? Where have you been living?

How long is it since you travelled the Bruce Highway, Queensland? For every one 'ethnic' name you see on a shrine, you pay me one carton of VB cans. For every non 'ethnic' name you see on a shrine, you pay me 50 cartons of VB cans.

No Aussie you got it in reverse... YOU absolute idiot... now go away and read what I actually said again. If you still fail to comprehend get an adult to explain it to you, meanwhile I'll be trying to open boxy's mind to what I actually said too. BTW I live in NSW not Qld so I'm mainly commenting on this state, the Multicultural Capital of Australia you twit. I've been around long enough to know what I'm talking about.

I might have had a bit of a listen to your rant, ratty, but then you started in on the ethnics and jews, as if they had anything to do with it.

You absolute idiot. Go sit in the corner with MelBart

Boxy STFU! You idiot.
I have nothing against Jews.
I just don't like the Oi Oi Oi crap, never have. I was having a shot at the idiots who came up with it not the Jews moron. Care to explain where I was wrong? wasn't my main point anyway now was it.
This'll be good.

Oh and the ethnic comment was absolutely correct too. Moron.
oh and here some words you can eat since you will undoubtedly be incapable of an apology.

Jewish Oi or OY
ARE WE JEWISH? Oy! We Jews probably use the word 'oy', sometimes spelled 'oi', more than any other word except 'food' or 'eat'. It's the Jewish thing to do. Oy, I'm tired! Oi, I hurt, oy, what weather, oi, look at this doctor's bill, oy, when you grow up you should have kids like you, oi, my mother is coming for the week, oy, I ate too much, and sometimes, with no reason, just plain Oy. It is impossible to be a Jew and not say "oi" several times a day. There is a Oy Gene somewhere in our DNA.

[Rorschach]

Meanwhile away from the mindless bigots...
Some quotes re roadside memorials.

What lies behind the growing numbers of crosses and shrines appearing on the site of fatal accidents along our major roads?

They're appearing in greater numbers along our major roads and highways - crosses, flowers, trinkets, messages, spontaneous shrines in honour of someone who has died in a road crash at that spot.

Simple or elaborate, makeshift or permanent, they are the public markers of private trauma and grief, and turn public land into private sacred space.

In the process of claiming public road space for themselves, those who construct these memorials clearly desire to go beyond the management of mourning practices and spaces provided by the traditional authorities of the church and the state.

Roadside memorials for victims of road trauma are not new. However, they have become more popular in the past 10 to 15 years.

These purposes should have been covered by the funeral and the cemetery. Why is it not enough to have a grave to visit? Why does the funeral service, perhaps the last bastion of religious influence in many people’s lives, not satisfy the need to mourn?

Families and others feel they have the right to set up roadside memorials which function outside of official religion and outside of official burial grounds. Penny, the mother of Josh who died in a car crash in 2001, established a memorial for her son at the site of his death. She was distressed when a passerby criticised her for leaving flowers.

‘I can still hear this woman saying to me’, she wrote to the Herald Sun in February 2002, ‘ “I know this was sad, but it’s not fair on me to have to look at these flowers”. Believe me,’ wrote Penny, ‘this is a lot more than “sad”. How anybody feels they have the right to tell somebody not to place flowers where their child died is beyond me’.

While there has been little or no response from the traditional churches to the erection of roadside memorials, some local government authorities disallow or restrict roadside memorialisation. This is no barrier to their erection. Their presence represents an attempt to regain control over an intimately tragic and unexpectedly traumatic event.

Australia
The number of memorials erected in Australia since 1990 has increased considerably. In 2003, it was estimated that one in five road deaths were memorialized at the site of the crash.

All quotes backing up what I have said.

Personally I find them intrusive, upsetting and offensive. I do not need to be made part of someones personal grieving. I have seen shocking road accidents. One in particular stays with me, where a car rolled coming around a corner removing the roof against a telegraph pole the car stopping upside down 20 metres further on. There was blood inside the roof. Blood coming out from under the car, an arm protruding, small shoes and bits of clothing strew amongst the wreckage, and saddest of all, a small body covered up in the middle of the road.

I don't need to be reminded of this every time I go driving.