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Politicking aside, I wish all the leaders in all the countries of the world held such ideals as this man. There's a lot to absorb, but the rising alcohol and d

Politicking aside, I wish all the leaders in all the countries of the world held such ideals as this man. There's a lot to absorb, but the rising alcohol and domestic abuse due to despair is something that's increasing in my country too: oz. Mental health issues are skyrocketing. Our politicians ignore what we ask for, but propagandize what they think we need based on their corruption, while actively suppressing liberty. The middle class is almost gone... ... and we're widely regarded as being called the lucky country. By comparison to many less fortunate others we still are. Edit: typos

qnsi 7y ago
Which country?
- tagawa 7y ago
  oz = Australia
manicdee 7y ago
“The lucky country” refers to how we have managed to make it this far for a nation whose economy is primary production and debt. The term was originally intended as a criticism not a compliment.
- hnick 7y ago
  It is far more. It is an indictment of Australia as an incurious (yet hardy) nation run by incurious people. It still adequately captures the state of our modern leadership. "Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people's ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise."[1] Edit: Also as an aside, the quote originally didn't have anything to do with resources, though in modern times it makes sense to make that link. "When I invented the phrase in 1964 to describe Australia, I said: 'Australia is a lucky country run by second rate people who share its luck.' I didn't mean that it had a lot of material resources … I had in mind the idea of Australia as a [British] derived society whose prosperity in the great age of manufacturing came from the luck of its historical origins … In the lucky style we have never 'earned' our democracy. We simply went along with some British habits." [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lucky_Country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lucky_Country
  - manicdee 7y ago
    Thank you
  - Bendingo 7y ago
    > It still adequately captures the state of our modern leadership. It also still describes the apathy of the population.
  - larnmar 7y ago
    I’ve always thought that the author of that phrase showed a fundamental misunderstanding of what ought to make a country prosperous. He seems to think it’s surprising that Australia’s success has come from the bottom up (millions of individuals acting in accordance with basically-sensible cultural norms) rather than top down (imposed by the will of some great leader). But societal success always comes from the bottom up, and great cultures come from evolution, not intelligent design. May the reins of political power in our country continue to exist in the hands of uncreative intellectual non-entities and suburban solicitors. When Great Men with Big Ideas get into power it always seems to result in a disaster.
    - hnick 7y ago
      I personally think it's more of a give-and-take or feedback loop. Sometimes you need leaders who recognise strong ideas and run with them. I think a clear recent example (regardless of personal opinion) is the whole gay marriage debacle. The majority of the population wanted it but no leader had the guts to be the one to do it. The closest we got was wasting money on a plebiscite, spending $80 million to basically ask "are you really sure you want this?". I don't mind being more directly involved in democracy, but we never have such plebiscites for other issues. They didn't have the courage to go ahead without covering their backsides. Anyway, back to the quote, if we're going to anthropomorphise Australia then the impression I get is that we are the rich kid who grew up with all the advantages bestowed upon us by Mother Britain but we never really learned to fend for ourselves as independent adults. We can't coast forever.
      - bigger_cheese 7y ago
baybal2 7y ago
> Politicking aside, I wish all the leaders in all the countries if the world held such ideals as this man. > There's a lot to absorb, but the rising alcohol and domestic abuse due to despair is something that's increasing in my country too: oz. Mental health issues are skyrocketing. Our politicians ignore what we ask for, but propagandize what they think we need based on their corruption, while actively suppressing liberty. The middle class is almost gone... Man, there is a gigantic rightist resurgence all across the world, if you did not notice that. The consequences of that will be the biggest challenge to our generation, and possibly even outlast us. If you don't want our children's generation being haunted by the mess our generation let rightists to do, start doing something about it other than talking about it. Americans are yet to taste all horrors of rightism, and don't know how deep is an abyss they are about to step in. You will see a good example of what you are up to if you take a look on the worse half of Latin American countries with multi-generational rightist, oligarchic elites. By all definitions, they are doing terrible, and this is why you should work hard for your country not to become like one of them
- corporate_shi11 7y ago
  >"rightist resurgence" So ending illegal immigration, reducing taxation and government overreach, reemphasizing personal responsibility, recognizing the threat of China... These things are not going to "haunt" our children's generation. Not stopping the Leftists from ravaging the economy and society more than they already have will haunt our children.
fyfy18 7y ago
I live in a post-Soviet country that has many of the issues described in the statement too. We have the highest suicide rate in Europe (after Russia), and basically everyone knows of at least a handful of people who have died either directly or indirectly due to alcohol. Earlier this year my father-in-law died due to alcohol. He had been out drinking and the next morning his family found him asleep on the floor downstairs. They assumed he was just drunk (he was still breathing at this point) so left him, and when they came back in the evening he was still there, but no longer breathing. His death was put down to heart failure as he had known heart problems (no post-mortem was done), but if it wasn't for the alcohol something would have been done. So even the statistics that associate deaths due to alcohol are too low. Last year the government brought in laws to limit the hours alcohol could be sold in shops (8pm Monday - Saturday and 3pm on Sunday and holidays) and the drinking age was raised to 20, and of course it was met with plenty of public outcry. Most people refuse to admit that alcohol is such a big problem for socieity, even when it is staring them in the face.

qnsi 7y ago

Which country?

tagawa 7y ago
oz = Australia

manicdee 7y ago

“The lucky country” refers to how we have managed to make it this far for a nation whose economy is primary production and debt. The term was originally intended as a criticism not a compliment.

hnick 7y ago
It is far more. It is an indictment of Australia as an incurious (yet hardy) nation run by incurious people. It still adequately captures the state of our modern leadership. "Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people's ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise."[1] Edit: Also as an aside, the quote originally didn't have anything to do with resources, though in modern times it makes sense to make that link. "When I invented the phrase in 1964 to describe Australia, I said: 'Australia is a lucky country run by second rate people who share its luck.' I didn't mean that it had a lot of material resources … I had in mind the idea of Australia as a [British] derived society whose prosperity in the great age of manufacturing came from the luck of its historical origins … In the lucky style we have never 'earned' our democracy. We simply went along with some British habits." [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lucky_Country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lucky_Country
- manicdee 7y ago
  Thank you
- Bendingo 7y ago
  > It still adequately captures the state of our modern leadership. It also still describes the apathy of the population.
- larnmar 7y ago
  I’ve always thought that the author of that phrase showed a fundamental misunderstanding of what ought to make a country prosperous. He seems to think it’s surprising that Australia’s success has come from the bottom up (millions of individuals acting in accordance with basically-sensible cultural norms) rather than top down (imposed by the will of some great leader). But societal success always comes from the bottom up, and great cultures come from evolution, not intelligent design. May the reins of political power in our country continue to exist in the hands of uncreative intellectual non-entities and suburban solicitors. When Great Men with Big Ideas get into power it always seems to result in a disaster.
  - hnick 7y ago
    I personally think it's more of a give-and-take or feedback loop. Sometimes you need leaders who recognise strong ideas and run with them. I think a clear recent example (regardless of personal opinion) is the whole gay marriage debacle. The majority of the population wanted it but no leader had the guts to be the one to do it. The closest we got was wasting money on a plebiscite, spending $80 million to basically ask "are you really sure you want this?". I don't mind being more directly involved in democracy, but we never have such plebiscites for other issues. They didn't have the courage to go ahead without covering their backsides. Anyway, back to the quote, if we're going to anthropomorphise Australia then the impression I get is that we are the rich kid who grew up with all the advantages bestowed upon us by Mother Britain but we never really learned to fend for ourselves as independent adults. We can't coast forever.
    - bigger_cheese 7y ago

baybal2 7y ago

> Politicking aside, I wish all the leaders in all the countries if the world held such ideals as this man. > There's a lot to absorb, but the rising alcohol and domestic abuse due to despair is something that's increasing in my country too: oz. Mental health issues are skyrocketing. Our politicians ignore what we ask for, but propagandize what they think we need based on their corruption, while actively suppressing liberty. The middle class is almost gone... Man, there is a gigantic rightist resurgence all across the world, if you did not notice that. The consequences of that will be the biggest challenge to our generation, and possibly even outlast us. If you don't want our children's generation being haunted by the mess our generation let rightists to do, start doing something about it other than talking about it. Americans are yet to taste all horrors of rightism, and don't know how deep is an abyss they are about to step in. You will see a good example of what you are up to if you take a look on the worse half of Latin American countries with multi-generational rightist, oligarchic elites. By all definitions, they are doing terrible, and this is why you should work hard for your country not to become like one of them

corporate_shi11 7y ago
>"rightist resurgence" So ending illegal immigration, reducing taxation and government overreach, reemphasizing personal responsibility, recognizing the threat of China... These things are not going to "haunt" our children's generation. Not stopping the Leftists from ravaging the economy and society more than they already have will haunt our children.

fyfy18 7y ago

I live in a post-Soviet country that has many of the issues described in the statement too. We have the highest suicide rate in Europe (after Russia), and basically everyone knows of at least a handful of people who have died either directly or indirectly due to alcohol. Earlier this year my father-in-law died due to alcohol. He had been out drinking and the next morning his family found him asleep on the floor downstairs. They assumed he was just drunk (he was still breathing at this point) so left him, and when they came back in the evening he was still there, but no longer breathing. His death was put down to heart failure as he had known heart problems (no post-mortem was done), but if it wasn't for the alcohol something would have been done. So even the statistics that associate deaths due to alcohol are too low. Last year the government brought in laws to limit the hours alcohol could be sold in shops (8pm Monday - Saturday and 3pm on Sunday and holidays) and the drinking age was raised to 20, and of course it was met with plenty of public outcry. Most people refuse to admit that alcohol is such a big problem for socieity, even when it is staring them in the face.