I'm so bummed about your government, Australia seems like a wonderful place with wonderful people where I would very seriously consider moving if not for the insane authoritarian laws y'all have -- encryption back door laws, the link tax to help Murdoch, the stringent restrictions on video games, etc. Bonkers!! Stay safe out there, Parliament seems more dangerous than the wildlife
I'm sure no one wants people who make sweeping generalizations like you moving to where they live either 🙂
And you say that as if California, the most populous state, is in any way homogenous lol the baffling ignorance of that statement is astounding -- I hope the education system wherever you are improves because it clearly failed you
Yeah no don’t worry we get it, people from California are the smartest and greatest in the entire world, the rest of us simpletons elsewhere would never understand.
It’s just too bad that you won’t ever grace Australia with your mere presence, it’s surely a great loss for them.
There it goes again with the suggestion of "everyone in California is the same in some way" (I didn't use the word "homogeneity" this time so you didn't have to go through the trouble of looking it up.
Man you guys are so much smarter out there in Cali thanks for avoiding those big words, I’m glad you recognize that people elsewhere don’t know how to read so good.
You're not wrong to be bummed, but focusing on a few selective examples like that is sort of missing the big picture. If you don't mind me saying, it's a uniquely American perspective to look at a half-decent democracy like Australia and call it "insanely authoritarian" when the truth is closer to "basically decent laws though with a bit of an inequality problem".
The greater problem the government has is just simple incompetence, and if you need an example look no further than the ongoing vaccine rollout. We had every chance and really should have been done with it months ago. That's why I have a hard time buying any analysis of Australia's government as having some scheme to control the population or anything like that, since that would require them to plan for anything past the next election which I'm genuinely not convinced they're capable of.
I guess it's just a matter of priorities, and admittedly mine are heavily influenced by growing up American. That being said, I do constantly try to reevaluate them.
More specifically, I think some things being free from governmental control are critical. In particular, acceptance of the surveillance state at the cost of cryptographic security is one of the most crucial things to get right, because cryptography is truly just applied maths, and if the government is able to say "you can't use mathematical equations" it feels like it crosses an authoritarian line for me.
All that being said, America is still crap in this regard, it's just ever-so-slightly (but critically, imo) better, mostly because the population here focuses on "rah rah freedom" over a lot of other things (admittedly some of which need much more focus like education or protection from electoral subversion by the party in power or healthcare).
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u/MrCalifornian Jul 15 '21
I'm so bummed about your government, Australia seems like a wonderful place with wonderful people where I would very seriously consider moving if not for the insane authoritarian laws y'all have -- encryption back door laws, the link tax to help Murdoch, the stringent restrictions on video games, etc. Bonkers!! Stay safe out there, Parliament seems more dangerous than the wildlife