It's very interesting for me at this time, because i've been thinking about the temperament of Australians, their lack of idealism, and their strong cynicism, taking for granted a 'lowest common denominator' view of humanity and of the world- being willing to sell out our values for money and privilege, when we see it as inevitable that someone else will.
(My sister told me about a recent article in the Herald by an Australian woman bemoaning the observation that all her fellow countrymen and women at Harvard became those in their year who most willlingly took the unethical big corporate jobs, rather than jobs to help people).
I've been talking to my sister about the role Australia has been playing internationally, as the secretly evil one, who plots away behind the scenes to undermine important legislation such as the Kyoto Protocol, and the UN convention on the rights of indigenous peoples.
We are SUCH a machiavellian society- I just can't believe it.
Some other observations from another intellectual friend, Christina, who is fleeing this redneck country- (who I fortuitously ran into on the bus at 1am last night), is that
1. it is hard to meet intellectually interesting people in Sydney. (or rather, to find spaces where the 'interestingness' of people can be expressed). Appearance of 'normality' is valued highly by many. [There is also a strong sense of an 'ingroup thought police', that i experience as the 'judgemental gaze'- that looks you up and down in the street- I notice this when feeling ultra-sensitive, and feel much more at ease in this regard in Melbourne].
2. Sydney has a Mediterranean climate, but a Nordic streetlife- we go inside at about 7pm, and don't celebrate life on the streets as many people in mediterranean cultures do.- Except, i must say, at Sydney Festival time. I went to Symphony under the Stars last night, and it was wonderful, as always.
But so beautiful!! i'll post a picture of sydney i took 2 years ago here.
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