WHO WE ARE: Addicted to surprise

Wednesday May 9, 2007 04:08 PM

Who We Are

To find out what Australians are reading -- and what they're no longer reading -- go to The Tribal Mind.

A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 21/2/2010
What you're about to read is just between us, OK? I want your feedback on an idea for a best-selling book, but if it gets around, somebody will steal it. So mum's the word.

The book would be called A.D.D. Nation - How neophilia consumed Australia. The ADD in the title refers not only to Attention Deficit Disorder but also our compulsion to add new experiences to our lives at an ever-increasing rate. Ten years ago most homes had a radio, a telly, a VCR and a landline. Now we've got three plasma screens, two DVD players, a games box, iPods, iPhones, and a high speed internet connection. Ten years ago most of us knew the food of Italy, France, and China. Now we chase a new culinary culture every week - Moroccan, Thai, Brazilian, Bengali, north Indian, south Japanese, Greek island, Burmese, Szechuan, and Hunan.

It's wonderfully open-minded of us, but is the search for The Next Big Thing happening too fast? The book would suggest Australians are so ADDicted to constant change we're about to rush over a cliff. Come to think of it, the title could be Land of Lemmingtons. What do you reckon?

I would raise this scenario: Because we have become Early Discarders as well as Early Adopters, we are at risk of burning through our stock of competent politicians before they've had a chance to be useful. It took us 10 years to get bored with John Howard, but only two years to get bored with Kevin Rudd (if current opinion polls are to be believed). He doesn't surprise us any more.

That means we'll discard him simply because he is less new than Tony Abbott. The only way Labor could prevent defeat would be to replace Rudd with Julia Gillard three months before the election. Labor won't do that, so Abbott will become the new prime minister.

But next year the Liberals will need to feed our appetite for novelty by replacing him with Joe Hockey. Labor will discard Julia Gillard as Opposition leader because she'll be old news by the 2013 election.

My reflections on whether it's all happening too fast were prompted by reader reaction to what this column said last month. I published a list of comparisons between the old Australia and the new Australia, suggesting this is a different country from 20 years ago. The contrasts included Chiko roll/ chicken wrap; lamington/ tiramisu; Eddie McGuire/ Shaun Micallef; tea with milk and sugar/ skim latte; dripping/ olive oil; Hey Dad/ Packed to the Rafters.

Nola wrote: "I agree Australia is a more interesting country now than in 1960. However, speed, convenience, and instant everything -- including gratification -- seem to rule supreme."

Graeme Tutt wrote: "We've become more open, sophisticated and multicultural, which makes Oz more vibrant, interesting & deep. Yet we have incredibly high expectations of life and a high standard of living that can't be sustained."

Mike Williams wrote: "As a baby boomer I have embraced the wave of change known as the sixties and beyond, but I can't help feeling a little anxious when ... Yo-Yos became a Nintendo DS; Mental Arithmetic became the calculator; Anonymity became celebrity obsession; School spirit became what's in it for me?; Self-discipline became legislation, by-laws and ordinances; The six oclock swill became teenage binge drinking; Shopping became a national pastime; A lottery ticket became a scratchie, Lotto, Oz Lotto and Powerball; The backyard became a courtyard; Parents became child micro-managers."

Many readers lamented the constant craving for new stimulation, and wondered if it might be time to just slow down. Hence the book idea -- except of course, if our national attention span really has become as short as I suspect, nobody will have the patience to read a book anyway. I'm lucky you got this far in the column. Tell us what you think at Comments.

David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

COMMENTS

You elect a new leader every three years?? You run and win.
You coast.
You coast.
You run again. What?
I'm trying to understand this. You run around and drive yourself crazy trying to win and when you do you ONLY spend two years trying to be a good little boy so you can win again? And the point is? So then you drive yourself crazy trying to win once again. Huh? And the beat goes on.
OK, SO you win and then you get to be boss of your country.....so? What do you get out of it? Acceptance? Power? Adulation? (sp) I don't get it. I realize someone or something has to be in charge, but why would anyone want that responsibility? Seems kind of daunting to me. I would hate to wake up every morning knowing I had that kind of responsibility.
How about the grief you take from the journalist? How about the grief you take from common people like me? Doesn't sound like fun to me. Maybe it is fun to the person who takes on the top job. ??? Maybe there is a flaw in their character that makes them love abuse. ??? That's it! They love abuse. Wow. I know! It's a game. In order to be loved they have to take a lot of abuse first. Then they can truly feel loved. Maybe that's not it. ??? Maybe it is. Who's to say? NO ONE can read another persons mind or know how they are feeling.
And it's not true that you have to love yourself before you can love another. People on these sites say it all the time, but I checked with someone in the know about that and they said it's not true. So put that in your pipe and smoke it!
Mr. Rudd will win because he is a known quantity. He hasn't messed up (yet). Seriously, he won't. There is something I don't know about Mr Rudd. Is he a conservative or liberal? Actually there are many things I don't know about him, but I am interested to know if he is a C or L. I'm a little confused by the way he goes to a protestant? church, yet he is catholic. WTH? Turn coat. I would hold that against him because once a catholic always a catholic. At least that's how I was brainwashed. Stuck with me, you know. Not only does he go to their church on Sunday, but is it still true that he went to some sort of bible lesson? thing on Monday too? OMG. That's a big turn off. OOOOops. Didn't mean to say that! Why would someone feel the need to do the religious thing two days in a row? Was he a bad boy and he was repenting? Gee. Someone should ask him THAT question. I'm afraid to ask THIS question. Does he read the BIBLE? Oh no. Please god, I hope not. Fables.........I remember there was a group of neighbors (old neighborhood) that got together once a week and read the bible, prayed and what not. I was like OMG. This is what I don't understand. (I don't understand a lot) If you pray? for something or someone does that make a difference in the outcome. Did that make sense? So, if I have cancer or something and someone prays for me, the cancer will go away? Interesting. If my back hurts and I look to the heavens and ask the lord to help me, what will happen? Will the backache go away? If I need money to pay my bills and I pray really hard will the money materialize? Cool. Do you know what? I should start praying and reading the fables, I mean bible. Folklore. Yeah, I need some old time religion. For sure. It's so easy to.......nevermind.
Well, my point is.......people aren't tired of Mr Rudd because he hasn't been on the scene long enough and he's usually in hiding anyway. He needs to mingle with the common folk more. He needs to get out there and shake his ass a little.
One thing I have noticed (I do go on, don't I?) presidents etc REALLY age while in office! Holy cow! How about Geo Bush and the Clinton's? Obviously, some of it is because they are getting older, but a lot of it has to do with stress. I would recommend Botox. Yes, in the forehead. As we speak I need Botox desperately in my forehead, but it's pretty expensive for what you get. I digress, big time. Religion, Botox, what next?
It's really sad isn't it?? I wasn't going to mention this, but Mr. Rudd was kind of teary at the church? service on the anniversary off the big fires. (?) Felt bad for the guy. Maybe he does have a heart, after all. I think it's important for our leader to have a heart. Let's hope he has a big heart for all the animals out there. Let's hope he does EVERYTHING he can for them. They are deserving. I think the government has more than enough money to house tons and tons of animals that don't have a home. Why do governments all over the world turn there backs on animals? Why don't they do more? Much more. I hope when Mr. Rudd is re-elected he makes it a point of highlighting the plight of homeless animals. I truly do. His wife does the ??? about disabled people. Very good, but maybe she could get on the homeless animal bandwagon. Maybe that's not sophisticated enough. Don't know. Don't look at the political big picture. Do the right thing. If I say it is right, it's right.
Oh, did I say I will vote for you again? Yeah, what the hell. I even have my kitties signed up to vote.
GIVE' EM HELL RUDD.

by A Lice on February 21, 2010 at 12:23 AM

The desire for a quick turnover in politicians is partially fuelled by journalists, in my opinion. It is easier to churn out a piece on Kevin Rudd's likelihood of re-election 2 years away, than seriously analyse the way he has organised and ruled his cabinet, or analyse his policies.
The most exciting stories for political journalists are the ones about change, and Malcolm Turnbull was a victim of this, as was Nathan Rees. By constantly talking about it, it eventually happens.
Slightly worrying is that the next generation of pollies will be an ADD generation, and politicians actually need to be able to take considered, long-term views -- if we can't get K.rudd to do that, how the hell will we expect it from someone who is texting, listening to an ipod and doing their online banking during question time?

by Professor Rosseforp on February 21, 2010 at 05:58 AM

I work with a group of boomers,Gen X and Y.My observation is that most are concerned with family and except for one woman who is involved with Rotary their lives revolve around work and family.The majority seems not to have read a book since school,at least not a serious tome.There is little serious engagement or interest in politics and drivel on TV seems to be the main fare. Of course this is outer Sydney and I suspect we live in parallel universes to the inner city latte sipping elites ( not to put too fine a point on it).I don't know if David Dale is correct and Rudd will be a oncer. However John Howard and his crew were thrown out for no good reason. They had given us good economics and a rising standard of living. Rudd was elected because he was fresh and was a younger John Howard.It will be deliciously ironic if the same mindset by voters defeats or seriously wounds him in the upcoming election.

by Paul on February 21, 2010 at 10:54 AM

DD, I blame the media and advertising. We are constantly bombarded with ads telling us we must have the next new thing. We see some new gadget and we just have to have it no matter that we can't afford it. We want it now!
As for politicans the media wanted Howard gone so pushed Rudd. Now its bored with Rudd so starts pushing Abbott in our faces. We have no patience to see what Rudd can acomplish if we leave him there for another term. So we would vote for someone different in Abbott no matter what a tool he may be.
What has happened to our society is a constant mystery to me. Its the same with global warming. One day we believe in it, the next day we don't. No one has a realy opinion about anything anymore. We are all terrified of not going along with the majority. We are terrified of having an opinon on something in case it isn't the right one to have. I blame politcal correctness. The media tells us we're too fat or too skinny. Shows ads for McDonalds & Weight Watchers. No wonder our kids don't know what's right or wrong anymore. There are mixed messages everywhere.
Parents don't know how to manage their kids anymore. There is too much information. To smack or not to smack? What to put in juniors lunch box? What to let them watch on TV. Should they have a mobile phone? etc.etc. etc. No wonder
the world is such a mess. Parents haven't a clue, kids are out of control, the media reports more on what Paris Hilton does than what Obama does. We are obsessed with bimbos and air heads. And if someone does actually stand up for something they believe in they get shouted down and pulled apart till they slink off to oblivion (think Malcolm Turnbull).
The world is a mad mess. And we all know it. So instead of trying to do something about it we immerse ourselves in TV, DVD's and computer games. Anything so we will not have to actually think about anything, have an opinion or take action. We are all in a collective depression we can't get out of or even know we're in. We tell ourselves we are happy but if we go a little below the surface we find we're not. All the gadgets in the world don't give us happiness.
How do we change? Beats the hell out of me! So write your book, DD. I'd buy it. I am one of the few people out there that still read. Maybe you can come up with some answers.

by em on February 22, 2010 at 08:20 AM

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WHO WE ARE: Addicted to surprise

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