Welcome to my page... Enjoy!
Graham E. McLoughlin
Short Stories and other stuff I haven't tried before
ON THIS PAGE:
A look at how our nation has changed over the last 220 years, when tribal living was the norm, back to the formation of our modern 'tribes', all baying for control and power
A light-hearted look at the malaise that seems to be prevalent in our nation's capital and is rapidly spreading,, even into regional areas nowdays
As a writer, poetry has always been my thing until now. As I get older and lazier I seem to have a yearning to put what I am thinking down, without necessarily going to the trouble of thinking in diactic pentameter or septameter. All I can say is "Well here goes... I hope it isn't too boring for you."
A Nation of Tribes
In the years BC (Before Cook), Australia was a nation of tribes... Not just tribes but language groups, skin groups, clan groups and family groups. These groups were spread across the width and breadth of the country with one common purpose... To survive in arguably the most hostile conditions in the world. A land full of deadly snakes, spiders, fish and insects. A hot dry land that burst into flames and burnt for weeks. A cold wet land where snow and icy winds drew the game away, and a hot, wet windy land where tropical cyclones raced in from the sea and decimated the rainforests they depended on for shelter and food.
Divided as they were by tribal, language, clan and family borders, they co-existed relatively peacefully, save the odd argument or blood-letting over a woman or a hunting ground. No tribe tried to force their culture and customs on any other. No clan or family held claim to any ‘special’ bearing within the larger community and no individual chose to elevate themselves over their fellows to be a potentate over them.
Their whole lifestyle was shattered by the coming of a tall ship to Botany Bay in 1770, bringing with it diseases they had never experienced, weapons they had no chance against and what was probably worse, a culture of greed, avarice and ownership of things they had never known.
This European culture of greed could not exist within a nation of tribes so it sought to initially ignore, then assimilate and finally decimate the tribal system. It did this by stealth, by deception, by disease and finally by violence. The result was a new Europe here in the Great South Land, where hardworking generations created the Australia we used to know thirty years ago... A place where opportunity for most of the population existed, (With the obvious exception of the original population that had only five short years before been acknowledged as citizens, allowed to vote and be represented within the population census.) This was a nation that had earned its international status with the blood of its young men in battles around the globe, with its endurance and skill in the production of food to fill the bellies of its “Mother Country’ and with its culture of a ‘fair go’ and mateship. It was a great country to bring your children up in, to live the dreams that were impossible in 80% of the rest of the world and to hold a hand of welcome and assistance to those less fortunate than we were here.
Then suddenly someone, somewhere decided that we would be better off in this country if we were to make it a nation of tribes again. They drew rings around tracts of country on a map and said to some of the original inhabitants “this is yours and yours only... Except where it isn’t because we want those bits” They decided that we were a nation set apart from the rest of the world because we didn’t embrace the ‘M’ word... "Multiculturalism". They wrote laws to give some people more rights and privileges than others and they called anyone who spoke out against it ‘racist’.
Our nation of tribes is not like the nation of tribes it was though. These tribes a much more complex groups encompassing nationality, religions, political ideologies, sexual preference and gender , to name just a few. Instead of co-existing peacefully side by side like the original tribes, they jostle and banter for power, riches and property. The freedom won by the generations before us were now able to be used to place potentates into positions of power and to effectively reproduce the problems other countries all over the world were suffering for the exact same reasons... The very reason that people from there were killing themselves and each other to come here for.
Australia is now tribal! It is tribal without the workable customs and laws of the first nation’s people to monitor and control it. It is a tribal spiral of self-destruction, greed, power-seeking, political correctness and domination over others.
Here’s hoping the next invasion comes from somewhere different and the invaders have lived through a tribal system with no bounds before... Maybe THEY might know what to do!!!
Canberraitis:
A debilitating disease that has spread throughout the population of Australia, mainly through public service, polity and media circles, in which all vestiges of reality are removed from the victim’s psych.
The disease also attacks the work ethic and imagination of the victim, often leading them to a general malaise in which they either will do nothing at all or carry out any work they do with a great deal of difficulty and slowness. It will also encourage victims to seek and follow the path of least resistance to anything that involves any mental or physical effort.
It is thought to have spread from a single source in the Canberra region, late in the 20th century when the last great statesman, Don Chipp, left politics in Australia and has now found its way into both major and minor parties, throughout all the commonwealth and state public service and to the media, via the press gallery and by direct contact with media owners, directly from their intimate association with already infected politicians.
Other symptoms of the disease may include a prevalence of rudeness and lack of respect for the general public, a belief that the victim is actually the Messiah and therefore above any reprimand or responsibility they may have been given, a pre-dereliction to stretching the truth or, in the case of senior public servants, media staff and politicians, lying through their teeth with every breath.
There is a cure for the disease which entails the total removal and isolation of the infected person from their workplace or public office permanently. It is thought by victims that this cure should be accompanied by either huge cash payouts or pensions and a plethora of benefits for the rest of their natural life, although the latter is now being questioned by the general population and even some of the victims themselves, if they have not been too badly infected to this time.
Footnote:
It may also be noted that the disease has recently been noted to have mutated in the general region of Canberra and major capital cities, spreading to Service station attendants, Mcdonalds workers and local government officials and employees. A variant of the disease that targets the areas of the brain that control perceived entitlement also has been found in some immigrant groups who have recently come into the country. It is thought that this variant has been prevalent in our Asian neighbours for some time now.