The Americanization of Australia — observations
I lived in the US from 1977 to 2010, a total of 33 years, and returned looking for Australia. I think Australia then was in a twilight of the 20th century. I went to the US because the dismissal had left me very bitter and angry. I decided to find out why Australia chose to be obedient to the US. Thirty-three years in the US makes you think like an American if you are going to survive there. Returning the last of Australia’s sense of self was in retirement mode. Kerry O’Brien’s last years at the ABC and Quentin Dempster as the NSW host of 7:30.
Australia has sold itself to the devil, I thought at the time. But it was the early stages of adopting America’s view of the world. The Marines base in Darwin and the adopting the US political stance against China since Tony Abbott was PM has been the gravest mistake.
I like America being in America but its way in the world is both ugly and cruel, more so as its imperial hubris is failing, but it is fighting to the last. In my view, we have tied ourselves to its future and lost ourselves. Pity.
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