I
really don't want to get dragged into this whole election thing... I
mean, I do, because it's important, but also I don't, because from
what I can see of this fetid election campaign, our country is fucked
anyway. The circus of Dreadful Mediocrity versus Frightening Evil
continues, and no amount of last minute self-education or concerted
voicing of opinions can help. We're going down, folks, hold your
loved ones and scream through tears and dangly mouth-saliva.
I don't know why it takes so much effort for me to engage on an emotional level, I've been trying to get to the bottom of this question for a while. I get a little jealous – although that's not really the word – of people who can convert their concern for our society into tangible passion about politics and issues of governance. I wish I could bring myself to care more, to do more, to get angrier and more proactive.
Yesterday I received a call from a random number – not blocked, just not saved to my phone – it was some guy whose name I have forgotten but who introduced himself as the co-ordinator of Power Shift, a climate summit I went to a month or so ago. I didn't have the most amazing time at this summit, mostly because I didn't really know what to do with it as an experience, and because I'd been up all night on one of the worst benders in recent memory, and attended the event without a wink of sleep... but the co-ordinator was calling, he was on the phone right now. He asked me whether I'd had a good time, and I lied poorly and said, “sure”. Then he told me about the AYCC's plans to man polling booths giving out information about the major parties' positions on climate change on election day, and asked what my plans for the 7th were. I lied again, and said I was busy all day. Why?
This is the same thing I'm talking about, right here. I don't even know why I lied, and why I decided that I didn't need to get out and do something to support what is probably the closest thing to a cause I legitimately care about in our political landscape on the most important day of my voting life thus far. If this election really is looking like sending our self-destructive patch of dirt down the tubes like I so resignedly fear it is, then shouldn't I be ready to act? Shouldn't I have jumped at his opportunity without a second thought?
I think the reason I am so reliably distant from my emotions when engaging (or failing to engage) with the Australian political landscape is because my emotions towards it are so overwhelmingly negative, exposing myself to them would wreak nothing but havoc on my mind. “Why bother?” is the overarching theme of this story. Why bother trying? Why bother caring? Why bother hurting myself and damaging my psyche when the slithering worthless cunts of the world armed with PR campaigns and professional liars in tow will undoubtedly do it for me regardless? Why? Why? What's the fucking point?
Well, the point is probably that me and my apathy represent a large section of young people in the electorate, and it is highly likely that me, and people like me, are one of the main reasons that I can go on Facebook and read status after status after tearfully frustrated, screamingly impotent, devastatingly hopeless status struggling to comprehend how Tony Abbott – the hideous face of democracy gone foul – will be running our country in under a week. From the 1200 Facebook friends I have, I've not seen a single pro-Liberal opinion in the last month, and know of only one person who might MAYBE hold one. Every young person I speak to says the same – that they are scared for our future, and wish there was a way out – so then how are we in this situation, drifting towards destruction, when everyone seems to be pushing the other way? Well, because no one's pushing. No one cares. Everyone has given up, and it's so heartbreaking that we can't even bear to think about it. Because we know we've betrayed ourselves, and come September 8th, I challenge any one of us to look ourselves in the mirror and not see what we have become. Shudder in fright, friends, this is our tomorrow.
So I'm about to call back that unknown number, and speak to the man whose name I have forgotten, and tell him that actually, yes, I will be there on Saturday, handing out flyers and talking to the masses. Because I should. Because I have to. Because we all have to. We're still going to lose, but to be honest, I had only planned to sit in and watch porn anyway.
Peace, Taco.
I don't know why it takes so much effort for me to engage on an emotional level, I've been trying to get to the bottom of this question for a while. I get a little jealous – although that's not really the word – of people who can convert their concern for our society into tangible passion about politics and issues of governance. I wish I could bring myself to care more, to do more, to get angrier and more proactive.
Yesterday I received a call from a random number – not blocked, just not saved to my phone – it was some guy whose name I have forgotten but who introduced himself as the co-ordinator of Power Shift, a climate summit I went to a month or so ago. I didn't have the most amazing time at this summit, mostly because I didn't really know what to do with it as an experience, and because I'd been up all night on one of the worst benders in recent memory, and attended the event without a wink of sleep... but the co-ordinator was calling, he was on the phone right now. He asked me whether I'd had a good time, and I lied poorly and said, “sure”. Then he told me about the AYCC's plans to man polling booths giving out information about the major parties' positions on climate change on election day, and asked what my plans for the 7th were. I lied again, and said I was busy all day. Why?
This is the same thing I'm talking about, right here. I don't even know why I lied, and why I decided that I didn't need to get out and do something to support what is probably the closest thing to a cause I legitimately care about in our political landscape on the most important day of my voting life thus far. If this election really is looking like sending our self-destructive patch of dirt down the tubes like I so resignedly fear it is, then shouldn't I be ready to act? Shouldn't I have jumped at his opportunity without a second thought?
I think the reason I am so reliably distant from my emotions when engaging (or failing to engage) with the Australian political landscape is because my emotions towards it are so overwhelmingly negative, exposing myself to them would wreak nothing but havoc on my mind. “Why bother?” is the overarching theme of this story. Why bother trying? Why bother caring? Why bother hurting myself and damaging my psyche when the slithering worthless cunts of the world armed with PR campaigns and professional liars in tow will undoubtedly do it for me regardless? Why? Why? What's the fucking point?
Well, the point is probably that me and my apathy represent a large section of young people in the electorate, and it is highly likely that me, and people like me, are one of the main reasons that I can go on Facebook and read status after status after tearfully frustrated, screamingly impotent, devastatingly hopeless status struggling to comprehend how Tony Abbott – the hideous face of democracy gone foul – will be running our country in under a week. From the 1200 Facebook friends I have, I've not seen a single pro-Liberal opinion in the last month, and know of only one person who might MAYBE hold one. Every young person I speak to says the same – that they are scared for our future, and wish there was a way out – so then how are we in this situation, drifting towards destruction, when everyone seems to be pushing the other way? Well, because no one's pushing. No one cares. Everyone has given up, and it's so heartbreaking that we can't even bear to think about it. Because we know we've betrayed ourselves, and come September 8th, I challenge any one of us to look ourselves in the mirror and not see what we have become. Shudder in fright, friends, this is our tomorrow.
So I'm about to call back that unknown number, and speak to the man whose name I have forgotten, and tell him that actually, yes, I will be there on Saturday, handing out flyers and talking to the masses. Because I should. Because I have to. Because we all have to. We're still going to lose, but to be honest, I had only planned to sit in and watch porn anyway.
Peace, Taco.
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