The Cormologist

Friday, January 26, 2007

The Flag, Dr T and beach cricket

I have been thinking on what it means to be Australian in the last week or so. What with the furore over the Flag and Big Day Out and Australia Day itself there is plenty to chew on. Its funny that a few short years ago the Australian flag was something of a anomaly - it was something that sat atop our flag poles but as a symbol of what Australia wanted to be in its bicentennial or even later in the year 2000 - it did not figure largely. I remember a time when the Boxing Kanagaroo was the flag of choice at cricket games and the Union Jack and the red white and blue colours of our flag were something that many people wanted to change. However, these days everywhere I go it seems that there is a manifestation of the flag there to greet me. Hanging cape like from cricket supporters necks or shaped in T-shirt or boxer short or even bikini form, or even tatooed on some girl's back at the beach. To me it just doesn't seem right, it seems to indicate a more parochial and adimantly patriotic country - not the friendly inclusive country I sometime ago believed Australia was turning into. I guess in the wake of Septemeber 11 and the outbreak of US patriotism that that event created, many Australians feel there society is also "under threat" more than ever before. Sure there was Bali but it is funny that we feel we need to retreat to a very nationalist form of expression to counter this threat. In Australia itself that threat is at worst overstated, at best it doesn't really exist at all. One crazy sheikh does not a Muslem threat make.

When Dr Tim Flannery was made Australian of the year a week or so ago it did restore some of my faith in Australia (even John Howard - the truth be told). His contribution to science in Australia has been remarkable and his unswerving voice for ration sustainable change has really found a willing audience in the last year or so - all around the world. When I first read his Future Eaters it really opened my mind to many of the issues facing Australia - and while I didn't always agree with his conclusions or policy prescriptions he raised important issues in his writing that certainly needed to be raised - also his writing really elucidated these ideas better than any I have read before or since. How many people can the Australian continent sustainable hold. His conclusion was about 8 or 9 million from memory - far short of the current 20m and along way short of the 50m that many demographers predict Australia will hold in 30 or 40 years from now. His more recent and more widely accliamed book The Weather Makers is really a book that could easily companion Al Gore 's An Inconvenient Truth - but with far more research and science and also perhaps a slight touch of Aussie humour which Mr Gore could possibly do with. Though it is probably hard to laugh when you are making so many dour predictions.

The last few days I have been in Sydney - courtesy of XXXX Gold and have been attending the XXXX Gold beach cricket which my girlfriend is helping to look after. Quite fun. Basically it is a bunch of 20 or so ex-cricketers getting together to promote beer by playing beach cricket on 3 beaches around Australia. The final was in Sydney today - which the English actually won. A cruel irony for them and their 2006-2007 cricket season - the only thing that the English could win was beach cricket. One of the funniest things about being here and being part of the whole thing is watching how fame f*cks with people's heads. Most of the ex-cricketers involved have been out of the game for a while - and this competition allows many of them to reacquaint themselves with the semi-famous nature of being a lauded sports person. This means the constant attention of fans for autographs, their minders for photo ops and those involved in the promotion for their attention. Not to mention the fact that twenty something chicks will give them attention again. Some of whom have let that go to their head. I guess it can be a funny little world that is created by fans, old times, XXXX gold angels and a fake one at that. I decided against going to the Bourbon and Beefsteak with all the crew tonight. Perhaps it is because I am not psychophantic enough - or perhaps it is because I had to go to work tomorrow. Or perhaps it is because I can't really judge these guys - as I will never be famous enough to warrant the attention they get - even in their middle age. Who knows. What I do know is that they will have to go back to their wives and lives sooner or later. We all do.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

call me cynical but the only reason Flannery got the gig is because he backs the use nuclear energy

4:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Keep up the good work.

3:02 AM  

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