The Art Neuro Weblog

Some Thoughts On Our National Trauma
Sometimes I think Australia is traumatised by its expereinces in the two World Wars beyond what other nations might sustain. As if in its infancy, the nation witnessed unsuprassed brutality in the face of war. So culturally, Australia possesses a kind of desire for the power of redemptive violence to bring it into manhood as a nation, but at the same time, a kind of whiny insistence on pointing at the trauma gained by the very desire for combat. And so you have Anzac Day where veterans parade with their medals and TV stations air documentaries of wrinkled old folks talking about the hardships they experienced.

In its 210 or so years of written history, if you live for 30 years,  you have lived 1/7th of the entire nation's history. Consider that for a moment. If one were to live 1/7th of the written history of say, China you would have to live 500 years. Or in the case of Egypt, 1500 years. To such nations, wars are historic inevitabilities. They are accidents of human existence; or natural disasters. In fact all three interpretations of war can be applied to any number of truly brutal wars in their history.

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating lost his father in the Bataan march. So in his time as treasurer, he refused (not that he was invited) to visit Japan. As Prime Minister, he finally went and pretty much demanded an apology. Now this is an Australian Prime Minister I liked (sorry Conservative Weasel; he was a bastard, but he was 'our bastard'), but I felt a degree of discomfort with this part of his disposition. It meani that no matter how long I lived, I wouldn't be fully Australian in his eyes (and screw him very much, I voted for him!). That, because of things that neither I nor he could control, I would forever be a foreigner in my own country. Worse still, this reflectes the general community sentiment when I get asked "how long do you intend to stay here?".
There's still an anxiety in Australia that Japan will forget its militarist past. Many would try not to let Japan live it down. And yet Australia is dealing with a country with a written history that is a good 7 times longer, tht has experienced many a bloody conflict. At a certain point, they will simlpy 'put it down to history'. Why can't Australia? because it was a significant part of this nation's formative expereince.

But back to this trauma. It manifests itself in the uncomfortable alliance with th United States of America, where we do tag along with US policy and then squirm and writhe when we are made their deputies;  the way Australian diplomatic strategy tries to project a larger image of Australian domestic power than is actualy real, and yet tries to duck our share of humaitarian aid; and also the perpetual cultural cringe and self-censorship that goes into the arts. It all sees to amount to a scream for legitimacy (but also a kind of demand of "freedom from responsibility"). Then when our govenrment, Coalition or Labor, gets criticised for its shortcomings it behaves like a victim. Well, why would Contemporary Australia, a nation largely devoid of the kind of civil strife that other nations experience and have experienced, be in anyway a victim? While one could easily argue a case that the Indigenous Australians are victims of history, it's a long shot to say that Contemporary Australia is anything like a victim. It's clearly a case of over-stating one's injuries.

I don't know why I chose to write this down today except it has been bothering me the last few years, how our government has been so easy to switch to a victim posture in discussing the refugees arriving on our shores to our onvolvement in the 'War Against Terror'. I simply would have thought Australia was better than that.

- Art Neuro