STICK THAT FUCKING FLAG UP YOUR... If you've heard propaghandi's first album, (and be honest, who hasn't?) you'll know exactly where... This whole thing was written a few weeks ago, but given what happened at the WTC, it's become even more relevant. Especially with the way certain sections of the western world are now using this appalling loss of life to their advantage: taking the fact that most people still haven't come to terms with the consequences, or even begun to grieve, and running with for all they can. We're still in shock, and everything is just moving far too fucking fast for people to comprehend it. And this is not a good thing. Because there are people who are going to use this... American foreign policy amazes me, and it always has. It is just so childishly black and white. "You hurt us, so we hurt you back even more". And you CAN NOT tell me that this is now not going to be used to usher in a new era of conservative militarism. It's happening already. I'm not expounding conspiracy theories, just telling it like I see it happening: we are going to lose our civil liberties. The powers of law enforcement and defence will be greatly increased at the violation of our own privacy. And it's not just going to happen in the US. Look how fucking qucikly Howard jumped on the bandwagon, pledging 'unconditional support' before he even knew what the hell he was pledging support to. The consequences are going to be worldwide. And that's the interesting point that seques quite nicely into what I already had written... [SPACE, THE FINAL FRONTIER...] Because I mean, let's take a look at the star trek view of this? I'm talking Next Generation because that was a hell of a lot cooler and had no William Shatner in it. But even with fat baldy, they still had the federation of planets. Which was like this big intergalactic hippie commune. Your country of origin meant absolutely nothing but your accent. That's kind of a cool way to be. Because the current state of international relations is just tribalism on a global scale. This country is the prime example of it. We've got to stop being the fucking white man in Asia and start being a part of Asia, then maybe we'll stop wondering "gee, why does everyone resent us so much?". So, the only end to war and conflict and everything else  we're ever going to have is when we all mellow out and do the whole federation thing. Think of it as the UN, but countries don't exist anymore. Will this ever happen? Certainly not in my lifetime. If ever. But it's a nice little ideal. And the thing that is totally getting in the way of this is patriotic flag waving and nationalism. [A MORE ALARMIST NAME MIGHT BE "THE KILLBOT FACTORY"] In about grade 6 of primary school, they started pinning up an Australian flag and making us sing the national anthem every morning. I used to just kinda stand there with my mouth closed and shit. Because like, even at 11 years or however the hell old I was, I was starting to realise 'what the fuck is so great about this flag?' It didn't seem to represent a lot of my friends of a different ethnicity to my own anglo saxon heritage. It didn't feel like it really represented me. What the hell was the anthem saying? Not much. I've always thought our national anthem should be "Khe Sanh". Might as well get something that footy and cricket players actually know the words to, anyway... The anthem and the flag basically had blood on them. They represented white invasion, white dominance. Fear, racism, rape, expliotation, murder. Of course I couldn't articulate that at 11 years old, but that's what it felt. That it wasn't something to be all that proud of. And I did get into a bit of trouble for that. It was kinda fucked up that the fact that I wasn't really into the whole being patriotic (and I've always seen it as a fine line between patiotism and nationalism) thing meant that I was doing something 'wrong' and had to be 'punished' for it. Now look at schools in the US. I might be mistaken, but don't they regularly swear alleigance to the flag? FUCK THAT! What if you don't agree with it? What if you say "this flag and anthem and everything else does not represent me. Acts have been committed in it's name that I disagree with"? What happens then? Do you get in trouble or something? That's ingraining nationalism in kids and it's really fucking scary. I think it was the Jesuits that used to say 'give me a boy until he is seven and I will give you the man'. A lot of your outlook, personality, viewpoints, thoughts, opinions, etc, are formulated in the early years of childhood. It's like 'conditioning' and it's extremely hard to break. What the hell happens when you tell kids from a young age that they're the best because of where they live, who they pray to, and what their skin colour is? Is it just me or if you're telling a kid from day one how fucking great their country is, how much better than everywhere else is, then saying "hey we're going to have to go kill these other human beings who AREN'T a part of that entity, and maybe you and your mates might have to give your lives in the process", maybe doesn't sound like such a fucking stupid idea to someone like that. [DEATH OR GLORY? I'D RATHER JUST WATCH TV THANKS] I was reading this letter in the age this morning from a woman who's daughter works in the US. Following the events of tuesday september 11, the daughter's empoyer requested everyone wear red white and blue to work. The kid refused, saying she'd wear a black ribbon in sympathy with the victims or something, but would not seen to be in alleigance with George Dubya's plans to kill more innocent people in retaliation. She was completely ostracised because of it. America is just swamped with patriotic bullshit rehtoric that's making it so much easier to justify the plans to kill a bunch of people whether they did it or not. It's cutting right to the core of everyone that grew up hand over heart saying the pledge of alleigance to the flag in the primary school class room. IT'S FUCKED UP. Normally sane people are going on about 'vengance' like it's a good thing because they've been fucking conditioned to it. [AUSTRALIA IS JUST A WORD BUT I USE IT] That's why I say fuck flags. Fuck nations. Fuck countries. Fuck religions. Fuck patriotism/nationalism. Fuck anything that divides human beings into camps. Because I don't want a part of it. I live in Australia. I'm not Australian though. Like Jacs says in my favourite POI song; "I'm a human being". Nothing more. Nothing less. I don't belive in countries anymore because all they do is fight each other. From this point on, I'm swearing an alleigance to nothing. No flags. No borders. No anthems. Catch me singing 'advance australia fair again'. No way. Nothing but an idealised version of humanity. We do fucked up things. But we know they're fucked up. That means we have the ability to change. Idealist? Hell yes. I'll never live to see the federation happen. But saying things will never change is just a cop out. An excuse to do fucked up things and never call yourself on them. So, call me naive, but I belive in the human race. Not countries. We're all the same. We all bleed the same blood when we're shooting at each other. I don't want to be a part of some crime against humanity simply because I follow a coloured bit of material. BACK : HOME