Australian Opp Leader: All kids must read the Bible

[Chris OFarrell]

Yes...I'd love to see what 'perfect' country you want to jump out to.

Australia isn't perfect, but then no country in this world is, but frankly I think its by far one of the better places to be in the current world situation.
Wanting to emigrate because of internet connection speeds of all things strikes me as astonishingly petty and selfish.

[JointStrikeFighter]

I for one and constantly having my human rights abused because of our lack of a bill of rights.

[mr friendly guy]

Seriously, even when John fucking Howard was in power, when One Nation was seemingly rising, I don't think it ever got that bad that I wanted to leave the country. I just voted against those people.

Although JointStrikeFighter if you were a Muslim Indian doctor working in the Gold Coast you might have had your rights screwed over by Kevin "I am protecting the country" Andrews.

Any way back to the topic, Tony Abbott on his ascension asked us to overlook past misdemeanors. I have seen letters to the editor saying its silly to think he will try and force some wacko Christian agenda like he did before because he is now the opposition leader and he has to be more careful not to alienate the centre. I guess that was wishful thinking and asking us to overlook past disdemeanors is a bit much.

In any event, I saw on the news today Abbott moved to distance himself from his statements. Just like how he distanced himself when he made racist statements in 2006.

On a final note, Abbott called WA politician Alanah McTiernan a reject today. Naturally because this is Abbott it made the news over here. Does this mean if Abbott loses the election we can start calling him a reject? Along with playing youtube videos of him saying "bring it on". After all, Bob Hawke called a pensioner a "silly old barger" and that adage stuck with him through his term in office.

[SAMAS]

I very much doubt this will happen, precisely because of him saying crap like this. Abbott's even less popular than Costello was.

Forgive my ignorance, but...

The Opposition Party actually has/had leaders named Abbott and Costello?

And they wonder why they're having problems...

[Lusankya]

I very much doubt this will happen, precisely because of him saying crap like this. Abbott's even less popular than Costello was.

Forgive my ignorance, but...

The Opposition Party actually has/had leaders named Abbott and Costello?

And they wonder why they're having problems...

Used to, back when they were in government.

Now they just have an Abbott and a Bishop, and are trying to court the religious vote.

[Stuart Mackey]

That's off the top of my head. Australia is a fine nation, but it's not a great fit for me and my interests.

Well if you want to own damn near any gun you want and not move to the States, come to NZ (of course any thing other than a boltie costs a small fortune and wages are crap here compared to Aussie)

[bobalot]

What a pampered arsehole. He wants to leave because of Australia because of video game mark-ups and internet speed?

Nearly my entire family left the country they were born in because of outright discrimination and lack of job opportunities, and this douche is whining about internet speeds as one of the reasons he wants to leave?

Where would he go? Judging by his high standards there probably isn't a nation on earth that is good enough.

[Stark]

Forgive my ignorance, but...

The Opposition Party actually has/had leaders named Abbott and Costello?

And they wonder why they're having problems...

Wow can you believe it? I never heard this joke before!

Bob, he probably thinks 200 ping is 'unplayable' and that games actually cost $120 bucks here (well I guess they do if you're retarded). Hey I want to leave to country too, but not over petty things and frankly anywhere I'd go would have it's own downsides.

Well, except Canada. Those French lessons are sure gonna pay off!

[adam_grif]

Out of curiosity, which country would you find to be a great fit for you and your interests? And do you consider finding somewhere that "fits your interests" better to be worth giving up the privileges and advantages of Australian citizenship?

Privileges of Australian Citizenship are pretty much the same as privileges of Citizenship in any western first world nation. Which country? Dunno. There's none that are kind of "perfect" for it, lots of places in Northern Europe have fantastic internet, but still get fucked over with games ("What's that? You pay 50 US dollars for your games? We pay 50 euros!") and have crummy gun laws for a milwanker like me. America has the gun laws (for citizens at least) in many states that I'd like, and their internet, while not top tier in a worldwide perspective, is at least better than the Australian situation. Regrettably, the United States is home to the retarded politicians, a similar political false dichotomy that the population can't escape, and most unbearable of all, an array of insanely irritating accents.

Oh man. One of his interests is clearly not importing video games? I gotta laugh at anyone who thinks 20mbit/s is 'shoddy' and worth fleeing the country for, but I guess 'higher than 100ms' = 'unplayable lag'.

The internet alone isn't worth fleeing the country, silly. It's just one negative factor.

Also, it's not about the speed, it's about the bandwidth. We ended up getting the short end of the stick here in Tassie - most of the third party providers that keep things competitive up there either don't exist down here, or get shitty service down here because of the limited link between the mainland and here. We got locked into a 2 year contract with Bendio Telco, who started as "109.99 / month for no limits 1.5 Mbit", and they've now shifted under us (apparently it was in the contract, that naturally nobody in my house thought to read before signing) to 50 GB / month as a limit, after which we get slowed to Dialup speeds. Price? 109.99 / month.

The best deals still have limits over which you get shaped. I'm what they refer to as a "heavy user" (wink wink), and I share this connection with 5 other users, so we have ~12 days every month where we're shafted and have to deal with Dialup speeds.
.
Compared to the rest of the world, Australian internet has shitty speeds, shitty bandwidth and ridiculous prices.

Yes...I'd love to see what 'perfect' country you want to jump out to.

Perfect country eh? I believe strongly in personal freedom, for myself. Everybody else can go get fucked. The perfect country lets me roam around immune to the law, gives me free money and has a national holiday dedicated to me.

But saving that, I'd settle for something that was imperfect but better suited than Australia.

I for one and constantly having my human rights abused because of our lack of a bill of rights.

I almost think it's shameful that we don't have one. Even if the gov isn't abusing them (although some would argue that the Howard-Kevin era counterterror laws are breaching rights to privacy etc), it's still something we should have.

What a pampered arsehole. He wants to leave because of Australia because of video game mark-ups and internet speed?

*chortle*

Yeah, why would somebody indicate that at some point in the future, they'd like to go to another country because other countries are more in line with his ideals and would be more convenient to live in?

What a pampered asshole! How dare he do something like that! There's an unspoken law stating that everybody has to stay in their country of birth unless they're getting persecuted by the government! Otherwise they're just pampered assholes!

[Stark]

Oh noes, only 50gb a month, the horror. Bandwidth use will always expand to fill available bulk; if you had a 500gb limit you'd just download ten times as much shit and then complain it wasn't enough. At least he admits he's a pirate? All that porn, dude!

[Lusankya]

I love people who say that their "perfect country" is one in which everyone who isn't them gets fucked, just as long as laws don't have to apply to them*. On the Interwebs, it's the socially-acceptable way to say "I'm a retarded arsehole"!

For the record, I am in China because I find that my personality is fundamentally unsuited to Australia. I value education a lot more highly than the average Australian, and view a large portion of morality as defined by the "social good". At the same time, I often get frustrated with nerd culture in Australia, which suits me in terms of attitudes towards education, but generally not so much in terms of social graces. There's more to it than that, but suffice to say that but in China I actually feel comfortable acting like myself, and that is a feeling that I rarely got in Australia.

And despite all of my China-love, I'm still not 100% sure about completely leaving Australia. I know that if I choose to stay in China, then I will lose access to the Australian healthcare system, lose my right to vote, lose contact with my family and live in an environment which is nowhere near as clean nor prosperous as Australia (four out if five of these things will occur anywhere I move, as long as it isn't New Zealand). It's just that I'm stubborn/stupid/pinko commie enough to weigh these things up and decide that it's worth it for me. I dunno, though. At least I'm actually doing something about my desire to leave Australia, rather than sitting around in Launceston* complaining about it on the internet. And I'm actually aware of what I'm giving up to come here.


* In my experience, this only applies to inconvenient laws like speed limits and such. The moment such a person gets punched in the face, they immediately go running to the police, just like everybody else.
** I assume adam is from Launceston, because all the Hobart people here are classy gents.

[The_Saint]

And we down here are getting the National Broadband Network rolled out first... might solve some of Tassie's net issues.

I hate that I'm never going to be able to own a firearm more impressive than "centrefire .22 LR bolt action" ...because I've always wanted to collect and fire WW2 rifles...

hmmm either exaggeration or lack of understanding of Tasmanian Firearms License firearms categories.

back again to topic, for the non Australians who seem to miss it, the teaching of religion does happen in Australian schools but it is (in non church affiliated schools) teaching of the basics of all* religions and not religious instruction to convert the students.

*All being Christian/Catholic, Muslim, Jewish and most major Asian religions.

I'm wondering less how much the coalition will lose next election under Abbott and more of whether the mad monk will even last till then.

[bobalot]

What a pampered arsehole. He wants to leave because of Australia because of video game mark-ups and internet speed?

*chortle*

Yeah, why would somebody indicate that at some point in the future, they'd like to go to another country because other countries are more in line with his ideals and would be more convenient to live in?

adam_grif's high "ideals" that he listed as the reason he wants to leave the country for are as follows:

• Internet Speeds and Pricing
• Cheaper Video Games.
• Being unable to own a powerful firearm

The first two reasons listed are so whiney, it's pathetic.
Being unable to own a powerful firearm maybe a reasonable point of grievance against the current system. It is however, pretty minor. If something like this is enough to make someone leave a country, I would imagine this individual would be moving country every few years.

adam_grif has problem with the "authoritarian" major parties, without explaining why they are "authoritarian". Last time I checked, they were democratically elected. Let us say I become interested, and looked up the meaning of authoritarian in the dictionary.

Main Entry: au·thor·i·tar·i·an
Pronunciation: \ȯ-ˌthär-ə-ˈter-ē-ən, ə-, -ˌthȯr-\
Function: adjective
Date: 1879

1 : of, relating to, or favoring blind submission to authority <had authoritarian parents>
2 : of, relating to, or favoring a concentration of power in a leader or an elite not constitutionally responsible to the people <an authoritarian regime>

— authoritarian noun

— au·thor·i·tar·i·an·ism \-ē-ə-ˌni-zəm\ noun

As for point 1, this conjures up images of Hitler and Stalin and their cults of worship. I for one couldn't find this anywhere in Australia. The best I could do was the crazy old Asian guy who wonders the western suburbs of Sydney with wearing a large poster of his local member and sometimes poses for tourists.

As for point 2, I wasn't aware that the power in Australia was concentrated in a elite not responsible to the people. It's not like we have "elections" or things like that do we?

adam_grif whines about not having a bill of rights, despite the fact that:

• Rights are well protected in Australia
• The high court already protects rights through the interpretation of the constitution and common law

Despite his waffling, he can't actually seem to list any major breakdowns in fundamental rights.

What a pampered asshole! How dare he do something like that! There's an unspoken law stating that everybody has to stay in their country of birth unless they're getting persecuted by the government! Otherwise they're just pampered assholes!

Does anybody else notice that nobody in this thread even implied this? He seemed to miss the fact that people were ridiculing of his petty reasons for leaving.

Yes...I'd love to see what 'perfect' country you want to jump out to.

Perfect country eh? I believe strongly in personal freedom, for myself. Everybody else can go get fucked. The perfect country lets me roam around immune to the law, gives me free money and has a national holiday dedicated to me.

But saving that, I'd settle for something that was imperfect but better suited than Australia.

The reason Chris OFarrell put 'perfect' in quotation marks, is that he wanted to know what country do you believe is ideal for you, not what fantasy country that would suit you perfectly. Deliberately misunderstanding a question is not clever or witty, it's a sign of a bullshit artist. Answer the question that Chris OFarrell and another poster asked, what country most suits your "ideals" (I'm assuming it's a country with high internet speeds and cheap video games, right?)

BTW, Feel free to leave Australia any time, we would only be one epic tool short.

[Shroom Man 777]

Come to the Philippines, then. Here you can buy pirated videogames on the cheap and you can own everything up to and including fully automatic assault rifles, like me (well, daddykins). We've got a couple of M4s, Uzis, a Galil, etc. The internet probably isn't so bad, at least I know it's better than Ford's.

Of course, there's stuff like rampant corruption, the government being unable to do shit, revolutionaries and guerrillas and bandit kidnapping assholes in the southern provinces, and elected officials owning their own sanctioned deathsquads to murder political opponents and bury them in mass graves...

But hey, since internets, videogames and guns are enough grounds for you to want to move away from your reasonably affluent and prosperous first world nation because it's such a big concern, there are lots of other hospitable places you can go to.

[Lusankya]

Of course, there's stuff like rampant corruption, the government being unable to do shit, revolutionaries and guerrillas and bandit kidnapping assholes in the southern provinces, and elected officials owning their own sanctioned deathsquads to murder political opponents and bury them in mass graves...

Hey - all that means is that the law isn't applying to him when he's in those areas! It would be perfect!

[SAMAS]

Forgive my ignorance, but...

The Opposition Party actually has/had leaders named Abbott and Costello?

And they wonder why they're having problems...

Wow can you believe it? I never heard this joke before!

Which is why I didn't say it (that is to say, that last line was supposed to be about all the jokes that must have come up, not to be one of them).

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

He can come to the U.S., if he wants, we have so many morons already that nobody will notice one more.

His anoying accent might get him into some trouble, though.

[ThomasP]

The guy made a flippant comment about wanting to leave due to <insert stupid bullshit> and he's getting dogpiled, but the same comments made RE: any stupid-ass US policy decision are OK?

The guy's not pleased with some stupid political crap. Is it really a big enough deal for half the thread to start hurf-hurfing?

[adam_grif]

Being unable to own a powerful firearm maybe a reasonable point of grievance against the current system. It is however, pretty minor. If something like this is enough to make someone leave a country, I would imagine this individual would be moving country every few years.

Yawn. Practically every first world country is better than Australia in one or more of these categories. Better in some ways is better than better in none.

What exactly are you trying to do? Change my mind? Point out what everybody can already see quite plainly with their own eyes? How about having a bill of rights as a political ideal? Is that whiny and pathetic too? How about living in a place that's more socially progressive, lets gays marry, instead of this "civil union" rubbish? How about a place that isn't recognized as the most censorship happy place in the first world save for Germany? How about a place where people aren't prosecuted for smoking weed? These are all things that don't affect me in the slightest (censorship is useless since I have internet access, I'm not gay, and I don't do any drugs at all), but all things that I'd want in a country that I live in.

adam_grif has problem with the "authoritarian" major parties, without explaining why they are "authoritarian". Last time I checked, they were democratically elected. Let us say I become interested, and looked up the meaning of authoritarian in the dictionary.

Authoritarian, as in, 'north on the north/south axis of the political compass'. Here is a breakdown of our parties, although I'd say that Labor is actually far closer to Liberal than shown here (especially with the rampant Me Tooing last election):



Ideally it'd be maybe halfway right, halfway down (I vary on issues over time). The closest I can get are the democrats, but literally the only thing that matters on your ballot is "Did you put Liberal above Labor, or the reverse?"

But hey, since internets, videogames and guns are enough grounds for you to want to move away from your reasonably affluent and prosperous first world nation because it's such a big concern, there are lots of other hospitable places you can go to.

I'll be on the first flight out. Sounds like paradise!

[Lusankya]

Wow. A graph. That sure convinces me. One could almost be fooled into thinking that anyone takes that political compass test seriously.

How about a place where people aren't prosecuted for smoking weed?

lol, states that aren't SA.

[Chris OFarrell]

You know what Adam, let me know what country you want to run to and I will buy you a one way ticket. Seriously.

I mean if you're all for unlimited personal freedom without any nasty society limiting it for the greater good, I hear Somalia is nice this time of year.

I'm frankly not even going to take your whining at all seriously, because your complaints are just asinine. Oh, woe is me, I'm too stupid to import games. Oh noez, my INTERNET is priced a little dear for me and a little slow, when Tasmania is actually the first state getting a whole new super-high capacity broadband network put in place from that EVIL Government! And you want to own a gun...just because. And Australia is apparently 'less protected' because we have no bill of rights, even though we have a VERY comprehensive set of Federal Laws overseen by the High Court which provides protections easily comparable -and arguably superior to- any 'Bill of rights'...

You want to switch countries because you can't download porn fast enough, and you can't shoot things for no apparent reason. As well as a list of other vauge complaints which don't stand up even under the most cursory evaluation...

Yup.

I will gladly pay for a one way ticket on the provision that when you get where you're going, you burn your Australian passport and renounce your citizenship. I'm sure someone from, say, the Oceanic Viking will gladly jump in to take your place...

[adam_grif]

I mean if you're all for unlimited personal freedom without any nasty society limiting it for the greater good, I hear Somalia is nice this time of year.

Guess you missed the joke eh?

You know what Adam, let me know what country you want to run to and I will buy you a one way ticket. Seriously.

Cool, now I just gotta find one!

I'm not stupid. I know full well no country perfectly conforms to what I'd want it to be. But here is a cursory lists of English-speaking countries I would rather live in than Australia:

- The United States
- Canada
- New Zealand (maybe)

There are lots of European and even some Asian countries that would be cool too, except I'm too goddamn lazy to learn another language.

Wow. A graph. That sure convinces me. One could almost be fooled into thinking that anyone takes that political compass test seriously.

Well, that's what I'm referring to when I'm saying that the political parties are "Authoritarian", not some kind of evil Nazi dictatorial regime. I was asked to qualify what I was using the term to mean, and that's what it was. Don't really care whether that's what you people are using the word Authoritarian to mean, because you now know what I'm talking about. Less individual freedom, more restrictions on what you can do.

[Lusankya]

- The United States

Why would you be willing to give up universal healthcare for cheaper computer games? Are you some kind of moron?

Well, that's what I'm referring to when I'm saying that the political parties are "Authoritarian", not some kind of evil Nazi dictatorial regime. I was asked to qualify what I was using the term to mean, and that's what it was. Don't really care whether that's what you people are using the word Authoritarian to mean, because you now know what I'm talking about. Less individual freedom, more restrictions on what you can do.

Your use of the graph as a reference presupposes that anyone here actually thinks that that test is a serious test of anything.

[adam_grif]

Why would you be willing to give up universal healthcare for cheaper computer games? Are you some kind of moron?

It's not a simple one off trade. I give up universal health-care for superior (in my opinion, anyway) gun rights, a bill of rights, period, better quality internet, and so on. Depending on state, it might also have legalized Marijuana / gay marriage, although the trick is going to be finding one that does that but also will allow have the freeish gun legislation. States like California are quite unfriendly for somebody wanting to start up a gun collection. I'm not sure if one exists.

Your use of the graph as a reference presupposes that anyone here actually thinks that that test is a serious test of anything.

Totally irrelevant. That's the characteristic I was talking about, you now know what it is, regardless of whether or not you think that test is useful or serious or what have you.

[Lusankya]

Why would you be willing to give up universal healthcare for cheaper computer games? Are you some kind of moron?

It's not a simple one off trade. I give up universal health-care for superior (in my opinion, anyway) gun rights, a bill of rights, period, better quality internet, and so on. Depending on state, it might also have legalized Marijuana / gay marriage, although the trick is going to be finding one that does that but also will allow have the freeish gun legislation. States like California are quite unfriendly for somebody wanting to start up a gun collection. I'm not sure if one exists.

Wow. You really do have your priorities wrong - and you want to move to a place that you're not sure even exists. Guns, faster internet and a bunch of stuff that doesn't affect you and one right that you could revel in should you ever choose to move to Adelaide*. And in return you lose... pretty much the entire social safety net.

At least I admit that I'm going to give up an awful lot of stuff by residing permanently in China. And I know the place actually exists. (Actually, that reminds me: I have to email the AEC and ask them if I still have the right to vote. My situation is a bit weird. )

Totally irrelevant. That's the characteristic I was talking about, you now know what it is, regardless of whether or not you think that test is useful or serious or what have you.

I've taken that kind of test before: the questions are rubbish, and the results are rubbish, and the idea that you can describe one nation as "more or less" authoritarian than another based on those results is laughable.

Anyway, I do hope that Chris does buy you that one way ticket - I'd certainly like to see you keep your end of the deal and become a stateless citizen just so you can get faster internet. That would be hilarious, and would be the only case I've ever seen of a libertarian-leaner actually sticking to their guns. In fact, if he decides to do it, I will donate $50 to the cause.

*Please don't do this. It is a very nice city, and I wouldn't want it ruined.