Dumb Car Stickers #1

I was traveling back from my parents house on the coast with Ned last week, when in the space of two minutes I saw two pretty disturbing car stickers. The first one read "If you don't love it leave" alongside a flag of Australia. I wasn't aware that to love a country or to consider yourself a patriot, you had to be totally uncritical. Surely, the more you love a country the more critical of it you should be. Is a patriot someone who blindly thinks that everything about their country is just perfect? It reminded me of a book I read recently by Billy Bragg, called The Progressive Patriot. He is referring to England in the book, but I think a lot of his arguments are universal. He considers himself a patriot, but not in the anti-immigrant-great old english values of cricket, Winston Churchill and cups of tea-sense of the word. It can also be tied up in the phrase that I hear ALL the time now about things being "Un-Australian". It seems to be a good cover-all phrase to use, when you don't agree with someone or their policies. What is "Australian" anyway? Can't it be conflicting things/values?

The second car sticker I saw had a picture of the Australian flag with the words "F*%k off, we're full" written inside it. I wondered if Aboriginal people thought the same thing when they saw the first fleet arriving in Botany Bay? Anyways, seeing both these stickers made me feel angry and sad at the same time. I don't want my little boy growing up in a country that is racist, aggressive and uncritical of itself. But then again, maybe thats what it means to be patriotic - to still love your country despite all its failings, and to want to share that with other people who come to these shores, usually looking for a peaceful life with more opportunities for their families.