Aussie

social

cypherpunk wannabe, engineer working on @frames /open-frames /opencast
https://stephancill.co.za create stories at https://stories.steer.fun

One nuance often missed when these seemingly authoritarian things out of Australia pop up Twitter (cigarette taxes & plain packaging, gun control, lockdowns and vaccination policy etc) is that we have historically had a very different relationship with our government than the US. 

The social contract is different. We give up more freedoms and expect more from our government in return. Contrast compulsory voting and universal healthcare with the US.
We have a higher expectation of responsibility from both government and citizens.

We might share a language and Crocodile Dundee might have promoted an image of us as rough and rugged, country living individualists, but 90% of us live in cities and we’re really been quite social democratic in the same  way as western Europe for much of our history.

I feel like this best visual representation of this to someone who has never lived here are our road safety campaigns. These are government sponsored advertisements aired throughout my childhood on primetime television.

I feel like this best visual representation of this to someone who has never lived here are our road safety campaigns. These are government sponsored advertisements aired throughout my childhood on primetime television.

https://youtu.be/bfmHrHYMyT0?si=qiNkzsbgSz9MEFCu&t=143