Schu wrote on May 13
th, 2014 at 2:21am:
In my opinion, the problem is that we have not yet defined a series of values that are regarded as specifically Australian that we therefore expect to be adhered to by anyone wishing to reside in this country.
The easiest way to define Anglo-Australian culture is to compare it to foreign cultures.
For instance, compare the Chinese cultural attitude towards toilet hygiene, or the handling of animals in zoos or as stock. Abominable.
Once a year there's a cooking competition in which one of the tests is how best to cook a big live fish so that the head is angled-up and gasping, while its hindquarters are fried in oil and put on a plate for serving.
And then there are the Sun bears who remain alive in cages behind the restaurants while clients ask for a paw, or a tongue, or whatever ... which is promptly cut off, cooked and served, while the bear remains alive and 'fresh' for another customer to choose from.
There's not a hope in hell you could have these sort of 'cultural traditions' approved in the West.
That's a very strong cultural distinction in the Australian national ethos. It's not what Australians do in this case, but what they don't do.
The Chinese also throw live goats from quite a height, into the lions compound in a popular zoo over there. It's supposed to be part of the entertainment.
At the same zoo they also give the kids fishing rods with live chickens at the end, to lower into the crocodile pool.
I've seen the documentary videos. The parents and their children laugh hilariously at these cruelties. It's a good day at the zoo when they can see some poor creatures terrified and in agony.
I could continue with other Third World cultures ~ but you get the idea.
Every second public appeal commercial on TV is about soliciting funds from the Australian public to help save the cruelties of 'dancing bears' and other beasts that are treated abominably.
The live stock trade to half a dozen Middle Eastern countries and Indonesia has provided ample documentary evidence of the cultural difference in attitude to acts of wanton cruelty.
You've dropped the ball on this one, Shu, but otherwise you've been making a lot of sense.