Is this flag a rallying call for racists?
Wow, you go out for dinner at a friends place, drink a little to much red wine and wake up the next morning with the national flag being touted as a sign of racism!!! I may still be drunk...
Organisers of the Big Day Out, a concert festival featuring the likes of Tool and Jet, have reportedly banned the Australian flag from entering the venue for their Sydney Concert...
According to the Big Day Out's website...
We are not banning the Australian flag but are simply discouraging its use for anti-social purposes at the Big Day Out.
In recent times, there has been an increased incidence of flags brandished aggressively and this has led to increased tension. Our only intention in discouraging this activity at the Big Day Out is to ensure that our patrons are not subjected to this aggressive behavior
This has prompted, not surprisingly outrage from numerous people...
PMJH - "The event organisers should not ram their peculiar political views down the throats of young Australians who are only interested in a good day out," an angry Mr Howard said yesterday. Such an event with such a condition is not welcome anywhere in Australia."
Don Rowe, NSW RSL President - It's a load of garbage, it's the symbol of our nation. Using the Cronulla riots as an excuse to outlaw it is an absolute bloody outrage,"
NSW Premier Morris Iemma - "They should see the error of their ways and reverse this decision straight away or take their event somewhere else," he said. "We have no control over the event ... We are the host."
Australian National Flag Association - "That is bloody disgusting, the only people who say this sort of thing are tree-huggers who are out of touch with the majority."
I can appreciate what the organisers of the Big Day Out are trying to do, following the Cronulla Riots I believe that the flag had been tainted and, somewhat disturbingly, saw it in a different light. I wouldn't call it a sign of racism, but a point of national pride. Much like the tennis riots (well more of a scuffle) last week, between flag bearing nationals of different countries, it has become disturbingly common, the presence of a national symbol during violent encounters.
Regardless, if the Big Day Out is going to start "discouraging" punters from bringing things to their concerts, can we please start with those stupid extras people misguidingly thing are "cool", such as, Fairy Wings, Devils Horns, To-toos (I have no idea how to spell it), body paint or any other sort of paint that will cover other paintless punters in the mosh pit, Boogie Boards...
The list is endless, my point is, more injury is caused by stupid people bringing in stupid things, or looking stupid. Flags don't really have a place at a concert anyway, if someone was waving a flag in front of me at the U2 gig, I probably would have grabbed it off them and thrown it on stage, I didn't pay $100 to have my vision impaired by a flag...
Now, I am fully aware that I could have written on, well, pretty much anything else this morning, like the UN declaring 34,000 dead Iraqis in 2006, or Senator Clinton announcing her candidacy to become the first female President of the United States, or Russia spending 217 million to combat HIV/AIDS or even the Legionnaires outbreak in Sydney... Yet for some reason all anyone is talking about at 0810 on a Monday morning, is some concert organisers "discouraging" the bringing of vision impairing items to a gig...
And people questions my sanity?
Labels: Australian Flag, Big Day Out, Cronulla, John Howard
posted by Mark @ 1:52 PM
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