1) Seasonal change dates
Australians never question the absurdity of being told that each season begins on the first day of June, September, December and March. Whoever instituted this dumbing down of seasonal change dates has done Australians no favour. For one thing, they are alone in the world in this childish belief. Even the Americans know about the solstices and equinoxes.
But there is a more insidious effect. With this embarrassing simplification, Australians have no reminder of their relationship to the planets and the universe. In their belief that seasons begin on an arbitrary first day of a given month, they lose sight of their place in the cosmos. Easy prey, therefore, for those promoting a small, insular polity. When you are unaware of the Big Picture, you act accordingly.
Here in Australia, winter begins on June 21, not June 1. For a concise definition of why this is true, click here.
2) The national broadcaster is turned over to the coverage of Cricket
This one is mind-boggling. A country whose national broadcaster suspends its normal activities to provide hours of Cricket coverage day after day cannot be taken seriously.
The broadcasting of football takes up more than enough time, but it has regular time slots that we are all used to. But there is something infuriating about the ABC being arbitrarily turned over for entire days to a sport that is right out of the Ark, a throwback to a time when Australians were the protected children of Mother England. Hour after hour goes by with nothing much happening, yet the commentators struggle to keep us interested. Monty Python's 1970 sketch, "drunk cricket commentators," says it all.
Ultimately, the question is not the coverage of Cricket itself -- to each his own -- but that the national broadcaster is chosen to present it. Why not another station? We have a national news station, why not a national sports station? Those who wish to idle away their lives being cosseted and comforted as they nod on and off can do so. And the rest of us can stay in touch with the world.
3) Refusal to discuss religion and politics
Two of the most meaningful subjects for humanity and Aussies don't want a bar of them.
-- TG Willikers
