Australia has always been very patriotic, in the lazy iconic way our countrymen operate, so Australia Day (Jan 26th) is always a day of extreme celebration and general freedom. This year, though, in my hometown of Perth, it went too far.
Traditionally, one will spend the day in varying degrees of alcoholic bliss, and then find their way down to one of our river shores, where a massive fireworks display is visible at night. I went down there, expecting a cheerful albeit rowdy night, and was instead greeted by something more like a cell block riot.
A group of people - numbering over a thousand - had gathered at the centre of my foreshore and had, in the spirit of humanity and friendship, decided to celebrate Australia Day by laying into each other with bottles, sticks and fists. Our police force, hopelessly outnumbered and ill-equipped for such a situation (remember the Australian casual approach to life), was all but defenceless. I had never seen such a disturbing sight in my life; that a group of people would suddenly decide to beat the crap out of each other on a river bank with children and assorted impressionable youth on a day of national pride is...beyond me. I sat under a tree, feeling like I was in a dream, whistling Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" as two young men literally beat each other into the ground.
It got worse. My group went back to a friend's house - she and her family live in a huge house right on the river. Feeling slightly more secure, I was just about to go to bed when another partygoer - this one in his late 20s, obviously drunk, drugged, and ready to go 30 rounds with a mutant alligator, as Max Payne would put it - broke into the house and nearly attacked this poor girl's hysterical mother. Fortunately, the guys and I were quick to respond, ushering the girls upstairs and forcing the guy outside, but we were a good 12 years younger than he looked, and he was beyond reasoning. He nearly choked my friend to death; he has extensive bruising and cuts to his neck.
Barely a block away, the McDonald's I used to work at was the site of a vicious knife fight between two gangs - one participant is in hospital in a critical condition.
In conclusion: I know some of you would now like to prove how much bigger you are by telling a story much bigger and life-endangering than that one. Please don't. I believe you, and besides, it wasn't what I was getting at. Does anyone else feel scared at the direction society is headed? I never thought it would happen to Australia, that's my point.
It's the scariest thing that could ever happen to you; your society catches up with the rest of the world.
Traditionally, one will spend the day in varying degrees of alcoholic bliss, and then find their way down to one of our river shores, where a massive fireworks display is visible at night. I went down there, expecting a cheerful albeit rowdy night, and was instead greeted by something more like a cell block riot.
A group of people - numbering over a thousand - had gathered at the centre of my foreshore and had, in the spirit of humanity and friendship, decided to celebrate Australia Day by laying into each other with bottles, sticks and fists. Our police force, hopelessly outnumbered and ill-equipped for such a situation (remember the Australian casual approach to life), was all but defenceless. I had never seen such a disturbing sight in my life; that a group of people would suddenly decide to beat the crap out of each other on a river bank with children and assorted impressionable youth on a day of national pride is...beyond me. I sat under a tree, feeling like I was in a dream, whistling Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" as two young men literally beat each other into the ground.
It got worse. My group went back to a friend's house - she and her family live in a huge house right on the river. Feeling slightly more secure, I was just about to go to bed when another partygoer - this one in his late 20s, obviously drunk, drugged, and ready to go 30 rounds with a mutant alligator, as Max Payne would put it - broke into the house and nearly attacked this poor girl's hysterical mother. Fortunately, the guys and I were quick to respond, ushering the girls upstairs and forcing the guy outside, but we were a good 12 years younger than he looked, and he was beyond reasoning. He nearly choked my friend to death; he has extensive bruising and cuts to his neck.
Barely a block away, the McDonald's I used to work at was the site of a vicious knife fight between two gangs - one participant is in hospital in a critical condition.
In conclusion: I know some of you would now like to prove how much bigger you are by telling a story much bigger and life-endangering than that one. Please don't. I believe you, and besides, it wasn't what I was getting at. Does anyone else feel scared at the direction society is headed? I never thought it would happen to Australia, that's my point.
It's the scariest thing that could ever happen to you; your society catches up with the rest of the world.
The Last True Evil - consistent nobody in the Discussion Forum since 1998
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There was nothing like that around here on that day.....most eventful thing was a crocodile showing up on a local beach.....so, yeah, pretty boring. We played scrabble.![[http://forums.massassi.net/html/frown.gif]](http://forums.massassi.net/html/frown.gif "http://forums.massassi.net/html/frown.gif")
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