Many older Australians are critical of our modern nation, with its diversity and inclusion, things an older Australia would not tolerate. Some old folk like nothing better than to be negative and critical of young people with their different beliefs and values. Never wanting to accept change for the good they are always hankering back to the "good old days" with their distorted view of the past through their "rose coloured glasses". We should remember the past and learn from it, but trying to live in it is not realistic, and progressive change for the good is the only way forward.

Hi Paul,

Yearning for the past is not necessarily a bad thing.
I think we all do especially in times of change or
in difficult times. We tend to go back to what we
think or remember as the "good times." I know I've
done it many times when every day living became
more difficult and I wasn't coping very well.
Nostalgia is something we all indulge in to a certain
extent at times.

The following link explains it better:

http://theconversation.com/the-psychological-benefits-and-trappings-of-nostalgia-77766#

Hi Foxy,

I understand what you say and agree. There's nothing wrong with fond past memories, tinged with a bit of nostalgia. Many of us retreat to the safety of the "good old days" when times are tough, like they are now with Covid. What I don't agree with is a reactionary attitude to all decent change based on a misguided belief that things were so much better in those " good old days". Most of us here grew up in the post war Australia of the 50's and 60's, truthfully there were good times, but there were bad things happening as well, things that were covered up in the squicky clean Australia of the times. If it was possible, and its not, would I want to return to the "good old days"...NO!

ps. Those who oppose change based on a misguided fantasy of what was the past, are kidding themselves no end.

The past and, particularly the bad past, are not what people are referring to when they speak of the "good old days".
They think of the times when society was made up of individuals rather than the indoctrinated drones of modern times. The only reas why anarchy has not as yet taken over is because of a handful of thinkers who care, provide & still mange to maintain some harmony.
The people of today have never inherited nor have they been taught or made aware of regarding the concept of harmony.
The scab-tearers are not interested in harmony, only what they can get to fuel their ideological self-delusion which we see tearing down the very fabric of society.
They simply can't envisage the results of their fallacy & so, instead of thinking what wisdom many older people have to offer, they cherry pick bad examples from the older likes of themselves & dismiss common sense & harmony.

Dear Paul,

When I was growing up we were not taught in any
great detail about what our Indigenous People
went through. I did not know any Indigenous People
and neither was I aware of their history until
fairly recently. It has been quite an education for me.
Of course I now do believe that our entire history
should be taught and acknowledged.

"It is not too late
We can make changes and navigate
Righting the past in our Constitution
Correcting the history of total exclusion.

Generations of many nations
Are now a part of our population
Equal and free, surrounded by sea
Is the way this brown land should now really be."

The good days are ahead of us.
It's up to us to make it so.

I think the song says it better than I could:
http://youtu.be/fSDM-eAeviw

There is nothing new under the sun, as the old saying goes. Older people are concerned about the things younger ones enthuse about because they have all been tried in the past and have failed.

And enough of this 'inclusive' nonsense that doesn't include the older people you are always complaining about. Hypocrite!

Celebrating gays and foreigners isn't necessarily progress.
- When we're arguing over transgender toilets and ethnic / gender quotas, it's more like a race to the bottom.

The young have aspirations that never come to pass;
the old have reminiscences of what never happened.

I am just so glad that I lived through the best this country could offer.

I lived through a couple of winters in a dirt floored single skinned tin shed, with 25F the average night temperature, but it got our house built. Today you would be kicked out by council, & have to rent somewhere.

I went to a small country high school, with teachers good enough to help me get the marks I needed to win a university engineering scholarship. My daughter had to spend every Saturday for a year at QUT coaching school for math C & physics because the teachers at a large near capital city were not able to even understand or do the math & physics they were supposed to teach.

I could afford to own & race a Formula 2 Brabham on pretty ordinary wages. Today only a multi millionaire could do it.

I could afford a yacht & go sail the pacific. On the same income level today, I'd have trouble affording a tinny.

No I don't want the old times back, but I'll be grateful until the day I die that I lived them, rather than denigrate them.

Yes today's Australia is a much better place for a bludger who does not speak English, but no where near as good for the worker.

The "good old days" weren't really as good as some would prefer to remember them. That's how nostalgia works.

The Australia I grew up in during in the sixties and seventies was just as divided, openly (and as proudly) racist and gays were routinely bashed and gaoled. In the school system we were taught that Aborigines were officially considered "a dying race".

The only real difference now is that the middle class has shrunk and inequality has risen dramatically. The rich have become very much richer and the number of poor have increased but we have a lot more techno-toys to play with and keep us distracted and amused.

As for "arguing over transgender toilets and ethnic/gender quotas", to me it seems some are obsessing and complaining loudly but the rest of us don't much care or think about them at all.

Growing up in the late 60's, early 70's, the days of my youthful experience. Then most Australians enjoyed the good life of Hills Hoists, Victa Lawmowers and Vegemite on their toast in the mornings. The horrors of the Vietnam War was on the nightly news, every night, and the Conservatives had been in power in Canberra for more years than most could remember. For the majority Australia was indeed the lucky country, migration was giving many a new start in life, and jobs were plentiful. Hidden away just below the surface was a darker Australia of injustice, bigotry and racism. The unjust war in Vietnam become a focus for protest by those on the progressive side of politics, particularly from the young who were designated to be the cannon fodder for the dirty war. The Civil Rights movement in America was demonstrating that a minority could fight for social change and win. In Australia groups such as women, Indiginous, gays etc were startling to demand social justice for themselves, no longer content to be voiceless and accepting of their lot in society. In the words of the Bob Dylan classic 'Times They Are A-Changin'.

Were the sneerers who are convinced that the good old days were not all that good actually around at the time? The good old days were over by the 60s and 70s they say they were 'growing up in'. The 1960's saw the shite hitting the fan, and it has been all downhill since then, with all hope gone when millennials were spawned at the turn of the century.

The fall in standards of education over the last 40 years, the wokeness and the shift to the Nanny State left, have dragged us down to a point where almost 50% of Australians are functionally illiterate.

44% of adults read at literacy level 1 to 2 (a low level); 38% of adults read at level 3; about 15% read at level 4 to 5 (the highest level). Around 80% of Australians don't read and write very well. Level 3 is considered to be the bare minimum for coping in current times.

No wonder Australians just don't 'get it', and there is so much twaddle spoken and written, including on OLO.

As for immature spoiled brats and their brave new world, I agree with Ian Plimer, who wrote:

"My concern is not what sort of planet we are leaving for our children. My concern is what sort of children we are leaving to care for the planet and how they believe wokeness will solve problems and create prosperity".

The 1960's saw the shite hitting the fan,
ttbn,
Yes and, Goaf's gang invested heavily in the 70's speeding up the process !

The ghost of Gough is still with us.

Making sure that our world remains a habitable place
to live is a responsibility that falls on everyone's
shoulders especially those able to distribute wealth to the
places where it can do good.

It's a simple fact that money makes the world go round.
David Attenborough implored wealthy nations to place value
on nature that goes "beyond money." This can only be
dealt with through unparalleled levels of global co-operation.
Essentially if we can create a stable, healthy world where
resources are abundant, and more equally shared we'll have
finally secured our future.

One can only hope that we shall elect leaders who share in
this dream.

And who freely distribute birth control necessaries along with aid.

http://www.sff.org.au/program/browse/araatika-rise-up 'Rise Up" is the future of Australia but it reproduces the past and wants acceptance as progressive - The New Future. It is reminiscent of having just descended from the trees - is this back to the future?

Understanding the future.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O-UZGnv9O0

People who believe that two wrongs will make a right should not be given so much public funding to drag the Nation to its knees. The resources wasted could be used to build infrastructure & provide services.
The two wrongs -one right outfits were & are the spanners in the works of Nation harmony building.

A future must be headed in the direction of divine nature; anything that is resurrecting the primitive nature of the past is a degeneration. Our society is swamped with perversion and violence as many have ignored the divine. The overcomers are the ones to follow - they inheret the future.

Jose'

You dwell on the negative aspects of Christianity, concentrating on punishment and suffering. Was not Christ "primative" he built no great structures, wrote no great books, had no more worldly possessions than the most primitive and poorest human being. Unfortunate its people like you who are the destroyers of true Christianity with your sanctimonious
piety.

Paul, read what you just wrote, was it negative or positive, does it inhance you or just your negative argument?

Jesus Christ was the ultimate overcomer, wicked men put him the the ultimate suffering and death, and He rise out of death within three days! The future belongs to the overcomers of suffering, they have the answers to a future. Great future Dylan Alcott.

When the future looks gloomier than the past then living in the past is much preferable.

Jose'

Its my perception of you and how you present yourself here as a Christian, bigoted, hateful, jealous, intolerant at times, better at other times. Where is your Christian love for others. Based on the greater teachings of Christ as I perceive them, you are somewhat a Christian in name only, none of us are perfect. You think you are a Christian because you can quote from the Bible, or you believe he turned water into wine etc. Pieaty is not Christianity.

BTW, I consider Christ one of the greatest human beings who ever lived, up there with the Buddha in my opinion. Who was the greatest, can't say, the two looked at humanity from different perspectives. Combine the teachings of the two and you have a powerful set of values to live by. I presented that notion, once to a Buddhist monk, and he was receptive to it. I also presented the same notion to a Minister of Christanity, who I consider very liberal and a proper Christian, she was more circumspect with, "well, yes...maybe". For me there are things that can both challenge and complement the teachings of Christ, and Buddha for that matter.

Alan Jones described spoilt activist children of today as:

" … selfish, badly educated, virtue signalling little turds inspired by the adults around you who crave a feeling of having a noble cause while they indulge themselves in Western luxury and unprecedented quality of life".

NB Paul 1405 - unlike you, Alan knows how to spell turd. It's not 'terd'. You appear to belong to the 44% functionally illiterate. I second the poster who advised you to switch on spellcheck.

ttbn, I'm sure Jones would be well familiar with turds. And yes Jones would know all about children.

Pity you can't even put a heading on a thread, and its not the first time.

Paul in interpreting from your experience I am supposedly - bigoted, hateful, jealous, intolerant. That is because I hold an unfamiliar perspective on life than you. I am a futurist for a functtioning society united in purpose and vision. The past needs to be forgiven and guilt cleansed from our minds and the lessons documented.

Look how the Media has created depression in the minds of children over the constant Covid anxiety reporting - worse than Climate catastrophe anxiety. They are not giving the next generation hope and a future.