Reply to thread

It's an imprecisely defined term but broadly speaking, what's meant is anyone for whom all of the following apply:

*They've a relative abundance of money such that the price of essentials such as food, groceries, clothing, utilities, insurance, fuel, etc is not a genuine concern.

*Their occupation does not expose them to primary or secondary industry. They don't mine, farm, build or manufacture anything, they don't operate heavy machinery or industrial plant and their job does not involve physical danger. Typically their employment is not exposed to economic cycles - the nature of their work will continue regardless.

*Commonly believe most people in their city work in the CBD, that the MCG / SCG is a large area of land and that the main reason people own cars is to travel to work. Failing to realise none of these are true - in actual fact even in Sydney only about 20% work in the CBD, the whole of Greater Sydney is only 1.57% of NSW's land area and even during the morning rush only about a third of those traveling are going to work. This misbelief lies at the heart of it - failing to comprehend that the city CBD is for most people not what life revolves around.

*Failure to respect the knowledge of others, seeing their own view as superior on account of education, wealth or location. Failing to accept that in truth they've zero knowledge on all sorts of subjects, in particular those associated with regional areas about which they typically know nothing at all other than what the media's told them.

That latter point really angers those in regional areas who know full well those in the cities are being fed a load of nonsense by activists motivated by pure politics, meanwhile those with first hand knowledge can't get a word in.

End result is the divide we now have. On one side are those who've zero direct involvement or real knowledge but who are happy to demand government implements their view on how everything from trades training to farming, Aboriginals to power generation ought be done or looked after. On the other side are those with direct involvement or who've at least seen the thing being talked about who stand there shaking their head in disbelief that anyone's taken the activists' word for it yet again without checking the facts.

In saying that, there's nothing of itself bad about cities, the city CBD or the people living and working there. It's the "telling everyone else what to do" bit that's the problem. When having a degree in whatever field makes them a self-proclaimed expert on everything, whilst those directly affected are simply brushed aside as unimportant. That scenario is when it becomes a problem - people in regional areas have no issue with the big cities per se, it's that attitude that's a problem.

This isn't new or unique to the Voice, that's just the issue that's finally brought it to a head. People were complaining about it back in the 1990's, they've put up with "the inner city knows best" for a long time now and it seems they've finally snapped.

On this particular issue, Aboriginals, I claim no expertise but suffice to say I've learned to be extremely wary of the city-centric activists and their allies. Their track record sure isn't good, anything and everything they say ought be treated with caution until proven correct.