(Raising children in Amsterdam where sanity prevails)
Australia has stooped a little lower into a quagmire of 'tell-tale tits' & 'scaredy cats'.
Yep - gone is any pretence of traits we normally cling to...
# hooroo, larrikinism
# hooroo, pioneering spirit
# hooroo, carefree swagman
...in fact even
# hooroo, mateship
Read for yourselves the drivel that truly reveals Australia as the cowardly custards we are.
"Dobbers wear nappies, wet ones too!!!"
Yeah, and one of the major commercial news services followed up the story in the paper by calling on anyone who knows the identity of the rider to call the cops.
ReplyDeleteNice.
Unbelievable - we're totally bonkers! - depressing
ReplyDeleteWait for it.....AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHH!
ReplyDeleteToo right, a nation of sooks and dobbers.
It really bugs me too how people seem to try and make themselves feel 'better' by poking their nose in to other peoples business and picking on anyone who is doing something seemingly normal as "dangerous" or "madness".
I do like that Bicycle Victoria stood up for the rider, and compared to things internationally. I wish they'd mentioned that internationally they aren't as obsessed with helmets either!
What makes me puke is the style of journalism.. finishing up the story by saying that many have died anyone that says the word bicycle will end up with brain damage and the world is coming to an end, blah blah.
It's pretty disheartening when this is meant to be the country of fair dinkum, easy going, fun loving, tough as old boots type people.
Lack of common sense, definitely. How can anyone possibly think that the baby would be safer by having its own seat?!?!
I wish I hadn't read this, it made me rather angry.
How are things going with the sheriff, Sue? No visits yet?
Regards, Jason (formerly of Victoria as of next week!)
he's left his 'calling card' - he's on the horizon!
DeleteYes, you wonder how today's Australians would face 10,000 Turks coming at them with fixed bayonets and shouting Allah akbhar! You wonder, would there be time to perform a preliminary risk assessment, and would the Turks respect fluorescent waistcoats and areas clearly delineated with black and yellow tape as laid down in "Health and Safety Standards for Trench Warfare": Sections 3.4.1 (a) and 7.3.5 (d) to (f)?
ReplyDelete(If you suspect your neighbour of being Mustapha Kemal, phone our confidential nark's line 03-92921226)
Very funny, though eerily close to the mark
DeleteHi Sue
ReplyDeleteGreetings from Kuala Lumpur. Needless to say I am exercising helmet freedom, and the coppers here certainly have bigger fishes to fry than worrying about silly bicycle helmets. I showed the newspaper report to my friends here in KL and they thought it was hilarious. The antics of the nanny state in Oz as manifested in MHL is not exactly a selling point for Oz here.
Depressingly true
DeleteVocus Dwabe, I love your humour. Is that an upside of MHL that I wouldn't have been exposed to it without the existence of the hateful law?
ReplyDeleteBut back to the topic. Predictable drivel from the Herald Sun - worse still however from the "trauma experts" - but did anyone notice the volte face from Gary Brennan of Bicycle Victoria, the organisation committed to fining cyclists huge sums of money? Is this a sea change? But I'm left wondering, if carrying a baby on a bike is normal and acceptable internationally, what does Gary think about adults riding bikes without helmets? Last time I spoke with him, he was in total denial that there was any issue.
Actually, I'm not a complete anti-helmet fanatic: I do feel very strongly that they're essential for small children riding in pillion seats, who are usually strapped in and therefore don't have the same freedom to wriggle as an adult rider if the bike tips over. Also, for a fragile-skulled 3-year old a fall from a height of four feet is about equivalent to an adult falling from the top of a step ladder.
ReplyDeleteTrue, many Dutch and Danish parents don't seem particularly bothered, and I'm not aware of infant head-trauma being a major issue in either country. But it'd still make me slightly uneasy if it was my child. Back in the 1970s my wife rode daily through outer-London traffic with our small daughter sitting in a pillion seat; helmetless, because there weren't any in those days. Looking back on it, I think we were taking a chance.
Vocus, I don't know about the Danes, but the Dutch like their kids, even though we don't put helmets on their head. I know I never gave it thought when I had to take my son on board. If you're dressed up in Lycra, you can wear a helmet without looking a dork, apart from that is a very big NO over here. Just the other day, I was waiting at a traffic-light and there was this gentleman, wearing regular clothes, and a helmet and he looked so silly!
ReplyDeleteOf course, in Holland, most of us are cyclists, which may explain the consideration motorists treat pedestrians and cyclists with. It's just too bad there so many experts around who don't look at the stats and will insist helmets are the only way to keep us safe while on a bike. I wonder how many head-injuries could be prevented by having everybody wear a helmet all the time.
I wish I lived in Holland!
DeleteI have just returned from Cambodia & it was common to see mum, dad, toddler & baby all on the one moped (sans helmet). Despite the poverty in the country I honestly believe that the population were much happier & much less stressed than your average Australian. Perhaps there is a lesson there about living a more simple existance. I seriously doubt that any parent (regardless of nationality) would willfully put their child at risk so why doesn't everyone just chill out & let people make their own choices in life.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you, Gary Mac, 100%!
DeleteSue, I took a whole lot of photos including of mothers riding with kids last year in Amsterdam and put them up on Flickr for all to see. I found it so depressing, even sickening, when those remarks were made following the photo in St Kilda road. Its like no one in my own country has ever been anywhere.
ReplyDeleteI think also you could add other traits to the list of ones we have lost, including fairness most of all.
...& I totally agree with you too, Peter
Delete