Justin Quill: Spare me all this outrage, it’s become meaningless

IT’S trendy to be outraged these days and Australians now seem to be desperate to find fault and complain about things wherever possible, writes Justin Quill.

I’M outraged. Outraged at how much Australians have bought in to the culture of outrage. That is, Australians now seem to be desperate to find fault and complain about things wherever possible. It’s trendy to be outraged. Jump on your Twitter account, fire up your Instagram and start a Facebook petition about an issue over which you’re “outraged”.

Only this week we had “outrage” about a mural at a Cremorne Mexican restaurant, South of the Wall, which happens to be owned by Richmond premiership star Josh Caddy.

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The mural depicts Donald Trump looking over a wall — presumably the infamous wall between Mexico and the US — at a bunch of people — presumably Mexicans — enjoying drinks and a good time on a beach.

Somehow this “sparked community outrage”— a phrase now used so often it’s as over used as “night of nights” or “fallen on his sword”. Even the fact that the phrase “sparked community outrage” exists suggests there’s
too much outrage.

Diners were outraged by this mural of Donald Trump at Richmond Mexican restaurant South of the Wall. Picture: Facebook

I simply don’t see how the mural can be offensive and cause such a “community backlash”.

But enter social media to give voice to complaints, offence and yes, you guessed it — outrage! One person called the mural “disgusting”.

Stop.

South of the Wall co-owner and manger Nathan Box rejected the outrage and summed it up pretty accurately when he said many of the complainers, “were very much people who were looking to be offended by something.”

I’m seriously sick of all this outrage. And yes, I see the irony of me being outraged over outrage but it seems that not only are we complaining about issues — we are actively seeking out issues to complain about.

Frankly, we are becoming a community of outraged whingers.

Take the recent decision by supermarkets to ban plastic bags.
I couldn’t believe the carry on — sorry the “community outrage” — about that.

I understand the suspicion that the supermarkets are actually doing this to make money. Frankly, I don’t buy into that, but I get the concern. But the outrage? One female Woolworths worker was choked and sworn at by a male customer who didn’t like the bag ban. Seriously. Calm down, people.

Former Queensland premier Peter Beattie got it right when in response to “community outrage” about the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games he told Sky News: “One of the problems we’ve got is we are getting to a stage of being a pack of whingers.” Hear, hear.

We are such the “lucky country” that really not much goes wrong for us.

I imagine people in other not so fortunate countries would look at us and our complaints and wish for the sort of problems we have.

For many years the laid-back Aussie took joy in poking fun at the whingeing Pom.

Well, I’m saddened to say, we have slowly become nothing but “outraged Aussies”.

I see the Twitter feeds of some of my friends and worry about how outraged they are. About so many things. So much of the time.

And there’s a very real and very serious problem with this complaining culture.

It might be argued social media gives the community a voice but just like the little boy who cried wolf, if we use that voice at every single opportunity, the voice loses its impact.

It undermines genuine, valid and important “community outrage”. You know, outrage about stuff that really matters, not about bag bans, closing ceremonies or cool murals at restaurants.

Some events justify community outrage. In fact, they demand it.

Take the rape and murder of Eurydice Dixon last month. This is an event that demands our justified outrage. Not just the event, but what it represents — that women are not as safe as they should be on our streets. This is outrageous.

And the community outcry — both on social media and in the various vigils and acts of respect paid by people — is justified and needed. It can — and hopefully in this case will — bring about change.

But I fear that all the community outrage takes away from those occasions where such outrage is both warranted and needed. Perhaps Ms Dixon’s murder isn’t the right example, because it is so obviously something about which outrage is justified.

But there are plenty of other examples that justify outrage but where the outrage doesn’t have the desired effect, because as a community we have outrage fatigue.

It might be argued that social media gives the community a voice. A voice that allows it to call out inappropriate behaviour and things that need changing. But just like the little boy who cried wolf, if we use that voice at every single opportunity, then the voice loses its impact and significance.

So let’s call out things that need calling out. Get outraged if we need to be outraged. But please, for everyone’s sake, can we just calm down a little, pick and choose what should outrage us, and not look to complain and carry on at every little thing we don’t agree with.

I guarantee you’ll be happier with less outrage.

Justin Quill is a media lawyer and Principal with Macpherson Kelley lawyers who act for the Herald Sun

@justinquill