Rita Panahi: Celebrities, just stick to the day job
FAMOUS faces calling for Australia Day to be moved can’t accept that a date change won’t alleviate indigenous problems, writes Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
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AUSTRALIAN celebrities have learnt nothing from their US brethren about the fatuity of playing politics. Other than alienating half their potential audience — closer to 90 per cent if they’re slamming Australia Day — artists tend to do their political cause more harm than good.
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Just about every actor, singer, athlete and comedian publicly backed Hillary Clinton and we all know how well that turned out. There’s been much written about how Clinton’s celebrity endorsements were ultimately counter-productive.
That those in the artistic community lean further Left than the average member of the socialist alliance is nothing new, but now they can share their harebrained views of the world via social media.
They say never meet your heroes to save yourself disappointment. The same could be said about following them on social media where you’re typically regaled with insipid, ill-informed political insights on everything from border protection (it’s bad and racist) to Australia Day (it’s bad and racist).
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It not only betrays how hopelessly out of touch most musicians and actors are with the mainstream but is also a sobering reminder that prolonged drug use can severely diminish cognitive skills. Stay off the pipe, kids.
The campaign against our national day is as tiresome as it is futile and assorted celebrities jumping on the miserable activist bandwagon isn’t going to change hearts and minds.
Let’s be honest: changing the date or the name of the day won’t change a thing other than rewarding the loudest, most divisive agitators. It would not make one iota of difference to those genuinely disadvantaged in remote communities nor shut up the self-loathers who just want an outlet for their unending supply of outrage.
If you’ve had the misfortune of watching or listening to the ABC or reading the plethora of Leftist publications, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Australia Day is a celebration of genocide and white power.
Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of the country love the national day for what it actually represents and want it to remain on January 26, despite the nonsense put forward recently by a Leftist “think tank”.
Last year a poll commissioned by The Guardian, but carried out by a reputable polling company, found that 85 per cent wanted to keep Australia Day on January 26, with a similar number against any efforts to rename the day.
Despite the years of media coverage painting the day as deeply divisive, only 6 per cent of Australians felt negatively towards Australia Day.
Sadly, it’s that 6 per cent who are given disproportionate coverage in the media.
Among migrants, support for Australia Day was even higher, with 87 per cent against changing the date.
Even among indigenous Australians, only one in three felt negatively about Australia Day, while half supported changing the date. Hardly the consensus that we’ve been sold.
Less scientific polls completed in recent days back up those findings, including a Channel Seven poll that showed three in four are against changing the date.
It’s clear that, just like the rest of the population, there is great diversity of opinion among the indigenous community and it’s time we listened to a broader range of voices rather than the usual dial-a-quote activists.
Aboriginal leaders such as Jacinta Price and Dr Anthony Dillon are fed up with the annual debate.
“Dumping Australia Day is a bad idea firstly because it’s a distraction from more serious issues like child abuse, violence, homelessness and unemployment and, secondly, it promotes the myth that Aboriginal people are upset by a date,” Dr Dillon told the Herald Sun. “If you really want to help Aboriginal people, do something practical. People celebrate that day because Australia is a great place to live ... no one is celebrating genocide.”
Price believes the “crippling state of mourning” encouraged by some in the community is damaging.
“The future is far more important to me than our past,” she wrote. “Why aren’t these people who protest about changing the date as concerned about the Aboriginal people affected by domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse? Why aren’t the marches for murdered Aboriginal women as big as the marches on Australia Day? I don’t want anyone to feel guilty or bad for feeling joy and celebrating a country we love.”
If you live in Australia, whether you were fortunate enough to be born here or migrated here as I have, then you have won the lottery of life.
In a relatively short period Australia has become a nation that we can all be immensely proud of: a tolerant, welcoming and peaceful corner of the world. We are one of the most desirable places on the planet to call home and have built a peaceful, prosperous and egalitarian society.
Having the likes of Darren Hayes, Pat Cash, Shane Jacobson or Jimmy Barnes jump on the “change-the-date” bandwagon will not do anything other than irritate a few of their fans.
Australians are too smart to be swayed by celebrity opinion. Barnes in particular has been particularly active on social media in recent weeks.
The rocker and sometime cruise-boat crooner took to twitter to abuse Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, Minister for Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberg and most recently Australian Conservatives senator Cory Bernardi.
The reaction of certain musicians to Bernardi’s Australia Day playlist was particularly petulant. Fancy a musician trying to dictate who can or cannot listen to their music or add their track to a Spotify playlist.
The more we discuss Australia Day, the clearer it is that there is a chasm between community sentiment and attitudes pushed by media, political and celebrity class.
— Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist
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