> Australia is actually a very stable place, nothing much really happens (no civil war, no prime ministers assassinated, little violence etc.) Of course, the media looks for something sensationalist, and now a massive number of people think Australia is "full of deadly animals waiting to kill you".
America is the same. Despite all of the rhetoric about the election, gun violence, and policing the US is largely a safe and stable country. Are there major issues to address? Sure - but every country has those (Europe has seen a similar rise in politicians such as Trump, every OECD country is having similar growing pains related to the changes in employment/housing patterns, and violence related to gangs/drugs is an issue just about everywhere).
The challenge of course is to stay aware of the issues facing the world and society without getting caught up in the fear. Stability doesn't make addressing issues such as police shootings, mass surveillance, or terrorism are any less important.
Whilst I mostly agree, I think the key difference is that the US has a majority control of international media, and whilst they love to hype up domestic concerns for viewer ratings, they're significantly more reckless when talking about "not-America".
The fact that you level Australia and the US has both "safe and stable"; the US is an order of magnitude more troublesome than Aus (As someone who has lived in Australia but currently lives in & loves the US)
I grew up in New Zealand and have visited Australia many times (and still have many friends and family living in Australia). I now live in Minnesota.
Is it really any better there? Australia has it's own history of crime related violence, corrupt police, poor treatment of Aboriginal people, poverty, child abuse, drug crimes, and offshore detention centers. Australia is also another major country that seems to ignore environmental issues. Australia only has 12% of the population that the US has - I suspect that if the population was larger the similarities would be even more apparent.
I love visiting Australia but there are definitely some issues under the surface there.
Yeah actually you make some fairly valid points. In some ways, Trump reminds me a lot of Abbott (who's name escaped me so I googled "stupid australian prime minister" and was rewarded with the first result), and while organized crime in Aus is a lot less controlling, if Australia were US-scale it would be.
My gut feel is still that Australia is more forward thinking; gun control and healthcare aren't an absolute nightmare. Then again Australia won't touch marriage equality because of a strong enough pocket of conservative religious people in smaller towns.
Hello from fellow Kiwi who's lived in straya for a few years (amongst other places) and somehow currently landed in new york :)
America is the same. Despite all of the rhetoric about the election, gun violence, and policing the US is largely a safe and stable country. Are there major issues to address? Sure - but every country has those (Europe has seen a similar rise in politicians such as Trump, every OECD country is having similar growing pains related to the changes in employment/housing patterns, and violence related to gangs/drugs is an issue just about everywhere).
The challenge of course is to stay aware of the issues facing the world and society without getting caught up in the fear. Stability doesn't make addressing issues such as police shootings, mass surveillance, or terrorism are any less important.