[csaa-forum] FREEDOM!

[Charles Fairchild]

I'm particularly interested in this discussion on Australian politics 
because I'm not Australian, but have moved here with my Aussie partner 
for the long term, so last weekend was my first experience of my new 
political culture. What amazed me was the clear lessons the Republican 
Party in my home country of the US of A have been givning the Liberals. 
And I am amazed at the tropes and themes Howard and his cronies have 
been using and adapting to Australian politics. If you criticize 
consumerism or capitalism you are simply beyond the pale in the US. So 
when people pop up and appear on the defensive about houses or furniture 
and their suspected connections to political ideology, I get a bit 
confused. Did I miss something? Did someone actually say 'you can't have 
a nice house'? 'you can't shop at Freedom'? 'you can't get a plasma TV'? 
Did someone actually say 'you must sit in a small unit without 
air-conditioning with furniture from St. Vinnie's, no car, no tv and 
read only critical theory all day? I thought the point of studying 
consumerism from a critical perspective was precisely to understand what 
it is exactly that people get out of it, all the pleasure of buying new 
things and angst about affordability and sustainability. To me it is the 
kinds of economic relationships that result from specific models of 
consumerism that I can't get away from. There is a clear political 
connection in the States between 'faulty consumer' (i.e poor person) and 
'faulty citizen.' And it comes out in places I would not have suspected. 
For example, when I taught Australian Idol last week in my popular music 
class all of this stuff about class and consumerism and politics came 
pouring out without me having to bring it up at all. Last week, a 
student went on a rant about how betrayed she felt when she found out, 
supposedly, that Guy Sebastian was planning to vote Liberal. I have no 
conclusions about any of this, but it seems to me that the connection 
between citiizeship and consumerism is unavoidable in our practice.

And can you believe that Ricky Lee is gone?!

Charles Fairchild
Department of Music
University of Sydney