Reap what you sow

There's an important point to be made in this story. Australians trapped in New Orleans are demanding the Australian government fix their problem. Get them out. Of a flooded city in another country, where the local authorities are finding it difficult to do the same. Australian consular staff in other cities in Australia are to drop everything and immediately rescue them because of an accident of birth. This misplaced faith in the omnipotence and responsibility of government is indicative of a wider attitude.

What responsibility DOES the government have over private citizen safety in other countries? At what point is it expected that as free willed adults you can be expected to look after yourself? What do they want to be done from the other side of the world. The Foreign Minister has indicated that authorities in New Orleans have stymied efforts to determine the status of Australian citizens. Admittedly, they do have the little problem of 50,000 plus of their own citizens to be concerned about, why a group of whining tourists believe they should have special privileges reflects an attitude of entitlement endemic in wider society.

"I pay tax. I want help. Now."

"I can't understand why our government didn't come to try and get us out," Brisbane man Anthony "Bud" Hopes told reporters. An unnamed young woman among the group told the Ten Network: "I might just have a crazy imagination but I honestly thought that someone was coming to get us. I really had that much faith in the Australian government."


Either mentally or physically unprepared for this calamity,nonetheless, the attitude of young fit Australian men and women is concerning. I would have reasonably expected Australians to be volunteering their services to the elderly, the young and the frail, not park their asses and whine for help like the rest of the city. The lesson has now been reinforced.

Don't expect governments of any political persuasion to assist you. Help yourselves. Prepare for the worst, expect the best. If they had phones and travel insurance, why didn't they ring a bus company from further away and charter it themselves? Why were they there in the first place? Sitting on your ass while the world comes crashing down around you and complaining that the government didn't save you is not going to cut it. This misplaced faith in the power of politics has let them down, hopefully all they have wounded is their pride. They may not be so lucky next time.

Cross posted at Bastards Inc.

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