False Consciousness
The American press's understated coverage of the election results in Australia this weekend has been reported elsewhere, but the hometown paper's announcement of the event bears mentioning.
In the Pioneer Press, the news was buried as an item in the Nation/World section. Notice, it has a by-line from the New York Times, with credited assistance from the Associated Press. An impressive array of resources used for an item consisting of less than 300 words. Maybe it takes that much professional journalism talent to come up with news reporting like this:
Howard won despite widespread anger at his decision to send troops to Iraq last year and his pledge to keep them there. But Australian political analysts cautioned that the voting was not a referendum on the war. The main issue was the economy, and that is booming. Unemployment is close to all-time lows, and inflation is running at just 2 percent.
Widespread anger at a politician manifesting itself in a landslide victory for ... that same politician? Either those unnamed, uncited "political analysts" are dead wrong, or this is building up to an unhealthy climax for the Aussies. Repressed rage on that scale can only lead to irrational, unproductive behavior. For example, outbursts like this:
"This country is too wealthy" to vote for Labor, said Antonino D'Albora, a 60-year old taxi driver, capturing the political ambience here.
Damn that mass prosperity! It's ruining everything!
My guess is that "widespread anger" was limited to those on the Left. If election results mean anything, they're now a distinct a minority of opinion Down Under. We can only hope the Australians continue to avoid the crushing poverty conducive to (resulting from?) their gaining control of the government.
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