Australia, The Nanny State

[Zapato]

Sounds great, ngl

[Page]

The Australian government is fucking terrifying. They ban some video games for adults. Dude. That's bonkers. The notion that any media (with the exception of child pornography which there is a legitimate reason to prohibit) be banned for adults blows my mind. Also, good job on completely banning the harm reduction alternative of vaping while leaving cigarettes legal. Kava kava, the most benign recreational drug in the world, perhaps even safer than cannabis, is banned except in little sections of the Northern Territory. There is a lot I love about Australian culture, I think the people are great, but your government is an abomination.

See, this is scarier than the kind of tyranny than you get from countries like Turkmenistan, because that kind of tyranny, people see it for what it is: capricious, power-hungry psychopaths dominating their people. But when you have a government that is tyrannical for the supposed own good of the people, it's way harder to convince people to rise up against that.

This reminds me, in the abortion thread I had a discussion that led to me wanting to make a thread about how much suffering is inflicted by well-intentioned people vs. evil people. I'm going to make that thread soon. It is my firm belief that the serial killers and terrorists and rapists of the world only account for a fraction of human misery and that authoritarian do-gooders are responsible for much more.

[Mercatus]

I'm sorry but the examples you bring up, seem to make sense.

A laser pointer outside of the home could cause accidents.

Drinking water behind the steering wheel while the car is moving IS irresponsible and dangerous behavior.

If the speed limit is 100 then it makes sense that you would be fined if you went even slightly over. Otherwise why isn't the speed limit 103?

I'm not sure I would feel less "free" living in Australia with those constraints because it would never occur to me to test those limits or to do things that could endanger others for no real gain.

Where the hell do y’all live where the speed limit is 100?

[Umbratellus]

Where the hell do y’all live where the speed limit is 100?

100 kph is about 62 mph so not that outrageous.

[Mercatus]

Where the hell do y’all live where the speed limit is 100?

100 kph is about 62 mph so not that outrageous.

Oh, the metric system.

The term tastes bad coming out of my mouth.

[Apiary One]

Wasn't Australia a former prison colony for British convicts? That explains the authoritarian laws in my opinion.

[Haruhi Japan]

Wasn't Australia a former prison colony for British convicts? That explains the authoritarian laws in my opinion.

In theory, everyone in Australia is descended from criminals. Though, I don't know how accurate that holds today.

[Australian rePublic]

I'm sorry but the examples you bring up, seem to make sense.

A laser pointer outside of the home could cause accidents.

Drinking water behind the steering wheel while the car is moving IS irresponsible and dangerous behavior.

If the speed limit is 100 then it makes sense that you would be fined if you went even slightly over. Otherwise why isn't the speed limit 103?

I'm not sure I would feel less "free" living in Australia with those constraints because it would never occur to me to test those limits or to do things that could endanger others for no real gain.

No surprise that the supporter of the CCP is pro-stupid regulation. Again, where do you draw the line? Should we ban stereos? Christmas trees?

Yes, laser pointers are dangerous if misused, which is why the federal government banned laser pointers more than 1mW. There is absolutely no reason for NSW to take it further. There are legit reasons to want a laser pointer in public, and it's possible to use it without hurting anyone

Drinking behind the wheel is different to drinking at a red light

As for the speed limit, 45 in a 40 zone is a reasonable excuse to give a fine, 103 in a 100 zone is not. Everywhere else in Australia and the world allows the police to use their discretion, so why can't they in Victoria?

[Australian rePublic]

The Australian government is fucking terrifying. They ban some video games for adults. Dude. That's bonkers. The notion that any media (with the exception of child pornography which there is a legitimate reason to prohibit) be banned for adults blows my mind. Also, good job on completely banning the harm reduction alternative of vaping while leaving cigarettes legal. Kava kava, the most benign recreational drug in the world, perhaps even safer than cannabis, is banned except in little sections of the Northern Territory. There is a lot I love about Australian culture, I think the people are great, but your government is an abomination.

See, this is scarier than the kind of tyranny than you get from countries like Turkmenistan, because that kind of tyranny, people see it for what it is: capricious, power-hungry psychopaths dominating their people. But when you have a government that is tyrannical for the supposed own good of the people, it's way harder to convince people to rise up against that.

This reminds me, in the abortion thread I had a discussion that led to me wanting to make a thread about how much suffering is inflicted by well-intentioned people vs. evil people. I'm going to make that thread soon. It is my firm belief that the serial killers and terrorists and rapists of the world only account for a fraction of human misery and that authoritarian do-gooders are responsible for much more.

I hope these kinds of posts become more popular overseas. If this issue gains international attention, the that would it mean it gains more domestic attention, and hopefully encourage people to do something about it. Please tell your family and friends to discuss this publicly

[Australian rePublic]

Wasn't Australia a former prison colony for British convicts? That explains the authoritarian laws in my opinion.

In theory, everyone in Australia is descended from criminals. Though, I don't know how accurate that holds today.

Nope.
Firstly, there are Aboriginals, which aren't decendant from anyone except Aboriginals
Then we have Europeans who don't come from the UK, and therefore not the penal colony
Then we have British people who migrated after the penal transport ended
Then we have the Asians. These are more Asian immigrants than European immigrants
Then immigrants from the rest of the world, including, but not limited to Jews, Arabs, South Americans, etc.

The days of the majority of Australia's population being descendant from prisoners is coming to end pretty quickly, if it's not already over

These days, at least in urban places, Australia is more like the United Nations than a former penal colony. Seriously. a drive through Sydney will take you from China to Greece to the Middle East to sub-Saharan Africa to Italy. There was even a suburb where all the signs were written in Chinese until the local government asked all the shop keepers to make bilingual signs

[The H Corporation]

In theory, everyone in Australia is descended from criminals. Though, I don't know how accurate that holds today.

Nope.
Firstly, there are Aboriginals, which aren't decendant from anyone except Aboriginals
Then we have Europeans who don't come from the UK, and therefore not the penal colony
Then we have British people who migrated after the penal transport ended
Then we have the Asians. These are more Asian immigrants than European immigrants
Then immigrants from the rest of the world, including, but not limited to Jews, Arabs, South Americans, etc.

The days of the majority of Australia's population being descendant from prisoners is coming to end pretty quickly, if it's not already over

These days, at least in urban places, Australia is more like the United Nations than a former penal colony. Seriously. a drive through Sydney will take you from China to Greece to the Middle East to sub-Saharan Africa to Italy. There was even a suburb where all the signs were written in Chinese until the local government asked all the shop keepers to make bilingual signs

Awesome! I love multicultural countries. You learn something new every day!

[Neanderthaland]

The thing is, it's a slippery slope. Today something might be legal, tomorrow, it might be illegal. Just because what you wanna do is legal now, doesn't necessarily mean it will be in the future.

Indeed. We should never change laws.

Now if you'll excuse me, I owe Pharaoh a year of service. Those pyramids won't build themselves.

[Australian rePublic]

Yep, well it's our fault for putting up with it

I mean, we're pretty famous for not giving a fuck about politics

If only the anti-Covid lockdown protesters protested over something useful and something which actually takes away our rights. Gosh, I wish I had the ability to muster up the manpower to do something about it. I tried to convince anti-Covid protestors that if they actually care about our freedoms, they should protest against the nanny state, however, no one ever listens to me. If they can cause a huge commotion with a useless protest, imagine how much commotion would be caused by a useful protest... If only I had the ability to muster up manpower, but unfortunately, no body ever listens to me. Australia desperately needs a bill of rights to protect us from things such as abuses of power (such as the John Barilaro/FriendlyJordies incident) as well as the nanny state, but it'll never happen until we start demanding it. Whilst the vast, vast, vast majority of people in authority in Australia don't abuse their power, even if given the ability to do so, there'll always be the small amount of people who are liable to do so.

[DistantLands]

I mean, we're pretty famous for not giving a fuck about politics

If only the anti-Covid lockdown protesters protested over something useful and something which actually takes away our rights. Gosh, I wish I had the ability to muster up the manpower to do something about it. I tried to convince anti-Covid protestors that if they actually care about our freedoms, they should protest against the nanny state, however, no one ever listens to me. If they can cause a huge commotion with a useless protest, imagine how much commotion would be caused by a useful protest... If only I had the ability to muster up manpower, but unfortunately, no body ever listens to me

Yeah, all they do is urinate on the Shrine of Remembrance and makes them look stupid.

[Australian rePublic]

If only the anti-Covid lockdown protesters protested over something useful and something which actually takes away our rights. Gosh, I wish I had the ability to muster up the manpower to do something about it. I tried to convince anti-Covid protestors that if they actually care about our freedoms, they should protest against the nanny state, however, no one ever listens to me. If they can cause a huge commotion with a useless protest, imagine how much commotion would be caused by a useful protest... If only I had the ability to muster up manpower, but unfortunately, no body ever listens to me

Yeah, all they do is urinate on the Shrine of Remembrance and makes them look stupid.

I'm not crediting the anti-lockdown protestors nor their cause. I'm just saying that there are things which are permanently taking away our freedoms far more than Covid ever would. Quite frankly, no one will take you seriously when you unnecessarily turn violent. My big question is, what's the governor-general doing about all this shit?

[Infected Mushroom]

I'm sorry but the examples you bring up, seem to make sense.

A laser pointer outside of the home could cause accidents.

Drinking water behind the steering wheel while the car is moving IS irresponsible and dangerous behavior.

If the speed limit is 100 then it makes sense that you would be fined if you went even slightly over. Otherwise why isn't the speed limit 103?

I'm not sure I would feel less "free" living in Australia with those constraints because it would never occur to me to test those limits or to do things that could endanger others for no real gain.

No surprise that the supporter of the CCP is pro-stupid regulation. Again, where do you draw the line? Should we ban stereos? Christmas trees?

Yes, laser pointers are dangerous if misused, which is why the federal government banned laser pointers more than 1mW. There is absolutely no reason for NSW to take it further. There are legit reasons to want a laser pointer in public, and it's possible to use it without hurting anyone

Drinking behind the wheel is different to drinking at a red light

As for the speed limit, 45 in a 40 zone is a reasonable excuse to give a fine, 103 in a 100 zone is not. Everywhere else in Australia and the world allows the police to use their discretion, so why can't they in Victoria?

Where do you draw the line (on bans and regulations)? It just depends on what the government/public feels is safe and also a bit in the culture.

Many laws are like speed limits really. Why is it 100 and not 130? It’s just what society or the leaders has decided will be the most workable. It isn’t that scientifically and on absolute indisputable truth terms going exactly even a bit over 100 in that specific street will result in catastrophe.

There’s always a subjectivity to rules but so long as it can be justified and proves workable in that social context and the net effect is to make things more stable, go for it. Why not?

[Perikuresu]

I was gonna mention about the sorts of folks people would associate with "fighting for muh freedoms" because their always portrayed as unnecessary, violent, angry, (American-like honhonhon,) and stupid, which would turn people off from actually speaking out against the Government (allegedly according to Aus reP.) eroding our rights because nobody wants to be associated with "those types of people"

but alas, somebody got there before moi.

Btw AuS reP., your answer for "what's the governor-general doing about all this shit?" Nothing, the Brits don't give a fuck about us and neither do we give a fuck about them. I wouldn't care if we walked the same path as Barbados, we practically run ourselves without them breathing down our necks anyways that it'd barely change anything.

[Australian rePublic]

I was gonna mention about the sorts of folks people would associate with "fighting for muh freedoms" because their always portrayed as unnecessary, violent, angry, (American-like honhonhon,) and stupid, which would turn people off from actually speaking out against the Government (allegedly according to Aus reP.) eroding our rights because nobody wants to be associated with "those types of people"

but alas, somebody got there before moi.

Btw AuS reP., your answer for "what's the governor-general doing about all this shit?" Nothing, the Brits don't give a fuck about us and neither do we give a fuck about them. I wouldn't care if we walked the same path as Barbados, we practically run ourselves without them breathing down our necks anyways that it'd barely change anything.

I said the governor general (an Australian), not the bloody queen

[Dakini]

I mean, there are a lot of places where they can fine you for going 2 km/h over the speed limit. It doesn't mean it's enforced. Hell, I'm pretty sure they can fine you for going the speed limit if the weather or road conditions makes it unsafe to do so in most places.

[Dakini]

100 kph is about 62 mph so not that outrageous.

Oh, the metric system.

The term tastes bad coming out of my mouth.

Yes, the system that most countries in the world use.

[Australian rePublic]

I mean, there are a lot of places where they can fine you for going 2 km/h over the speed limit. It doesn't mean it's enforced. Hell, I'm pretty sure they can fine you for going the speed limit if the weather or road conditions makes it unsafe to do so in most places.

Except, in Victoria, the police are required to enforce it. And yea, weather or road conditions are a different situation in and of themselves

[Australian rePublic]

The thing is, it's a slippery slope. Today something might be legal, tomorrow, it might be illegal. Just because what you wanna do is legal now, doesn't necessarily mean it will be in the future.

Indeed. We should never change laws.

Now if you'll excuse me, I owe Pharaoh a year of service. Those pyramids won't build themselves.

I never we shouldn't change laws. Just that we should stop introducing stupid ones

[Dakini]

I mean, there are a lot of places where they can fine you for going 2 km/h over the speed limit. It doesn't mean it's enforced. Hell, I'm pretty sure they can fine you for going the speed limit if the weather or road conditions makes it unsafe to do so in most places.

Except, in Victoria, the police are required to enforce it. And yea, weather or road conditions are a different situation in and of themselves

Define "required to enforce it". Do they actually sit around with speed cameras going after people who are speeding to pass someone? Or is it like, if they notice someone they're supposed to take action?

I mean, in Ontario Canada the speed limit on the highways is 100 km/h, everyone goes 120 km/h, but you also rarely see a police car on the highway (and even then, they go after the people going more than 130 km/h, not the people going 120 km/h).

[Australian rePublic]

Except, in Victoria, the police are required to enforce it. And yea, weather or road conditions are a different situation in and of themselves

Define "required to enforce it". Do they actually sit around with speed cameras going after people who are speeding to pass someone?

More or less. I've seen it on the Victorian TV show, Highway Patrol

[Relden]

Define "required to enforce it". Do they actually sit around with speed cameras going after people who are speeding to pass someone?

More or less. I've seen it on the Victorian TV show, Highway Patrol

Easy fix; just obscure your license plate.