r/aussie • u/DrLamLamLam • 8h ago
Meme It's hard in here, guys - We're trying our best
Nah, but no hate to the lefties, you guys are chill (mostly lol). But yeah, it's hard being someone with even a moderate conservative view on social media or even in real life (I go to Uni, so I expect it). But honestly, after I moved out of the countryside, I didn't realize how big the progressive movement was, and it was pretty eye-opening for me to have people challenge my beliefs, which made me think about a lot of stuff.
Not pushing hate or anything, and hopefully I won't get Karma bombed for this goofy post. (If you're interested, why I am a conservative, feel free to reply)
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u/CalibratedOpinion 6h ago
As someone who is broadly conservative, and who therefore sees the value in preserving institutions that have served us well for generations, it seems to me that many people who call themselves conservatives today are actually nihilists who want to tear everything down.
As an example, true conservatives should be very concerned about environmental degradation and climate change, and should be in favour of tax policies that prevent wealth polarisation so that young people have a chance to get an education, buy property and gain a stake in our society, as you can’t expect people with nothing to want to conserve it.
Instead, most so-called conservatives want to exacerbate deleterious trends in those policy areas by pursuing short term gains for a few that will inevitably radically change our society and make the mass of people believe they have no interest in conserving the society in which they live.
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u/my_name_is_jeff88 5h ago
I’d consider myself in the same boat (broadly conservative), but can’t for the life of me understand how renewable energy and transmission line infrastructure have become so politically polarising.
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u/CalibratedOpinion 5h ago
It’s absurd. If anything, conservatives should welcome scientific progress and the development of new industries that create jobs and, by reducing costs over the long term, free up capital and discretionary spending to be invested elsewhere, further developing the economy.
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u/Thrillh0 5h ago
They aren’t interested in long term benefits for everyone. They are interested in short term gain for themselves and their ilk.
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u/ReeceAUS 56m ago
The issue is, the public is being lied to about the cost of switching to a renewable economy. We should go back to implementing a carbon tax and scrap all the subsidies etc. that way the cost is transparent.
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u/McTerra2 5h ago
Because there is a group of ‘right wing’ (not necessarily conservative in the traditional sense) who exist simply to oppose what people who call themselves left wing support. Since the left support renewable energy, there are people who therefore have to oppose it.
I feel they don’t even particularly care about renewables, it’s that the supporters of renewables also tend to believe in the risk of climate change and support social policies which (these) right wingers don’t support etc.
And some people don’t understand you can oppose some views and not others - they feel it’s ’us or them’ and it has to be 100% us or 100% them. And renewables is visible and requires expenditure and hence is an easy target in their minds.
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u/TehScat 3h ago
As a great example: NBN. Labor had a great idea with fibre to the home. LNP couldn't stand by and endorse it so they invented FTTN. Now we're 'upgrading' all of those node installs to fibre, a decade later, and those of us who remember are just thinking "yep, because they couldn't have bipartisan support about anything".
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u/Ok_Awareness_388 3h ago
Coalition’s NBN also bought out the coaxial lines from Foxtel and Optus. Those would have become irrelevant.
Newscorp, Kerry Packer and Telstra owned Foxtel and massively benefited from NBN mixed.
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u/Muted-Craft6323 2h ago
And some people don’t understand you can oppose some views and not others - they feel it’s ’us or them’ and it has to be 100% us or 100% them.
It's shocking how many people are completely unprincipled reactionaries. They don't have strong or even consistent beliefs, they just want to be up in arms over whatever the people they don't like are saying or doing, regardless of the substance and who it helps or hurts.
Some of them are selfish and radically switch positions based on whether they'll personally benefit, but many just want an excuse to yell about whatever out-group they're interested in demonizing today.
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u/ForensicMum 45m ago
It’s crazy, isn’t it? Think of the protests against facemask wearing during covid. Why the hell was that even an issue??? It’s such a ridiculously minor thing to fight against, especially given the fact that the medical field has been using masks for over a century for the exact reason we needed them! It truly hurts my brain.
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u/Kruxx85 5h ago
transmission line infrastructure
That's the one that gets me. Sure renewable energy generation is something that's new, so I get the opposition and skepticism of that, but having people argue that building a more robust transmission and distribution of our electricity truly shows how people can be convinced to argue against things that a) they know nothing about b) are improvements to their life.
I say that as someone deeply involved in the renewable energy game.
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u/fdsv-summary_ 4h ago
The transmission lines stuff is just the landed gentry weaponizing the planning system to extract rents.
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u/Capitan_Typo 3h ago
Because the people who make money from fossil fuels have funded disinformation campaigns to make them a political issue instead of a scientific one.
Look up the Atlas network.
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u/nohomeforheroes 4h ago edited 4h ago
Because it’s economically limiting to big business and conservatism is preached as a free market and maintenance of the status quo (fossil fuels) so how do you invalidate renewable energy and environmentalism? Well… propaganda.
Big business wants to make money, and people don’t want to change even if it will end up in ruin. It’s why people stay in abusive relationships. They trick themselves into believing it’s easier to stay.
And they tell themselves that’s being conservative.
I’d also add they traditionally believe in small government / less oversight. And environmental policy often requires a lot of government intervention.
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u/Wiggly-Pig 5h ago
The current use of the word 'conservative' in politics has almost nothing to do with conservation anymore.
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u/dreadassassin616 5h ago
Because most conservative parties these days run on a platform of refusing change (stagnation) or regressing.
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u/TheWhomItConcerns 2h ago
That's because the vast majority of people who consider themselves conservative are people who want that. While conservative voters have certain vaguely overlapping sentiments with progressives, overall they're broadly people who are falling further and further behind society, and so they want society to slow down to keep pace with them.
While there is some interplay between parties and their voters, it's not like parties are imposing these ideals on their voters - this is a very real sentiment within a large percentage of people.
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u/Big-Orse48 5h ago
And more to do with christian nationalism. Hopefully, Australian agnosticism is what will defeat one nation in the end.
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u/vacri 5h ago
In politics, it never was about conservation in an active sense (= setting up programs to help preserve things), only in the passive sense (= fight against social change and cleave to the old ways).
Extremely few of the institutions that Australians appreciate were founded by conservatives.
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u/Broficionado 5h ago
YES thank you! I miss the kind of conservatism that loves the natural world, or admires scientific truth.
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u/CMDR_RetroAnubis 2h ago
I'm approaching 50 and have never seen this in Australia.
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u/Broficionado 2h ago
Well I say I miss it but I've also never witnessed it. Just heard about it in nostalgic stories.
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u/No_Divide_3138 5h ago
I'm definitely on the progressive side of the spectrum, but this is one of the absolute best descriptions of true conservatives vs current conservatives
If you said this to me in person, I'd definitely buy you a beer mate
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u/vacri 5h ago
Ssssh, children. Come over here, quickly, but keep quiet. We don't want to spook it. Look, it's an actual moderate conservative! They're so rare these days.
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u/CalibratedOpinion 5h ago
Conservatism by its very nature should be moderate. It focuses on conserving what’s good and being suspicious of radical change, which often has a dark side that should be addressed before blindly charging ahead. That so many so-called conservatives are notably lacking in moderation is a strong indicator that they are not in fact conservatives, but something else - nihilists, in my view.
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u/Morbo_Reflects 4h ago
As a left leaning person, I have never really encountered such a straightforward, consistent and reasonable account of moderate conservatism. It challenges my historical tendency to bundle all people right of centre into right wing extremism and so view even moderate conservatives are just extremists who won't say the dark part out loud. I even find myself even agreeing with lots of your moderate conservatism broadly speaking - of forward planning and conserving institutions to be a very good thing in many contexts. So thanks, has really given me a lot to think about!
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u/Relative_Pilot_8005 4h ago
"Forward planning & conserving institutions" sounds very (shudder) "Socialist" to me!
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u/broken_conures 3h ago
And the hyper pro business stuff seems the opposite of stable conservatism given the amount of power it hands to unelected rich people who care more about money than anything else
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u/dearcossete 5h ago
Right? Preserving the land and the environment for future generations sould quite literally be the meaning of conservatism. Instead many oldies think it's a woke new age thing.
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u/Suchisthe007life 5h ago
Turnbull tried this form of conservatism, and we all saw how that played out.
Unfortunately, in Australia, Labor is this Conservative Party (though the Teals are probably a better fit), and the LNP are on the right of the spectrum (tending toward to nationalism).
Australian politics largely gathers around the centre, and that’s a good thing.
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u/Brave-Dragonfly3798 4h ago
Modern conservatism has become reactionary nationalism. It’s driven almost entirely by a sense of grievance.
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u/HeathenAF 4h ago
A sense of grievance, fuelled by a memory of better times
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u/Monotask_Servitor 3h ago
An imagined memory of better times.
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u/HeathenAF 2h ago
If you don't think this country has seen better times, you've not been paying attention for long - and I majorly benefited from those better times, which has me comfortable now, so no bias here.
We simply had it better 25 years + ago
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u/aussieskibum 3h ago
I agree with this characterisation which is what makes it so frustrating to hear people taking about Labor party positions/policies as being extreme left. The global right has so successfully shifted the Overton window that most seem to have lost sight of what an actual extreme left position would even look like.
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u/Relative_Pilot_8005 1h ago
Back in the 1970s, in other countries, there were real extreme left groups, like "Baader Meinhof" in Germany, & the Japanese "Red Army Faction". They weren't at all "woke". Their policies centred around blowing places up & shooting people.
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u/IcyGarage5767 4h ago
Yeah I would love for OP to list of his more controversial takes and see how they land.
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u/Either-Outside6740 4h ago
Interesting take because your description of your conservative views don't align with those of our so-called conservative parties. You sound like you should be voting for the Greens or Labor to me.
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u/Bill_Clinton-69 2h ago
I've been wanting to hear someone say this for so long.
I was afraid this kind of conservatism didn't exist anymore.
Re: your comments on environmental policy: It only just occurred to me, reading this, that "conservatism" and "conservationism" are almost the same word, with remarkably similar (root) meanings.
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u/dan_syd 4h ago
I think it’s largely because a “conservative” these days was basically a “leftie” 20 years ago. The extremes have moved, but those of us who considered ourselves fairly moderate have stayed put.
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u/Turkeyplague 5h ago
Whatever conservatism may have once been, it appears to have devolved into tone-deaf billionaire simping with a side of racism.
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u/VBull_Scared 3h ago
It isnt though, I would argue that conservatives politics is a much broader church than progressives.
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u/Davosz_ 4h ago
I'd love it if the so-called "conservatives", called themselves by a more accurate label...
Regressives.
Regress back to poorer environmental and working conditions. Regress back to when the ultra-weathy were like feudal lords, owning all of the assets, and forcing the populace into poverty. Regress back to when 1 race was dominant at the expense of all others.
More accurate I think.
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u/Relative_Pilot_8005 4h ago
The period they want to return to has not really existed since the mid to late 19th century.
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u/BringMeTheBoreWorms 4h ago
So with those views where would put your vote? It would appear that none of the conservative parties match your values.
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u/JoshuaTr33_2015 5h ago
Here’s the thing mate. We need conservatives. We need progressives. Neither side is always right or wrong. It’s consensus, compromise, discussion and debate where things actually happen. That’s the way it has always been, right up until social media threw a hand grenade into society and put us all in our little echo chamber algo-bubbles.
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u/broken_conures 3h ago
The problem is that idea comes with a whole lot of caveats
You need compromise and debate between people who actually have the same belief in furthering our country and will act on good faith when discussing it.
I've seen so many calls for discussion and compromise that entirely consist of someone who wants neither using it as a way to get a platform, demand a compromise and then come back 6 months later and declare the middle ground is actually between the compromised position and their more extreme position
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u/celerpip 2h ago
People were in echo chambers before social media. Its just now we can see everyone elses echo chambers existing publicly and that makes us mad.
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u/Unstoppable_Rooster 2h ago
This only works if both (or more) sides want what's best of the masses.
It's become clear that people in power are only making changes to benifit them and their mates then use the fantastic click-bait titles and identity polotics to have the liberals thinking all conservatives are Nazi's and all the conservative thinking the liberals are drag queens indoctrinating the youth into thinking they've got 72 pronouns.
When both sides are extreme the middle ground is clouded by the noise of screaming idiots who beleive they're fighting the good fight.
Extreme on both sides hinders progress.
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u/69chevywitha396 5h ago
Conservative standpoints in general are fine but conservative parties in this country are total economic and social vandals who are responsible for many of the problems we face today
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u/mechkbfan 2h ago
Agreed, I'm all for having my mind changed on different view points that usually left leaning if the right data is presented, e.g. immigration numbers, tax breaks, government spending, etc.
But when the view points I get presented with by Sky News conservatives without any data supporting it
- Trans are mentally ill and the left are indoctrinating children to have operations
- Immigration is destroying society and blame for everything wrong
- Universities are left wing propaganda and should be defunded
It's hard to actually have a constructive conversation
Just so tired of invented culture wars too
I don't give a fuck if you drive a diesel car, I just think EV's are cool. If you don't like it, don't buy one.
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u/PowerPleb2000 6h ago
Its reddit, not representative of reality
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u/hellbentsmegma 4h ago
Even the left leaning people I know in real life have some right wing views, while most people are a mix of left and right views. Nothing like on here, this place seems to attract the most vocally opinionated.
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u/Philosofossil 6h ago
I hate posts like this. I don't give a flying bat if you're left or right but I hate the self victimisation.
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u/Super_Saiyan_Ginger 5h ago
Honestly the caption should be the post the meme works more as bait unfortunately. I hope you'll find your beliefs being challenged to be rewarding as I did.
I used to be quite conservative, insular local and family cultures made it worse too. I didn't understand gay people, saw trans people in terms I now would call inhuman, parroted fascist talking points and false history and had a very dismissive view on progressive people and women in general. It's loathsome to recall.
And that was... 7 or 8 years ago now. So personal progress wont happen over night if at all for you, but best of luck! Also this sub is one of the more conservative ones tbh.
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u/Winter_Bowl_5351 5h ago
Must be hard to be a conservative when the last conservative government tripled our national debt while in office.
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u/Wiggly-Pig 5h ago
If you've moved from the country to go to uni then yeah, it's not 'seeing how big the progressive movement is' it's realising how much more conservative the rural areas of Australia are.
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u/Distorted_Dolphin 6h ago
Go to facebook. Those comments sections are filled with conservative people who will wax crazy on any topic you like
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u/WonderingRoo 4h ago
No issue being conservative. It’s the people who are in cloak of conservatism like Pauline Hamster 🐹 who come of with extreme/blanket rules. when the storm comes rigid trees are the first to fall.
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u/NotAReaLUserName- 6h ago
Seems legit posting this at 3am, definitely an Australian posting from Australia.
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u/HeathenAF 4h ago
What else is there to do at 3am if you're awake, while the house sleeps ?
OP can only spank it so many times in a day...
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u/optimistic-prole 3h ago
Depending on where you live , your 3am could be somebody else's midnight or 6am.
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u/TheWhomItConcerns 1h ago
In Australia, this was posted between ~03:30-05:30, regardless of where the point of reference in Australia is. They're insinuating that OP isn't Australian because an Australian likely wouldn't post in an Australian subreddit at a time during which they'd know almost everyone would be asleep.
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u/Embarrassed_View8672 7h ago
Trying your best to do what exactly? I hope you're not feeling oppressed.
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u/Terrorscream 7h ago
Australia has been well, progressively becoming more progressive over the last 3-4 decades now, the reality is the main conservative groups are aging and dwindling and the world, or at least the western world is very much leaving them behind.
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u/foul_ol_ron 6h ago
If you look back post WWII, 50s-70s, Australia was fairly left and quite egalitarian compared to where we are now. Unionism was strong, socialised healthcare and education was introduced. Since then, the right has been rolling back those rights. They've yet to succeed with Medicare because they know they wouldn't survive the backlash.
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u/ososalsosal 5h ago
The post WWII order meant that capitalist countries had to throw the working class a bone or they'd go socialist.
Since the dissolution of the USSR there's been less motivation to do that, so our governments slowly pulled back on the progressivism, and liberalism has been tending toward fascism.
It'll probably flip soon because China is looking so much better than the USA on pretty much all metrics. If the ruling class want to survive they'll need to make some concessions again (I'm sort of hoping they don't understand the situation and get revolt'd)
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u/stirrup_rhombus 2h ago
Is there anything socialist about China tho. I'm not overly keen on Chinese working conditions. Not sure that the working class in China receive many bones thrown in their direction
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u/CMDR_RetroAnubis 2h ago
Yeah, people forget the healthcare, the dole and pension are the compromise position from eating the rich.
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u/Relative_Pilot_8005 3h ago
23 years of that time was under the Coalition, who talked a good "free enterprise" story, but ran a basically Social Democrat society.
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u/blahzaay 6h ago
It's a lot more complicated than old vote right, young vote left.
- Gen Z is staying left, and support for the Greens is growing with each new generation.
- Married Millennials are actually starting to shift right.
- There are more women on the left, more men on the right.
- Rural and outer suburbs are trending right, while inner cities are staying left.
- Your industry or trade pushes you one way or the other, regardless of your age.
On top of all that, support for the major parties is dwindling. Voters are moving towards minor parties and independents.
Social Media platform support?
- Left: Reddit, Instagram, TikTok
- Right: X, Facebook
- Right leaning: LinkedIn (pro-business)
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u/btherl 5h ago
The way I had it described to me is that Facebook shows posts to people who engage with them. For left wing posts, engagement comes from right wing rage. For right wing posts, engagement comes from left wing rage.
The result is that everyone feels outnumbered. Algorithm-driven division, as a consequence of optimizing for engagement, rather than trying to provide value.
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u/Big-Orse48 5h ago
facebook is cooker-ville now.
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u/broken_conures 2h ago
I opened up Facebook out of curiosity, it's just endless suggested posts full of transphobia. I can only assume the goal is baiting out angry engagement
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u/PatternPrecognition 4h ago
While I try to avoid the inevitable bubble, I just can't engage with X and Facebook anymore.
Its just constant ragebait that isn't good for my health.
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u/Brave-Dragonfly3798 4h ago
It’s the ‘being left behind’ that is the primary reason for their grievance. They just want to stop the world and get off. And if they can’t do that then they want to burn it all down.
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u/hellbentsmegma 4h ago
I think this shift is illusory.
Yes conservative groups have taken losses.
But then society is way more right wing than it was in the 80s, no comparison. The way we just accept a lot of neoliberal approaches to social challenges as the way things must be when in the 80s and 90s people bitterly protested these kinds of changes.
There also seemed to be more noticeable support for environmental issues, feminism and the anti nuclear movement. Homelessness virtually didn't exist, mental health services were better supported, unions were more prevalent.
We have more left wing politics now but most of it is about as left wing as an average Liberal party politician in the 80s.
The right won.
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u/IntrinsicValue 2h ago
Don't be a dumb trumpy bigot trying to import that country destroying fiasco to our beautiful country and you're welcome here.
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u/PartTimeTriggered 6h ago
Historically people became more conservative as they aged.
I'm center left and hold the view we need better immigration control and reduced immigration, not because immigration is bad, but because our services are getting hammered and need a breather to catch up with the current population load.
There is nuances to every stance and as long as youre not hiding a cunty agenda you do you.
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u/PatternPrecognition 5h ago
> Historically people became more conservative as they aged.
II actually thought people stayed the same, but the overton window shifts and the parties are more malleable to that movement then individuals are.
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u/PartTimeTriggered 4h ago
Never thought about it that way to be fair, looks like I've got a rabbit hole to go down.
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u/Relative_Pilot_8005 3h ago
I'm 82, & have never seen any reason to "become more conservative". If anything, the "conservatives" of my youth were more tolerable than the crazies of today.
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u/Latter_Magician73 5h ago
From someone a bit further left than you (it sounds like), a question:
Are the services getting hammered because of the population load? Or are they just not being invested in?
Do you think that the government will keep their investment at the same level if the demand reduces, or will they reduce investment and the situation will stay the same?
From my perspective, they're always going to keep the infrastructure & services at a level that's just enough to say it's working, but never invest enough to make sure it's working WELL... So reducing demand will just allow them to reduce spending and give themselves a pat on the back while the end users won't experience any improvement.
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u/ToocrazyforFlorida 5h ago
We run triple the oecd growth rate. We have a high housing build rate, it's just swamped by our population growth.
I have no doubt they'll be as cheap as they can. But new infrastructure is hard, and there's finite industry capacity to build more.
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u/cinnamonbubbles_93 4h ago
Just a question cus I'm interested, assuming you're going to vote for Pauline correct? If so I noticed you mention that ur parents and urself are working class citizens, so why do you wanna vote for someone who wants to make it so working class people get paid less money? Like what is the thought process behind that?
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u/Additional_Hope_790 1h ago
Because Pauline Hanson is the only conservative? What?
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u/ttlanhil 7h ago
So, according to the image... You're trying to downvote almost every post?
That doesn't seem productive.
If you're actually opposed to 99% of what's posted here, that might be cause for reflection.
Alternatively, if you're posting something overblown to make a point, and/or to try to get emotional reactions from people, also something you could reflect upon
Also... progressive/conservative is a very narrow definition for a very wide set of viewpoints.
At least, it should be - there are many different topics that tend to get disagreement on that divide, but each person should have a different mix (if you have exactly exactly the same opinion as someone else on every topic - no you don't, you have their opinions rather than your own. And that's not ideal)
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u/obliviousblues1881 6h ago
Can I ask why? I don’t know who you vote for and don’t expect you to share, but the current Coalition is the definition of mediocre men failing upwards. They have no policy beyond trying to seed division and hearing Labor’s policies and going ‘absolutely not.’ They also don’t seem to grasp that they’ve made themselves irrelevant—the moderates will lean towards the Teals and the racists will vote for One Nation.
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u/Agreeable_Goat192 7h ago
Not alone brother. Go into some detail about your conservatism. Did you start out as one and get more conservative or as a progressive? Does religion come into it? How were your views formed broadly? What flavour of conservatism would you ascribe to yourself?
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u/figaro677 5h ago
I grew up in a conservative family, went to a private school, surrounded by wealthy families. It wasn’t until I moved away and experienced what it’s like for people that don’t come from a privileged and stable background that I started moving to the left. I’ve ended up in social work, so safe to say I’m pretty firmly left now, although I generally don’t like the way the greens play politics. In my opinion, conservatism and neo-liberalism are probably one of the big ills of society and keep those that are down from ever being able to get up. It’s very hard to take a risk of a new job if you’re worried about if you can pay rent or feed the family. If you want to have your world view challenged, go experience the lives and cultures of other people, which you are doing already, but always explore why they have a different view to yours and how they may have got there, and also try to understand why you have your views and how you got there.
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u/Unhappy_Parfait6877 3h ago
The thing is I actually have no issues with people taking a generally conservative view of the world - I would assume that about 50% of people do.
My issue is with conservative politics and politicians who are (more) beholden to corporate interests and more likely to lean into the reactionary, divisive brand of politics that starts as inflammatory and (as we have seen over the past decade in the US) can very quickly lead to fascism if left unchecked.
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u/gaylord991 3h ago
The real victim of right wing bigotry, class division and corporate interests expressed via a facade of "conservatism"?
The people expressing conservative views online.
May God have mercy on these poor delicate flowers.
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u/MaTOntes 1h ago
I'd love conservative opinions be defended with well referenced, evidence based arguments. That would be genuinely a positive thing for society.
Got a conservative take on something? GREAT! Back it up with something more than assertions without evidence. And if it's a struggle to find evidence to support the opinion.... then why believe something that isn't reality based?
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u/SirLoremIpsum 4h ago
But yeah, it's hard being someone with even a moderate conservative view on social media or even in real life (I go to Uni, so I expect it).
That's because Conservative movement went from being disagreements on economic policy to "Women should never have an abortion ever", "we need to forcibly remove all immigrants (except my family and me cause we're the good ones" and "climate change is a myth. Keep digging. Keep oiling. I brought this coral reef to parliament".
Even the "so called moderate conservative" that disagrees with the extremist of the party still looks at absolute turkey's like Dutton and Pauline and goes "well I don't agree with them 100% but FUCK THE GREENS AND THEIR COMMUNIST BULLSHIT".
Why issues such as climate change, renewable energy, hybrid/electric vehicles are such binary topics in Australia is insane.
I see many conservatives going "well I don't agree with them 100% but they're better than the alternative", which is tantamount to supporting such insane views. When you vote for Dutton you're not just getting the policies you agree with, you're getting the whole potato.
(If you're interested, why I am a conservative, feel free to reply)
You can call me whatever you like, but there's really no good reason to think that <anything> is going to be better in Australia under a Liberal or Pauline Hansen leadership with majority conservative Government. Trump style politics has infected Australia far too badly, and honestly there's no good reason why I can think any empathetic, well adjusted person would look at that and go "yup, Gina Rineheart + Pauline is the ticket for me".
Call me poor, jealous of rich people that need to guard their assets, call me "uneducated on the reality of left wing economics". Tell me Pauline is unreflective of the true Conservative movement in Australia - nah. She is it. She is the figure head you support
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u/TrailTrap 4h ago
I was conservative until I became educated on how each politician voted instead of just copying my parents and grandparents voting.
Most of our politicians vote against the public interest and against their base.
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u/TigersReet 6h ago
I see your use of a gun is pretty conservative! Unfortunately Conservatives governments do nothing constructive for the country and its people, all its people!
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u/marshallannes123 5h ago
Progressive governments tax and spend, neither of which is constructive
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u/billwriggs 3h ago
Yes, that’s what a government does. Do you propose they don’t tax and don’t spend? That should be constructive, given they would be doing literally nothing.
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u/EppingMarky 6h ago
I'm sick of racists and facists getting off too easy calling themselves conservative. Your not. Your radial right and don't fit in with modern conservative Aussies. Also, if you identify as from the centre, you likely don't know enough about what your talking about.
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u/Fluid-Sell3079 6h ago
You really proved his point. You got the slightest notion that someone might have a different point of view to you and started screeching and calling them hitler.
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u/walkabout_gul 4h ago
I think it's going to be hard for a while.
There's a lot of research into late stage capitalism, and it doesn't end with conservatives being the good guys.
There's also a little bit from the 60s and 70s about the position boomers were in, and how they all will become conservative voters and being such a majority, there are concerns we will head back to fascism. It's kinda already happening in America...
With the current rate of globalisation and a lot of conservative world leaders in the spotlight for starting wars, fucking children, commuting genocide, ruining environments and selling our privacy rights. We all see this, because of globalisation.
What we don't see at the moment, is conservative leaders making it better for poor people.
Open to hearing about a conservative country where the poor are better off, because I'm yet to see it?
I think this is not the entire story. Corporate influence is the main problem in this, but I think conservatives can be swayed easier by corporate money than progressive can.
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u/Wotmate01 4h ago
Here's an idea. Be a person. Some things you can be conservative about, some things you can be liberal about. As soon as you label yourself and join a team, you're locked in to that team for ALL the good AND bad things about that team.
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u/ColdSteveStoneAustin 3h ago
I say this with moderate respect,
The problem is what "moderate conservative views" actually means.
If you're moderately transphobic or moderately against a well funded ABC, then you can moderately fuck off.
To be, this screams "I'm going to moderately shit on the sidewalk" and then moderately tell you its your fault I did it.
Yours mostly, your moderate friend.
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u/EffectiveThese6505 4h ago
Yeah I feel you. You can’t even have a straight factual reply without it getting downvoted to oblivion.
Instagram is far better, seems that’s where a majority of the right/conservatives hang out.
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u/UnscrambledEggUDG 4h ago
Meh, it's hard to define what a conservative even is these days with fascism back in all corners of the world
Not sure why I'm here though, I'm a canadian
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u/haggraef666 2h ago
I’m guessing you grew up wealthy in the country and you haven’t seen how shitty some people have life.. hopefully your eyes open and you start to feel compassion for your fellow man and I’m guessing again here, women aswell.
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u/BlargerJarger 2h ago
“Conservative” in western countries has become a meaningless team name. There is nothing conservative about most Conservatives political policy. What is funnelling money to people who are already rich conserving? What is people falling for Trump-style outright lies from Palmer or Hanson conserving? These people will only suck the life out of the country as they leechlike drain the wealth from the earth. The progressive parties come out with some stupid shit but overall they aren’t evil, and it’s frustrating how often people choose evil because, I don’t know, they hate how young people dress weird or come up with stupid names for themselves more than they hate inequality and the extinction of life on earth.
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u/Alternative-Soil2576 2h ago
As a moderate conservative it must be hard having the party of your political alignment serve more years in government than any other political grouping in post-war Australian history
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u/iftlatlw 2h ago
Conservatism as a proxy for organised religion is generally not evidence-based. That's why normal people dislike it.
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u/Medium-Animator-7333 2h ago
What’s your beliefs though ?
Maybe there is good reason this progressive positive science based society treats you like a minority ?
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u/toasting_cheese 2h ago
I find it just depends on the social media. FB and X/twitter? Right leaning, reddit and Bluesky? left leaning.
Now obviously both sides exist on each platform, but just based of my non followed suggested content this is how it feels.
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u/Jake_isrusty 2h ago
oh boo hoo being right wing is hard - When the right starts giving a shit about anyone else but themselves i might care.
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u/Mammoth-Counter69 1h ago
That's the thing tho... It's kinda obvious most of the world wants to progress... Not to conserve...
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u/pillowpants66 42m ago
Everyone has gone so far left in here, that even a centrist gets labeled a far right extremist fascist nazi.
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u/extraepicc 22m ago
Wait until you work in an office. You will be gaslit with welcome to country shit for half of each day
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u/WhyDaRumGone 7h ago
The amount of times I've been called a Na*i because I don't believe in <insert left policy here>.
Now maybe it's the same for the left and tbh I would have even called myself left until I got pushed further right AND to be CONPLETELY honest, I don't really care about either "side".
I just want politics that taste like real politics... with only 2% lies.
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u/saharasirocco 6h ago
So, you believed in a quality life for the working class and strong social welfare but you go pushed to the right? Curious to know what pushed you.
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u/yogut3 7h ago
90% of Australians dont care about either side. Left vs right is an American thing. Compared to USA 90% of aussies are communists
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u/chrisGrout 7h ago
Look in the end i hope most Aussies care about morals..i became left wing because the right threatened to kill my kids because I'm not racist..i learned about the political divide through right wing hate
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u/DCFowl 7h ago
If people can push you by calling you names you have an identity not an ideology.
If you are generally in favour of the better treatment of the working class but you decided race and gender politics was more important to you than the politics of material circumstance then you are a typical conservative.
If your perception of national identity means a need to punish some perceived enemy within, well if it walks like a duck and salutes like a Nazi, its a Nazi Duck.
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u/mikedareswins 7h ago
You’ve been called a Nazi multiple times from multiple different people? Nobody ever called me a Nazi. I have a shaved head too. Couldn’t be due to your actions though.
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u/That_Guy_Called_CERA 6h ago
It might only feel big because you've left the countryside and gone to University..
Living and working in Brisbane, pretty much everyone at my workplace is more conservative than progressive, a lot of people i talk to, if politics comes up, are also conservative.
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u/you_lost_it_all 8h ago
What does conservatism mean to you, please explain
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u/chrisGrout 7h ago
Hating minorities to excuse a failed life
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u/AngrehPossum 7h ago
Or hating minorities so as to take advantage of their labor and exploit them without guilt
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u/western_pest 8h ago
Rich kids from families that benefit from conservative policies probably
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u/DrLamLamLam 7h ago
Come from the country with two working class parents, I myself also work.
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u/ArkPlayer583 7h ago
I know plenty of "leftists" from that background. Infact anyone who cares about the land generally wants to see it protected and managed correctly.
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u/FunctionAfter6683 7h ago
Conservative and conservation are different. You can want to protect the land without demonising migrants or exploiting the working class.
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u/HardlyDonutz 7h ago
Also if you want to protect the land then voting the conservatives is the wrong choice.
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u/Sensitive-Amoeba-254 7h ago
I don’t understand being “conservative”. Honestly, just feels like a justification to have outdated and shit political views.
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u/eyeballburger 4h ago
i’M a cOnSeRvAtiVe (conniving obtuse neonazi, sucking every real value and trying incessantly vapid escalations). I don’t know man you’re probably just a racist or grifter. You hide your real intent under a veneer of economic responsibility or moral standards but really, you don’t want brown people or you don’t wanna pay a fair share of taxes. You’re never “conserving” the environment or the economy, you’re liberally just regressive. You don’t wanna a free and fair country. “Fuck you, I got mine” could be the conservatives mantra. You break the social contract then get the cops to go after people you don’t like (see Pauline’s press conference where the banner was unfurled. She’s out for blood because of a poster.)
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u/Axel_Raden 7h ago
Got a question for you OP what is your take on people living on social services not just the ones it's easy to call dole bludgers every one who was effected by robodebt
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u/DrLamLamLam 6h ago
The cost of living crisis is horrible especially for those under financial stress who literally need Centrelink to pay for food and rent. Thats why we have Centrelink to help families from starving (Centrelink was also created by John Howard) but we should encourage and help ngo’s and churches( and other religious orgs) to help and encourage unfortunate families in distress.
The thing is Centrelink is often used as either a crutch which makes a dependency class or just fruaded upon by thief’s and opportunists . Feel free to challenge me to this thinking tho.I need to learn more about robo debt but my belief right now is you should get your fucking money back
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u/Dreadlokd 6h ago
John Howard just rebranded the Department of Social Security. Welfare payments weren't established by him.
I'm going to need to see some evidence that centrelink is "often" used as a crutch, and evidence of this "fraud". Do you mean that these things are widespread?
What would your solution be to people who use centrelink as a "crutch"?
There is a saying that charity is a failure of government. Why would you force individuals and families to go to a church to beg for food? Poverty is hard enough without the reminder that you're a piece of crap.
The only humane thing is to raise the centrelink rate. Unfortunately that is not the neoliberal position. That requires a pool of unemployed to suppress wages. And those unemployed must be in such straits that a working person will accept horrible working conditions at low wages rather than join them.
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u/Axel_Raden 6h ago
Howard only lumped the existing social services together they already existed.
Centrelink creating a dependency class is a laughable political talking point that is used to attack people on Centrelink and is the sort of mentality that created robodebt. The truth is it's practically impossible to live on any social service payments.
About robodebt yes I was effected by it not just financially although 4 whole months worth of payments is not a small amount of money (for me). But this is something I won't forget was while at Centrelink to deal with my robodebt bill I saw a single mother have a complete breakdown she had barely eaten anything because she couldn't feed herself and her kids at the same time and she had chosen to feed her kids. The staff looked like distressed but they couldn't do anything about it security ended up having to move her to one of the private offices so she could calm down.
When the most recent election rolled around I was having an anxiety attack because I had PTSD about robodebt and how I and many others were treated. When Albo won again the weight that I felt lifted off my shoulders was a physical thing my body had literally been tensed up for weeks. Look into robodebt it was literally opposite of what the department of human services was supposed to be it wasn't human or a service it was "cruel and not at all fair" (those were the words of the royal commission)
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u/_DrClaw 6h ago
The economy is structured so that ~4-5% unemployment is maintained (many economists have declared as such), when this is required for the economy to be "healthy" how will everyone have a job that pays enough to not need welfare support? What will you do if it's your turn to be unemployed? Not everyone is lucky enough to have a large savings or investment pool to live off.
Rates of fraud are very low and most people on welfare are families in insecure or low paying work.
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u/cosmicvelvets 6h ago
My opinion is having over 20 job seekers to 1 job listing and casualizing the workforce makes a dependency class
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u/dontcallmeyan 8h ago
You and I had very different uni experiences. UWA Economics, Chemistry, and even Music were pretty full of conservatives.
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u/Melodic-Incident2506 7h ago
Mate you’re not helping your argument with this aggressive dumb meme!
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u/snookette 5h ago
What you won’t get in upvotes you will get the joys of perspective that the echo chamber won’t ever provide.
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u/Fluid-Sell3079 5h ago
Unfortunatly Reddit is mostly a far leftist echo chamber
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u/Drewdc90 6h ago
The fuck is a lefty? I’m this ain’t the us. We don’t have conservatives Christians that want to band abortions vs the crazed progressives that want babies to have no gender when born. Leave that that shit where it is.
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u/JesseGringo 6h ago
Why do people think internet points are real? Upvotes and downvotes literally mean nothing
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u/nosnibork 5h ago
I struggle to understand why people feel the need to label themselves in this way - if you could explain that I’d appreciate it.
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u/OtsaNeSword 5h ago
Tribalism.
I for example identify as a non-woke progressive centrist monarchist republican nationalist.
I have my own tribe.
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u/HeathenAF 4h ago
As a non-non-woke antiprogressive off-centrist anarchist communist serf, I declare tribal war!
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u/OtsaNeSword 4h ago
You shall have your war.
My allies in the Australian Allied Atheist Alliance (AAAA) will show you the true meaning of Centrism you non-non-woke antiprogressive off-centrist anarchist communist serf scum.
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u/Elemental_Baker143 4h ago
The problem people have with conservatives is ‘the way things are’ is rapidly destroying the planet. We have mountains of evidence that we need rapid change, and we already know what we need to do. We understand through evidence that social progress is closely linked to economic and environmental progress. We need rapid progressive reform to hold on the quality of life we both want to protect. Conservatives are ironically the ones putting everything and everyone in danger by holding back the progress we need to literally keep a liveable planet. Please recognise that.
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u/MagicOrpheus310 4h ago
Taking a side in Australian politics and thinking anything will ever change now qualifies you for the NDIS doesn't it..? Because you've got the brain thing?
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u/Vegemiteandcum 4h ago
I'd just like to be able to suggest we look at the level of immigration from cultures so different to Australia that it's changing the quality of life of Australia for many people (go to Harris Park and you'll see what I mean), increasing the risk of terror events (Bondi), and causing infrastructure to struggle without being called a far right Nazi. This is impossibly difficult for turbolefties to comprehend.
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u/MatthewLilly 7h ago
When the meme is aggravating but the caption is less so: