In yet another American poll guaranteed to make folks unhappy down under, Australia failed to make the list of Americans’ favorite foreign countries. The top five were Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Japan and Israel. But a closer look at the Gallup poll holds — slightly — better news for Oz. They didn’t make the top five because they weren’t on the list of countries the pollsters asked about. The same thing happened last year; Australia wasn’t one of the choices on a Gallup poll asking what countries were America’s closest allies. That’s true although Australia is one of only a handful of countries that has helped the United States in all its major wars from World War Two to the present conflict in Afghanistan.
We could personalize this and ask why Gallup hates Australia, but something else is at work. Possibly because the two English speaking democracies at the other end of the world are so far away, and possible because they are seen as so friendly and so safe, the American media largely ignores everything that happens in the Antipodes. For evidence of this, just go to the Yahoo.com news site, where, dead last on the world news page, there’s a link to news from “Australia/Antarctica.” But look on the bright side, Australians: it could be “Antarctica/Australia.” When I checked the site’s front page this morning, there were 18 recent stories from this part of the world. Five of them were about whales — either being stranded or being hunted. Two were about a shark attack and the gallant granny who bashed the shark on the nose until it let her go. One was about flooding in Sydney. Another was a hard journalistic look at the use of cat food in the war against cane toads. After the nine nature stories came terror; there were four stories related to terrorism, one about an interview given by the always fascinating Colonel Qaddafi of Libya to an Australian television channel. Trade with China came next, with two stories. Mary Makillop’s sainthood, Pauline Hanson’s moving plans, and Quantas’ announcement that first class seats would be cut on some flights rounded out the news from down under.
Apparently, apart from the whales, cane toads and sharks, not much goes on down there. In New Zealand it all seems to be about animal euthanasia. There’s a page one story on some euthanized whales, and on page two there’s a heartwarming story about a New Zealand teenager who faced prosecution after taking his five month old puppy (Buck) from a veterinarian. Since the family couldn’t afford Buck’s expensive surgery needs after the puppy was hit by a car, the vet was going to have to euthanize him. 19 year old Bronson Stewart wasn’t having that and drove off with the pup, putting himself at risk under New Zealand’s anti-cruelty laws. The story, I am happy to report, turned out well. Once the generous New Zealand public became informed about Buck’s plight, the money was found to give him the operation. This story is datelined February 10; evidently since then New Zealand has been pretty quiet, except for the shocking whale tragedy.
In fact, Americans would have a great deal to gain by staying in touch with politics and culture in the nethermost dominions of the British Queen. The long and complex story of relations between the Maori and the rest of the New Zealand population has something to teach us about the opportunities and the complexities of multiculturalism. Australia’s struggle to choose between its strong environmental leanings and the economic interests of much of the country would help us gain perspective on some of our own issues. Australians spend a lot of time thinking about Indonesia and Asia more generally; we would be smarter about an important part of the world if we spent a little more time listening to what they have to say. I’ve recommended the Lowy Institute’s website for Americans interested in getting an Australian perspective on world affairs. The Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian are great newspapers you can follow on-line. Peter Hartcher at the Sydney Morning Herald is one of the great journalists working today anywhere. Peter was one of the first people to raise serious questions about Fed policy under Alan Greenspan; if I’d listened to him then I’d be a rich man today.
(And thanks as always to Sam Roggeveen at the Lowy Institute’s remarkable Interpreter for keeping me up to date on all matters Australian.)
In the meantime, I’m keeping my eye on the cane toad story. Apparently, someone has discovered that putting cat food by ponds where cane toads are hatching lures Australian ‘meat ants’ to the site. The swarms of meat ants not only scarf up the cat food; they go for the young cane toads. This is the most disturbing thing I’ve discovered about Australian wildlife since I found out that kangaroos lure dogs into ponds and drown them. A country where the meat ants devour the poison toads is the kind of place you have to respect; I think we should make it very clear to the Australians that we like them as people and respect them as allies, and please please don’t send us any meat ants.
>> …the most disturbing thing
>> I’ve discovered about Australian
>> wildlife since…
Ah! Nobody has told you about drop bears then.
“Americans would have a great deal to gain by staying in touch with politics and culture in the nethermost dominions of the British Queen.”
FYI Australia and NZ (and the rest of the Commonwealth) stopped being Dominions in 1931. The Queen of the UK also happens to be the Queen of Canada, the Queen of Australia, the Queen of New Zealand, the Queen of Jamaica and a dozen other sovereign nations.
“Australia is one of only a handful of countries that has helped the United States in all its major wars from World War Two to the present conflict in Afghanistan.”
So helpful and prescient that Australia entered WWII a full two years before the USA. Never mind that Australia was under direct threat from the Japanese and fought to defend the mainland, this was all just to help the USA.
I applaud the subtle irony of this article, for it captures the the stereotypical ignorant, insular American world view beautifully.
If you want to impress us Aussies you may want to fix the Sidney Morning Herald typo!
Thanks for pointing this out. Here at Mead GHQ we use the best management methods in dealing with problems like this. We’ve reduced pay for the interns, fired some middle management workers with mortgages and children in college, and given senior management a large bonus for acting so swiftly. Meanwhile we’ve applied to the government for a large financial bailout to help cover the cost of the bonus.
Geoffrey,
The Dominions thing is a turn of phrase, stop being a snotty bastard.
And even if we were in WW2 first, and notably in action a couple years before anyone from North America, Canada included, we still ended up helping the US do the heavy lifting by providing a base and holding the line in PNG.
If this article is showing an ignorant, insular American worldview, you’re giving us it’s Australian flipside.
Thanks for your kind words about my country New Zealand. We have spend a 165 years building this country and now, in my opinion, need to become a nation. This means greater participation in foreign affairs.
As of this date, we are doing our bit in Iraq and Afghanistan and East Timor. Also currently trying to solve the row with Fiji.
Yes we, via the media mind you, do seem petty with our “anti-cruelty” of animals with good reasons that are to do with deep social problems related to violence and frustration.
Thanks for your kind words about my country New Zealand. We have spend a 165 years building this country and now, in my opinion, need to become a nation. This means greater participation in foreign affairs.
As of this date, we are doing our bit in Iraq and Afghanistan and East Timor. Also currently trying to solve the row with Fiji.
Walter, please heed Geoffrey’s wise counsel: in the future, do not refer to how Australia has helped the US, but focus solely on how the US has helped Australia. If possible, use the phrase “If not for us, you’d be speaking Japanese.” It seems that is the way to appear educated and cosmopolitan.
Geoffrey,
The 1931 Westminister Act established the independence of the Australian parliament, not the establishment of an Australian monarch. The path to the Queen of Australia took a few more pieces of legislation and was not created until 1953.
Nathan,
Canada entered the Second Word War (at her own volition) in September 1939, along with the rest of the members of what was still called the British Empire in colloquial terms.
Geoffrey may be a bit hard on us “Yanks”, but we should state the facts correctly. I’ll forgive WRM for the WW2 statement – he was generalizing and did his best to convey his overall message (change “helped” to “particpated with” and it’s even better).
As for the “stereotypical ignorant, insular American world view” – yes it exists in parts, but accusing WRM of it is almost laughable.
Tell me Geoffrey – how up to date are you on Mexican politics or those of Latin America? Eastern Europe and/or the Baltic? Dare I say the Near East?
Most American commentators on foreign affairs must have knowledge of all these areas to speak intelligently about their country’s foreign policy. I bristle at some mildly uninformed European, Australian, etc. commentary on the US – but hardly take them to task for minor quibbles such as calling the US a “democracy” when technically it is a republic. Grow up.
Justin,
That’s why I said ‘in action’, not ‘at war’. Although in retrospect, honesty points out that the Canadians were in up to their necks with the U-Boats from day dot.
Well said on everything else though.
Thanks for posting this; just found your blog searching around. Keep up the good work!
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