Oct 22 2009
Upright Thinking from Down Under
We Americans tend to feel an affinity for Aussies. Maybe it relates to the whole Wild West thing. Sure, sometimes we wonder what type of glue keeps their boots secured to the underside of our globe. But you’ve got to love those tans!
Was that a stereotype?
When I lived in the U.S. Southwest, one of the things I loved about it was the general lack of pretense in people. Didn’t matter if you were rich or poor, a rancher, farmhand, store owner or none-of-the-above. People are just people, and those who believe they are getting somewhere fast are fooling themselves. So why not kick up your feet, have a beer, and relax a bit?
It seems to me that the above attitude could describe what we Americans know and feel about Aussies. With such an attitude — one stripped relatively bare of pretension — it seems to me that a healthy skepticism would be as natural as tumbleweeds rolling in the wind.
I wonder if the Young Australian Skeptics would agree. They have recently hosted and posted the The 122nd Skeptics’ Circle. Their committee meeting theme was so well done, I’m inclined to buy them a beer. But I can’t find anything in Robert’s Rules of Order covering the protocol for that.
Beer me up sir!