|
|
Article: Cultural cringe.(cultural inferiority complex and republicanism in Australia)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- December 31, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
WE ALL have friends who suffer from an inferiority complex. They can never stop comparing themselves with others, and they always find themselves wanting. This affliction is not limited to individuals. Nations can suffer from it too. To judge from some recent noise in the media, 18 million Australians spend a good deal of time worrying about their collective worthiness.
The local name for the malady is "cultural cringe" or, sometimes, "the koala cringe." Cringe is the settled conviction that everything foreign is good, and everything local is bad. Clive James, who lives in England, once referred to Australia as a mysterious triangle in the southern oceans where ...