Of course, you gotta put things in perspective. The Aussie version of oppression is not the Egyptian, or Tunisian, version - for example. We are not being tortured by the police (at least, not on a large scale...); we are not living on $2,000 a year, and we can choose who we vote for (although - what a choice!) It is unlikely hundreds of thousands will pour into the streets of Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, any time soon, bent on either major legal reform or death.
True enough, we are not as badly off as the many people around the world who suffer from malevolent dictatorship. Does this mean we should do nothing to make our own lives better?
I can tell you for a fact that there are thousand and thousands of Australians who do feel oppressed. Some have been prevented, for example, from driving their car on the road for trivial reasons. There's no public transport where they live. They can't get to their job. They're fired. They can't go look for another job, and couldn't get to it if they found one. Suddenly, they're unable to make a living. They can't pay their mortgage. They lose their house. This is a pretty serious punishment for accumulating too many points for minor traffic infringements - wouldn't you say? It is oppressive. It's not as oppressive as being waterboarded by the CIA, I'll grant you that. But is is oppressive. And it is happening in Australia. Right now.
I don't live in Egypt or Tunisia. I live in Australia - the Nanny State. The Care Bear State. There are plenty of problems right here to keep me occupied. And, just like the Egyptians and Tunisians have figured out, there is plenty we can do about it.
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