Patriotism is back
Young Australians reject the guilt narrative in a resurgence of national pride
There is something delightfully subversive in the recent polling showing young Australians have become staunchly attached to Australia Day and take pride in their nation’s history. The full weight of anti-colonial pedagogy has failed to crush their patriotic instincts.
The poll, commissioned by the Institute of Public Affairs, found that support for Australia Day was growing faster among 18-24-year-olds than any other cohort. Nine out of 10 said they were proud to be Australian, and 83 per cent were proud of the nation’s history.
Whatever our fears for the cotton wool generation, their resilience has triumphed over the national curriculum.
Recasting Australia’s history from a story of achievement to one of shame was always going to be a struggle when kids could stare out the classroom window on one of the safest, fairest and most successful nations on earth.
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the first generation to grow up entirely in the virtual world has a distinct yearning for things that can be touched, owned, and inhabited. Gen Z is leading the revival in vinyl records, film cameras and printed books. Their sense of belonging to a geographical place among a particular people is driven by the same impulse that takes pleasure from turning the pages of a book.
The resurgence of patriotism is timely in the wake of the Bondi tragedy and the chronic failure of multiculturalism, a model designed for a calmer world.
