CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
After decades of polarising culture wars, social media fuelled social division, and the rise of political populism – many had thought Australians would never be united again.
But Saturday evening proved that there are some things that all Australians can still agree on, and staunchly defend.
Even if they continue to argue black and white on every other opinion, issue or idea to ever enter public discourse.
This current lack of societal cohesion is directly linked the online disruption of traditional media business models – which suddenly meant that news companies could no longer depend on everyday Australians paying $2 to read a daily print edition their newspapers out of a natural desire to stay informed on current affairs.
Instead, our legacy mastheads have had to adapt to a noisy digital landscape that sees them competing with the flood of online information, for the increasingly short attention spans of Australia’s increasingly media illiterate audiences.
As a result of this, our once esteemed TV and print media companies have become solely reliant on the mindless clicks that can only be generated through highly emotive short-form video content and clickbait headlines – in their mission to be algorithmically rewarded by the foreign-owned tech platforms that rely on outrage to maintain engagement.
This completely unregulated online universe of doom-scrolling and reposting has seen the fracturing of a mainstream Australian culture – as everyday citizens fall down online rabbit holes of conspiracy and political extremism.
Even the glorious 2023 Matildas FIFA World Cup tilt was dampened by cranky online commentators who took issue with certain aspects of that chapter in Australian history.
Gone are the days where the entire nation could come together to cheer Cathy Freeman home to gold in the 2000 Olympics, with modern Australia more or less incapable of coming together over anything.
That was until Saturday afternoon.
For one short moment, Australians of all political persuasions and backgrounds, agreed on one thing.
INXS won the number 1 Australian song of all time. That’s according to the Triple J Hottest 100 list. While debates rage about the rest of the finalists – nobody can disagree with the ultimate winner. The seductive drums and saxophones have proven that, despite all of the muckracking and divisive political rhetoric, they can never tear us apart.
