Since the recent election there’s a lot of commentary saying the Liberal party needs to reconsider its policies and re-align with its core values which, when enumerated sound very centrist.
I just watched ABC’s q&a, there was a few interesting points. There was a strong consensus that Trump style culture wars are toxic in Australian politics, and that it’s unlikely future candidates would take that route.
I don’t want to gloat infront of the seppos, but I think what’s happening during this aftermath is very salient for all of those “both sides are bad” Americans.
In October last year there seemed to be a lot of users saying that they didn’t want to reward the dems with their vote, and that the only way to communicate with the party was to withhold their vote.
I think what’s happening right now in Australia demonstrates the importance of voting.
Labor might not be left enough for you personally, but each time the libs are defeated they need to move to the left to be viable, and Labor will have to move further left to differentiate themselves. That is to say, the spectrum of acceptable opinions is moving to the left in an observable manner, right now.
Oh! Also forgot to say: we already came up with a model to remove, very successfully, advertising from TV:
it was called Netflix.
Unfortunately it got enshittified, and now everything is a giant shit show in that department.
But you make advertising illegal, and companies are still going to have subscribers.
I’m also pretty happy with just ABC iView these days, I rarely even bother with SBS and haven’t had Netflix for years.
There’s also Beamafilm and other public library initiatives.
As a paid service, Netflix is definitely not equivalent to free-to-air TV. In sport we even have specific anti-siphoning laws to prevent culturally important events being siphoned off so only people who pay for them can watch. It’s a bad road to go down. A similar concept can go for game shows, dramas, reality TV, news, and whatever else is on free-to-air TV. The ABC is great, and to be honest outside of sport it’s basically the only channel I ever watch. But the ABC can’t provide nearly as much stuff as all channels combined do.
I cannot remember the last time I watched free to air that wasn’t ABC. It’s mostly reality tv crap and reruns. And propaganda, given who owns these bloody things. Not much would be lost if advertising supported TV was not allowed.
That’s a value judgment that you are making. Lots of people watch and enjoy it, and even though I agree with your value judgment, I think it’s pretty abhorrent to try to force that view on others. And it’s highly elitist to suggest only those who can pay should have a variety of options for what to watch.
If it’s elitist, it’s from a perspective that is aware of the incredible damage done by advertising, and the dumbing down and control of what people think is their own opinions that is only exacerbated when people are exposed to it.
See The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard and No Logo by Naomi Klein, for starters.
And one of my favourite anti-facebook rants ever:
https://youtu.be/d6e1riShmak
(admittedly that’s about the whole package not solely the advertising part tho)