“Contexts …"
―Chapter 1.
We Australians play games.
"Well, so what? Who doesn't?"
Agreed. But this book is about Australia, not England, Japan or the moon. And further, it's book policy for reasons I'll probably never explain that if it happens to mention some feature or other of our histories and cultures, it's not going to feel morally compelled to acknowledge some other land that might have that thing too. If the only reason we have a great coffee culture here in Melbourne is because Italy has one too and the Italians brought that here, then good for them! They should write a book about that.
And in the same vein, if I want to note for the record some of the games we Australians play, I don't really care if people play those same games everywhere on the planet and always have. We play them here, this book is about here, so I'll refer to them as "the games we Australians play" even though yes, most of these games we play are played by all humans and a lot of them are played by a lot of other species, too!
Agreed. But this book is about Australia, not England, Japan or the moon. And further, it's book policy for reasons I'll probably never explain that if it happens to mention some feature or other of our histories and cultures, it's not going to feel morally compelled to acknowledge some other land that might have that thing too. If the only reason we have a great coffee culture here in Melbourne is because Italy has one too and the Italians brought that here, then good for them! They should write a book about that.
And in the same vein, if I want to note for the record some of the games we Australians play, I don't really care if people play those same games everywhere on the planet and always have. We play them here, this book is about here, so I'll refer to them as "the games we Australians play" even though yes, most of these games we play are played by all humans and a lot of them are played by a lot of other species, too!
The games we Australians play.
Well, we have the footy in winter and the cricket in summer, of course.
But we play other games too. Mind games, for example. And with those we take our inspiration from sport and codify "laws of the game" for whatever particular mind game we are playing on a given Saturday morning before heading off to the footy.
And I have to say that I rather get a different kick out of our mind games than I get out of our sporting games. Because more often than not, when I'm sitting in the stands watching a mind game, one team is playing cricket and the other team is playing football. And it gets even more different when each teams insists that its opponent must follow the other set of laws. Because while I grant I'm yet to see anyone kick a goal with a cricket ball from fifty metres out, I'm happy to bet that when I do, I'm going to see some pain.
More about all this some other day. I reckon it's got legs. And as I now scan this chapter I've just written, I'm thinking that as this book unravels, I'm looking forward also to exploring our rich tradition of "the generalisation". "Australians love going to the beach", "this demographic over here is good and that one over there is bad", "that culture over there is rich and beautiful and this one over here is footy in winter and the cricket in summer" and "there's a country club I know that's full of old and pasty pink men with freckles". Yes, the histories and cultures of Australia and the games we play. We're in for a fun ride, so strap yourself in!
More about all this some other day. I reckon it's got legs. And as I now scan this chapter I've just written, I'm thinking that as this book unravels, I'm looking forward also to exploring our rich tradition of "the generalisation". "Australians love going to the beach", "this demographic over here is good and that one over there is bad", "that culture over there is rich and beautiful and this one over here is footy in winter and the cricket in summer" and "there's a country club I know that's full of old and pasty pink men with freckles". Yes, the histories and cultures of Australia and the games we play. We're in for a fun ride, so strap yourself in!
