Rate-a-Record: The Geopolitical Edition

What are those tin soldiers and cowboys in the toy box telling me?

“Gambling in Havana” Photo by Michał Parzuchowski on Unsplash

Growing up, the only toys I had that were distinctly Australian were animals or sports related. Kangaroos, koalas and footballs. When they took human form, it was either American or British.

From Britain, the toy soldiers, dressed up in silly costumes.

From America, the cowboys, the innocent bystanders, stuck between a rock and a hard place, and down on their luck.

All three toy categories offering an immediate fantasy with an underlying reality.

For Australia, the fantasy that this wide land, on the arrival of white people, was just a big empty place with some strange animals hopping around.

I’ll restrain myself from speaking on behalf of my American and British brethren.

I’ll let Rate-A-Record do it for me.

Peter Gabriel — Games Without Frontiers