Becoming the ‘Bushranger Poet’
I have previously written about the ‘Cultured Thug’ ideal, that is, the combining of intellect and physical strength to create a new man, or an Übermensch, if you will. A little while ago I was chatting with a few mates and the phrase ‘Bushranger Poet’ was brought into the conversation; an Australianised version of the Cultured Thug.
In this article I will explain why this ideal is so desirable and necessary to strive for in contemporary times.
When I was in high school, I found myself surrounded by either really smart nerds with little physical strength, or really strong gymbros with little intellect. It wasn’t until recently that I started thinking that we should combine the two. The obvious advantage of doing so would be that individual courage and confidence would increase, and bullying would most likely decrease, but I don’t see this being possible when Liberalism is the prevailing political creed. You’d be lucky to see many Bushranger Poets around, but there are some. What we want, though, is to increase their total percentage of the population, to have more prominence.
What do we mean by the Bushranger Poet, exactly? The Bushranger is the Australian version of the Thug in Cultured Thug. This comes from Australian history, and would denote the type of person which focuses on their physical prowess and the outside world, through working out, going on hikes, and appreciates and valuing the natural world. The Poet is the Australian version of the Cultured man; he who focuses on the inside world through reading, learning and expanding his mind. It is totally unsatisfactory to have a country where you can't combine the two; we need more people about that can both defend themselves physically, but also intellectually in a debate. This combination allows for both improved self defence and better national defence against foreign agitation. If Australia can achieve this, we can become a great powerhouse and be the pioneers of the next great thing. This is the Faustian spirit at play. Early Australian colonisers were, in a way, Faustian Bushranger Poets in that they saw a continent they could make their own, they conquered the Aboriginals, and had that 'great goal' in mind; they saw the 'beyond' and the 'next step' and built a country that now bounces between second and third on the Human Development Index. We need quality, not quantity, and the Bushranger Poet is the best way to achieve quality.
I believe that this ideal is entirely in line with Australian characteristics. "The ANZAC spirit came to stand for the qualities which Australians and New Zealanders have shown in war. These qualities make up the ANZAC spirit and include endurance, courage, ingenuity, good humour and mateship."
How do we bring about the conditions for this to happen? The first would be to turn away from a democratic means of operating. Democracy doesn’t plan in the long term, as the next leader of any given country could be of a completely different political persuasion, and could thus change everything completely and cancel out the efforts of whoever preceded them. With an authoritarian state based on merit, the implementation of a national fitness program or policy, given that obesity rates are still too high in Australia, could last for many years to come, and make effective change. I believe this policy idea can be an essential part in helping us become the Bushranger Poet, as it would lower obesity, increase physical strength, and give people a community to engage with and build trust and comradery; the elimination of antisocial behaviour. This idea of long term planning helps societies progress towards their goals, and discover what is next for them to achieve quicker than if they only focussed on the short term.
This flaw in democracy is highlighted even more when we observe that, since 2010, Australia has had five Prime Ministers. It would be ideal to, over a space of nine years, only have had one or two at most. Likewise when we look to the United States, during the 2016 election, I heard Americans say “Clinton and Trump? Is this the best we have?” If it was based on merit, and not how well someone can lie or propagandise their way to the Presidency or Prime Ministership, this wouldn’t be an issue. Democracy is an inefficient way to run a country because it allows for disunity. A nation needs to be united in the face of hostile actors (terrorists and subversives) if it wants to survive; democracy only divides a country in two parts over petty party policies. Let's replace it with a worldview that takes what works from both sides and move forward as a united whole.
What we also need, in my opinion, is to take away the causes of obesity and laziness, focus on physical fitness and strength, and take steps to ensure education is free for the Australian youth; up until either year 10 where they can leave school and pursue a trade, or until they finish year 12. University will still be free, but it will be based off true merit, not financial merit, so we don’t find ourselves with students with no drive to achieve or those who really shouldn’t be there, as we do at present. This would be achieved through nationalising education, so the costs would be covered through taxes - which would also be properly managed so that Australian tax money produced by hard working Australians would benefit only Australians.
Let's get the public thinking more collectively; we should think about each other ‘we have the same heritage and history as Australians, and I want to help you.’ We should follow the motto “All for one, one for all” where the individuals work for the benefit of the collective, and the collective works for the benefit of the individual. Individualists have this toxic mindset of thinking that if they work hard to produce that money which goes into taxes, why should they pay for someone else's education? Because with that mindset where they only look out for themselves, society will continue to decay, more people will be homeless without individual sacrifice and charity, and really smart people who may come from poor families won't be able to get the knowledge they require to give back in a large way to society and invent something groundbreaking. Individuality is completely unnatural.
When you think more collectively and have the mindset you want to help your fellow countrymen, you feel more at peace. You stop being an angry misanthrope. It feels good to help people achieve things and build each other up. This can be done by helping people learn how to defend themselves, which helps both themselves and the society you are in. If you can build people up, you can rebuild your society back to being a high-quality, high-trust organic society. This is a society where the different parts of the whole work together in perfect unison without quarrel and conflict, united towards a goal; like how a body functions.
Not only is this better direction and development beneficial for individual nations but it is also a benefit for all of humanity. It is eugenic and not dysgenic, where the quality level increases, and we can develop our higher selves, instead of preying on our baser instincts and us becoming more animalistic.
Become the Bushranger Poet, and help your friends become the Bushranger Poet, so we can be the ones to see what is beyond and what our next goal is (which is probably space travel).