The Australian Truman Show

I came back from down under, and that's what I saw...

Apr 04, 2025 EST - https://www.efrat.blog/

I came back recently from 3 weeks in Australia (Sydney and Melbourne), having attended Bitcoin Alive conference, met with some great Aussies and hanged out with my son.

Here are some reflections I originally shared on X, when an Aussie follower asked me what I liked the most about my visit:

“Well you may not like my answer: I’m an Aussie citizen and used to live in Oz 20+ years ago. People feel PTSD’d to me and (generalizing of course) with a relatively narrow worldview… don’t want to rock the boat or open to changes, definitely not talk about COVID madness. So I’m sad to see how reserved people are and not outspoken. I felt lots of repressed traumas. I also met a lot of great open, switched on and talkative people in the Bitcoin community. Also, Australia is in a recession for the past 2-3 years and no one is talking about - most trying to pretend it’s not happening while middle class is suffering. Media is empty and deceitful. Politicians are corrupt on the most part. Not very different from other “western democracies”. The only sad thing is Australia has great potential and natural resources. But it’s in a dire economical situation.
Other than that of course it’s pretty and aesthetic and well organized, like it always has been. And nature is gorgeous. Sorry my answer is not more positive or pleasing..!”

Let me add to that:

I believe most Australians are in a PTSD… without knowing that. Easy for me to recognize, as I come from a highly PTSD’ed society and culture in Israel. A big part of the (normie) population is in complete denial of the horrors that took place during Covid, which were just the opening scene for a reality of constant clamp-down on human rights

A good sign for that was a meetup I attended in Melbourne, which was a Bitcoin meetup. I naturally expected to discuss all things Bitcoin-related in that meetup with people, but I was very surprised that almost everyone I chatted with (approx. 10 people) spoke to me about their or their families/children’s experiences during Covid. One (50+ yo) lady told me how she was arrested for riding her bike on the street, and daring to talk back to the group of 20 police officers who stopped her. Her arrest story was chilling (inc. spitting in her face and violence), so soon after the first lockdown she packed her bags and family and moved to Norfolk island for a couple of years, till madness dies down a bit.

Obviously this does not represent all Australians, but I do believe a large part of the population is in mental distress, probably without knowing that.

I conducted a small search to see what “experts” may say about the phenomena I felt energetically and anecdotally, and indeed, a study from 2+ years ago, led by the University of Sydney says: “A new review on the global mental health impact of the pandemic confirms feared increases in depression and anxiety, with leading experts saying little has been done to address what is set to become a mounting mental health crisis”, as well as:

“while many want to believe we’re “back to normal” in Australia, the statistics show heightened levels of mental ill health that are hard to ignore.” — read more

The review found:

• Evidence of significant increases in depression and anxiety compared to pre-pandemic levels.
• Rates of probable anxiety and depression were 24.4% and 22.9% in general populations, but up to 41.1% and 32.5% in vulnerable populations during the pandemic period.
• Rates of stress, psychological distress and PTSD/PTSS symptoms were 39.1%, 44.2%, and 18.8%, respectively during the pandemic period.
• Evidence that adolescents, pregnant and postpartum people, and those hospitalised with COVID-19, experienced heightened adverse mental health effects.

Australian youth mental health state also doesn’t seem to be promising: “A world-first study has found young people are in crisis, their mental health is worse than ever, and it will continue to deteriorate without urgent change.” (Aug. 2024)

At the same time, as I mentioned above, Australia’s large metropolitan areas are so pretty, everything is so well organized, so clean, so well-routed and it’s hard to get lost… the grass is quiet green, the colors vibrant, the people smile here and there, and the store workers still ask you “how’s it going?” with a smile, as you enter the store. All very polite and pretty on the outside. On the inside? that’s another story.
Almost like the Truman Show.