Leaning In To Our Right To Vote, Even When It Feels Hopeless

Most Australians will never actually meet one another, yet we possess a shared sense of being ‘Australian’. What being ‘Australian’ actually means may look rather different from say, Waleed Aly to Pauline Hanson. Nonetheless, the concept of being a nation ensures we’re invested – not only in our individual futures – but also that of people around us. Including those whom we have no personal connection with.

Back in the 1980s, Bennedict Anderson described this kind of nationalism as an ‘imagined community’. He argued that the invention of print media was central to maintaining fellowship amongst members of a society. By reading the news, citizens formed a shared knowledge base and better understood what was happening to the broader populous. Access to the same news, opinion and ideas built a sense of belonging within a nation. Alongside that grew an investment in the social welfare of others.