Define "Australia Day"

Today is January 26th- Australia Day, which is supposed to be a day of doing what us Aussies do best- relaxing and being grateful for the great country we get to call home. Whether it's relishing in that sweet, sweet public holiday pay at work (Cheers Unions!) or pretending you actually know how to play backyard cricket, it's all about having fun and in general being Aussie.

When I was a kid, Australia Day usually involved some form of patriotic food (I'm talking serious lamington binge here people) or watching Dad justify a couple of VB's whilst sweltering round the tv watching sport of some kind. There was no mention of political correctness, torching vegans or "Invasion Day" it was just a day where we were grateful for the roof over our heads and the food to eat. To me, Australia Day is just the Australian equivalent of "Thanksgiving", minus the turkey's the size of small houses (Seriously Americans! How do you people eat those things!)

Last week consumers chucked a fit over Australia Day caps from Woolworths that had "accidentally" left Tasmania out of the Australian Flag, 3 days later some poor Coles employee, in Toowong,  was probably char-grilled over why they had put up flags that had the southern cross backwards. But most shockingly of all; Twitter went ballistic over the 2016 "Australia Day Lamb" ad that featured the torching of a vegan's home.

Seriously! Aside from the Bogan's who'd even notice a difference?

All of this is in addition to the fact that whenever I signed into Facebook today there was a whole new slew of posts about "Invasion Day" and "Honoring our Indigenous heritage". Nothing about salty beach cricket, praises to our amazing emergency services who worked to keep everyone safe today, or even a slightly racist joke!

How the bloody hell did we get to the point of such obsession with political correctness? Since when did we lose our ability to laugh at ourselves or shrug it off? Whatever happened to "No worries mate" or "She'll be right"?

Let's be real for a second here people..........

Our country was built on the backs of hard work, mateship and fun! Yeah we fucked up and technically stole the island off it's indigenous owners but we've grown from that. We apologised (Well Kevin did anyway) and have worked so hard to show you guys we're sorry! But why are we still beating ourselves up 200 years (and multiple generations) later and furthermore still dwelling on it? At what point do we forgive ourselves, grab a beer and get on with it?

We're the country that prides itself on commemorating it's greatest military failure every year (Anzac Day), Our best comedians make their annual incomes from insulting the current prime minister/s, Just about every animal can and will try to kill you and questionably racist insults pre-date our federation.

Our entire culture and international image focuses around traditions and attitudes that simply aren't true anymore! And when you boil it down the fact is this: I don't care if you're Indigenous, Bogan, Gay, Straight, Vegan, Coeliac, Catholic, Muslim, Overweight, Depressed or Tony Abbott, if you're able to laugh at yourself and hand me a pair of tongs if I need them- You're an Aussie!

Happy Australia Day!

C'mon we're even prone to "borrowing" national icons