If ever asked, I'll deny myself as a feminist or a liberal or any of that bulls***. There's only one label that I feel fits me best; "Egalitarian". I've spent months trying to understand the word and its connotations, but I've come to the realisation that I knew what it meant all along, because it's exactly how I live my life. Allow me to explain;

I grew up in a sort-of-Religious family in Australia. As in, we'd sometimes go to Church, I went to Church camps (mostly just for the camp bit), I went to Catholic schools and all that jazz. I'm not here to discuss my beliefs on the Church or their beliefs, but rather to discuss the one thing that stuck with me through the ages; "Love thy neighbour as you love thy self." Think about how f****ing powerful that message is. Hell, it's the entire basis for Australian life. My life in Australia has been beautiful because there were no limits and no wrong-doing. I could call anybody anything, and they'd laugh with me, shoot a joke insult back, and we'd laugh even harder. I never cared if somebody was female, black or handicapped, and it never mattered. What did matter was the standards you held, and the things you were wiling to sacrifice in order to achieve. Hell, for most people I didn't even (and still don't) bother remembering their names, since I remembered them through their key characteristics, and they would always do the same. That's the life I want my children to have. That's the life I want everybody I know to have.

I grew up in a family of funeral directors. We're surrounded by death constantly, and the thing that keeps us sane is the humour. Death doesn't mean anything to me because life is one big jolly when you think about it. And as I grew up, humour became more than a coping mechanism; it was a way that my friends and I expressed our views. It didn't matter how stupid, stereotypical or insulting it sounded; every joke was there to let us know that it was okay to be open about the horrible realities that life presents us. Jew jokes, blond jokes, retard jokes, nerd jokes. That old phrase "We call our mates 'cunts' and cunts our 'mates'" rang true in my circles. Depression wasn't fixed by being gentle; it was fixed by getting people to live a life better than what they had been. I still remember all the conversations I had that helped rehabilitate people, and without humour, I doubt those people would be in the incredible state of living they're in now.

In about 10 rewrites of this blog entry, I wanted to cover how my views relate to common social media trending issues, but I've decided not to. The thing is that I do my best not be offended by anything except the most inane stuff that I can write off as comedy (such as getting angry at the s***ty chairs in my local RSL). I refuse to be sensitive or fragile, because in the end that (in my view) makes me a weaker individual towards my end goals of creating high quality works or to become a mentor-like teacher. If I allow myself to get offended every time somebody pronounces somebody's name wrong, makes a joke or overall acts in an "uncivil" way, I don't know how I'd cope with the life I lead.

I certainly don't have any German in me, but I believe I have a lot of German qualities in the harshness of my critiques and my adherence to standards (most of the time, when I'm not being a lazy dickhead). That's where we need to be. If we don't keep pushing each other, how will any of us learn to do the great things ahead of us? Thankfully, most of my German critique is embedded in the form of humour, which sometimes makes it easier to swallow.

Anyway, this blog has been all over the place and it's mostly because I got really tired half way through, went to get a coffee, came back confused and wanted to wrap this up. The point I guess I'm trying to make is that what may come off as me being an arsehole really is me being an arsehole...because that's how I express deeper, honest opinions. I'm not going to hold back because somebody will get their feelings hurt in the process; the truth and the freedom to speak is the most important thing we hold as humans, as that is what enabled us to get to where we are today. I will embrace my right to speak, and my right to treat everybody exactly the same; all as the glorious cunts who keep this world spinning.