190: Are Australians Really That Kind? A Deep Dive into Kindness, Culture, and Dash Cams

Roula (00:00)
Welcome Microphone!

Rosie (00:02)
Yes. Finally.

Roula (00:04)
Mmm. ⁓

You're looking good today.

Rosie (00:10)
I was gonna say the same about you. Woohoo!

Roula (00:15)
We're kind of in a business mode.

Rosie (00:18)
Yeah, you are. Really? This is my school uniform t-shirt.

Roula (00:20)
You too! Yeah!

School uniform! You know what? I really like school uniforms. They reduce so much stress for children. What to wear to go to school?

Rosie (00:32)
Totally, totally.

Does the Netherlands have school uniform? Yeah. ⁓

Roula (00:36)
No, but I had it when I went to school in Lebanon to the Catholic school and we

had to wear skirts and I remember we used to fold them so they get the shortest possible and then the nuns would run after us and give us some kind of punishment or whatever.

Rosie (00:58)
I can see that, yes. You would have been really naughty.

Roula (01:00)
you

I remember there were so many boyfriends. Okay, for the listeners, this is late 80s. Begin 90s, late 80s. So there used to be so many boyfriends waiting outside on their scoot mobiles, scooters for the girls that one day the head of the school

Rosie (01:15)
Mm-hmm.

Roula (01:32)
went out with a microphone or with a speakerphone saying that no one is allowed to wait for the girls outside of the school anymore.

Rosie (01:39)
my

Roula (01:43)
No, none of them were mine for me, but for the other cool chicks.

Rosie (01:46)
⁓ okay.

You weren't a cool chick at school? I feel like you would have been a cool chick at school.

Roula (01:53)
No, ⁓

no, I wasn't at all. I was an absolute tomboy.

Rosie (01:59)
Yeah, we probably would have been friends at school then.

Roula (02:04)
Probably. I kinda have few friends that are quite tall. There is something with me and tall... friends.

Rosie (02:05)
Mmm.

You've retracted

to tall people.

Roula (02:16)
Tall friends. Yeah, not all kind of tall people.

Rosie (02:17)
Tall friends? Okay, friends, not partners.

Roula (02:24)
When my ex was ⁓ still 186 and he was the shortest in his family, ⁓ at home he used to to, when we were having a good time still loving each other and enjoying our marriage, he used to go on his knees and walk next to me in the house, so we're like on the same height. Now I realize, I don't know, that was cool. Yeah, it was cool.

Rosie (02:29)
Mm.

Crazy.

my god... my god!

No.

you talking about today anyway?

Roula (03:04)
there is a YouTube channel. Which is viral, it has every YouTube movie has like four million viewers, et cetera, and it's about Aussies is helping others like spontaneous. So, for example, an old lady crossing the street in the traffic, so someone jumped out of the car, help her to cross the street or, I don't know, someone in a grocery shop cannot carry heavy stuff.

and other Aussies come and help them. And the channel has an Aussie name. can't remember what it is. Australian Channel. I got so impressed because, you know, on YouTube you have mostly things that are police chasing, crimes, shooting. These things go viral. And that was the thing that went viral, I think, with good deed.

Rosie (03:39)
So it's an Australian channel. Okay.

Okay,

Roula (04:02)
doing something good and it's Australian. You couldn't expect this from another nation. You know who I'm talking about.

So tell me, have you heard of this YouTube channel?

Rosie (04:17)
And seriously, I don't think it's an accurate representation. Australian people aren't horrible. Some are, just like every nation. But would I say that in general, we are more helpful and kind and generous than other countries? I don't think so. Like there's people here who will ignore you if you need help. I've never seen someone jump out of their car and help an old lady across the road.

I've never seen someone help someone else carry something heavy in the shops. But maybe because I'm living in this country, maybe I just don't notice these acts of kindness because it's normal. Maybe, but it sounds like a lot of bullshit to me.

Roula (05:08)
⁓ the remarkable thing is so many people catching all these moments of goodness, they all have dash cams.

Rosie (05:14)
Mmm.

Yeah. I bought a dash cam, did you know, the other week? I need to install it. I'm very excited. Yeah.

Roula (05:21)
⁓

Why do you have... Okay, there is a reason why I'm going to ask about the dashcam. Now, the positive thing is that someone has a dashcam and they're all recording this goodness that's happening around in the streets. Why do you have a dashcam?

Rosie (05:39)
Not to record record goodness, although I hope it does capture goodness. Bit of a random story, but I was driving, I don't know, four to six weeks ago and it was nighttime, really dark, middle of nowhere, no streetlights on a highway. And it was a two-way highway, just dual lane, nothing else. So not a huge motorway or anything. And a car was zooming in the other direction, like towards me. And I'm like, is that

motorbike because there was only one light and then it got closer. I'm like, no, that's a car. And once the side where the headlight wasn't working was all crushed in and it started just veering across the road going full speed and almost crashed into me. got the fright of my life. There was smoke coming out of their car and they were zooming off. And in my mind, I'm like, my God, they're murderers. They've kidnapped someone. Like something really bad's happening. I was out of mobile reception. I couldn't even call the police.

And I was like, that's it, I'm getting a dash cam. Like, what if there's a murder investigation and I'm the only witness and they needed footage? So that's why I got a dash cam.

Roula (06:47)
your own protection. So what I noticed from your story, a couple of things. First, you're hoping that the dashcam will catch some acts of kindness, which you did not mention you might do some kind of kindness. I'm so weird. Okay. Second, to catch a murder. And I feel that's such a positive thing. You don't feel scared you get more murdered.

Rosie (07:12)
You

Roula (07:16)
my dark thoughts now, but to catch a murder. And to your point, I was yesterday who is always present at the court and courts to follow cases. And there's this guy, that's guy who got a lifelong sentence because of a dash cam. It was so like it filmed everything he did.

Rosie (07:16)
true.

Okay.

Wow.

So cool. So cool. See, I could help crack a case. You never know. Have I installed this dash cam yet? No. But did I order it? Yes. And do I feel better that I have it? Yes. Will I install it? Yes, in my own time. Yeah, go get one. I think you should. By the way, as soon as I got in mobile reception, I called the police and I told them. So I did my bit. But I...

Roula (07:44)
Yeah.

I might want to dashcam.

Yeah, maybe.

⁓ what did they say

the police? was their reaction?

Rosie (08:07)
just asked questions like how many people in the car? I'm like, I have no idea. It was pitch black. You know, did you get the number plate? No. What model car was it? I don't know. I think it might've been gray, but it's dark. So exactly. At least I told them the location. gosh. Yeah. But back to the initial topic.

Roula (08:18)
Nidhi they tell you this is a total waste of our time, next time get some information!

Okay, one relevant information.

Rosie (08:33)
What was the topic? Something about Australians. Was it being kind? Is that what you were saying?

Roula (08:33)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, is it that they really

show this act of goodness, act of service in public as this channel is showing?

Rosie (08:44)
That's interesting. I call bullshit, but you know, perhaps Australians in general, maybe, are slightly friendlier. I don't know. I think it depends. Are you in the city? Are you in the town? Sorry, in a country town? I feel like just like everywhere, it's different. People are different, I guess, slightly, and there's rude people and kind people. One thing I remember though, when I moved to England, especially when I visited London, is nobody made eye contact.

you're walking down the street. It was so weird. Like over here, you make eye contact. It's kind of weird if somebody walks past and doesn't look at you and sometimes we go, hi, g'day, how are you?

in a bigger city like Sydney, maybe not so much, but people still make eye contact. In London, it was just like everybody's staring tunnel vision ahead. Just no eye contact. Just seemed so detached from reality. That really hit me, actually.

Roula (09:46)
Okay, just I asked you about this Australian thing. I'm gonna ask my friend who's from the UK about this eye contact thing.

Rosie (09:53)
⁓

yes, maybe it was in my head, yes.

Roula (09:55)
How?

Yeah, the relevance of it. Okay, that was our episode. This is all I wanted to know about this. Yeah, yeah.

Rosie (10:01)
That's it. That's all you wanted to know. Australian

listeners, let us know. Do you think that YouTube channel is accurate, that Australians are just the best people ever and really generous? And people who has visited Australia, how did you find it? I'm really curious, because I think maybe my opinion of someone, you know, someone who lives here might be a bit biased. I might be clouded by, yeah.

Roula (10:25)
could be. I

do want to share a thought before we wrap it up. And I'm probably biased. It's not based on a research, based on observation. It feels to me, so I come from Lebanon, I lived in chaos, I moved to the Netherlands, such a nicely organized country. To my experience,

Rosie (10:33)
Obviously.

Mmm.

Roula (10:48)
People from countries where the government has nothing organized for them tend to more help each other than places where things are organized. For example, if your car stopped on the road in Lebanon, you don't have any car service to call. come and help you. You're just counting on the people who will stop, help you push the car to the side. Maybe someone driving who repair cars would also stop and help.

Rosie (10:59)
What?

All right.

Roula (11:18)
⁓ There is this kind of looking after each other because they count on each other all their lives, I guess. In the Netherlands, if a car would stop, no one would come and help because there is an organized company. You call them, you have insurance, they come, they help you. That's the difference.

Rosie (11:22)
Mm.

Wow.

Wow. This makes me think.

Yeah, this makes me think of a story in the media recently, because I was about to say, well, yeah, in Australia, it's common for people to pull over and help. I'm thinking also of a couple of years ago, I think it was my sister came to visit me in Australia and she was driving, hadn't driven for a few years. So a bit rusty. She was in a car accident on the highway and a stranger.

dash cam footage again, caught it on camera. Immediately they stopped their car, sprinted out her and her husband to help my sister. Like with no question. Amazing. But then there was a new story recently. There was someone who broke down right on the edge of a highway, main road. I think it was in a more remote area, but there was traffic.

I think he'd written on the windshield, like it was dusty and it had written on there, help me. Nobody came to help him. I can't remember how he was discovered and I can't remember why he was in his car, but he was in strife, had a big thing on the windshield, help me. Nobody stopped. I guess it probably looked a bit creepy actually. I'm not sure I would have stopped.

Roula (12:55)
That's the thing. Sometimes we're scared to help because of the consequence what could happen. But in general, general talking in regular situations, ⁓ yes, I feel I miss this people jumping and helping. At the same time, I'm not sure if I wanted to be constantly interrupted by strangers checking if I'm OK, if I need help, depending on situation. All right.

Rosie (12:58)
Yeah, safety. ⁓ Yeah.

Yeah.

for watching.

be annoying. Yeah, no thank you. Yeah.

Interesting episode. We'll wrap it up because this was meant to be a short one and I have no idea how long it's been going for, but I have a feeling it was not short. Yes, thank you.

Roula (13:26)
Yes, yes.

Thank you, listeners. Let

us know wherever you come from. We have listeners all over the world. How do you help each other? Do you feel like strangers? out, step up and help. Thank you for listening. Bye.

Rosie (13:39)
we do.

Yeah.

Bye.