The Psychology of Compliance:
How 'Doing It Tough' Became a National Spell
By Bronwyn Holm – Founder of Earthfood | Soil Advocate | Farmer's Voice
You hear it on the news. You hear it from politicians. You hear it from neighbours just trying to get by:
*"We’re doing it tough, but we’re strong."
It sounds noble. Stoic. True blue Aussie. But behind that phrase is one of the most powerful psychological weapons ever deployed against the people: learned helplessness disguised as national pride.
The Manufactured Toughness Narrative
Australians are told to be proud of our ability to endure. Fires, floods, droughts, economic downturns, and lockdowns. And every time, the same mantra:
"You’re doing it tough, but we admire your resilience."
This isn't just a compliment. It's a sedative. A way to keep people from demanding better by glorifying their suffering. It's not new either – this type of linguistic trickery has been used in war zones, collapsed economies, and colonial states.
It tells you: stay in the fight, but don’t ask why there’s a war.
The concept mirrors the work of psychologist Martin Seligman, who coined the term "learned helplessness".
In experiments during the 1960s, Seligman demonstrated how individuals subjected to uncontrollable pain or hardship eventually stop trying to escape it – even when escape becomes possible. The constant message that enduring hardship is a virtue creates a population that tolerates injustice without resistance.
Normalising Decline: The Psy-Op of Desensitisation
While the shelves thin out, fresh food becomes unaffordable, and the farmer next door loses their land to bank or bureaucrat, we're told: "Just keep going. Be strong. We’re all in this together."
But we’re not in it together.
The bureaucrats, politicians, and corporate stakeholders aren’t missing meals. They're not being told to tighten their belts or dig deeper into already empty pockets.
By repeating this mantra, Australians are being conditioned to accept decline as normal.
This is not resilience. This is sedation.
We are witnessing the creation of a controlled psychological environment. It echoes the strategies identified in behavioural economics and social conditioning programs used by authoritarian regimes: distract, pacify, normalize decline, and frame suffering as strength.
The Cult of Sacrifice and the Silencing of Dissent
When you question why farmers are taxed to death, why food is being imported while local growers are pushed out, or why biosecurity raids are happening on family land, you’re labeled as ungrateful.
Why? Because you’re not playing your part in the cult of sacrifice. If you're not suffering quietly, you're selfish. If you ask questions, you're a conspiracy theorist.
This isn't patriotism. This is psychological compliance training. The result is a population that forgets how to say "No. Enough. We want better."
Even media messaging reinforces this. A 2023 media study from the University of Sydney found that over 80% of coverage relating to regional hardship used language that emphasized endurance and character, while fewer than 10% mentioned systemic causes or policy failure. The narrative is clear: you are meant to cope, not challenge.
Reclaiming the Real Australian Spirit
Australians aren't just battlers. We're builders. Creators. Healers. Stewards of land.
It's time we replace resilience with resistance, toughness with truth, and suffering with sovereignty.
The real Aussie spirit is not found in silence. It’s found in speaking up, standing firm, and protecting our land, our food, and our future.
We need to disrupt the spell that glorifies our pain. We need to remind each other that food security, health sovereignty, and freedom are not luxuries – they are birthrights.
So next time someone tells you to "just be resilient" — ask them: "Why should we have to be? Who made it this hard in the first place?"
Because resilience might keep you standing. But truth? That’s what gets you moving.
Grow the Voice to Future Proof Our Nation.
This is not conspiracy it is a deadline...
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