What is a Bogan?

A famous Australian poet called Banjo Patterson coined the term Bogan in his poem City of Dreadful Thirst in 1902.

"We don't respect the clouds up there, they fill us with disgust,
They mostly bring a Bogan shower -- three raindrops and some dust;

What did he mean?

He meant the term Bogan as something below standard. Something pathetic. Something that is not enough; below par. He was referring to the Bogan river, which was less than a river should be, as a metaphor for the rain. The Bogan river was a sad trickle of muddy sludge that couldn't live up to the status of a flourishing river. Banjo used Bogan metaphorically to represent the rainfall that was uttlery useless.

Since then it was used metaphorically as something below standard; something of low standard.

We can see how it was used to differentiate between groups' characteristics; sophisticated versus peasant. Different standards, often polarised, held between the two groups.

And so the term Bogan had evolved to mean something of the lowest level, metaphorically.

Today, Bogan refers to a group of people in society with the same shared low standards. Peasants.

A Bogan today is a person of low standard. Unsophisticated. Unrefined. Base.

Today, so many Australians display the same behaviour as an unsophisticated, uncivilised, unrefined person that the general public calls them Bogan.

Bogans reject civilised sophisticated refined behaviour. They see it as ponsy, pretentious, dishonest behaviour and they refute it aggressively.

Being quiet in public, reserved, patient, tolerant, well-mannered, well-dressed and well-spoken is anathema to so many Australians.

This being the case, we see examples throughout Australian society.

In fact the whole world has versions of Bogan.

In the UK, they're called Chavs. In the US, Red-necks. In France, Bouffons.

So their behaviour is predictable.

We know from the fundamental cause above everything about them; they're favourite food, music, employment, hobbies, interests, beliefs, morality, tastes, dress and bearing, attitudes to advanced societal changes e.g. gays, transgender, politics, morals, problem solving, dispute resolution etc.

They are by nature morally and politically conservative.

That's because they've identified the final acceptable standard for all things and they stick to them no matter what.

The best effort of a Bogan is their least effort.

This reverance for the lowest standards is a life-style, a belief system, a moral system.

Consequently, they promote their Bogan behaviour to themselves and their children. They are a self-replicating sub-societal sect within society.

Bogans are the proud peasants of the current era.

They also love loud noises. Loud speech, loud music, loud cars. They have no care for self-awareness. They dress outdoors like they dress at home.

They have no interest in refining themselves to the higher levels of social sophistication, but mock it.

They'd rather eat a dried up petrol station pie than a fresh well-cooked steak in a restaurant.

Bogans are the lowest form of human in a civilised society and they're proud of that.

Bogans swear and spit and burp and fart and yell and argue in public.

An impromptu dispute in the street with another party will be resolved by the Bogan with either violence or by yelling "Fuck off cunt."

When you understand how low your standards in everything can be, you understand Bogan.

They prouldy claim to speak their mind.

Bogans empty their thoughts, emotions, into speech in any social situation, like an endless shotgun.  No bullshit. This is because they reject civilised expression and controlled, appropriate behaviour. Whatever is in their skull comes bursting out of their snarling mouth without any control or planning.

Bogans aspire only base life activities: to eat, fuck, shit, drink, yell, sleep, repeat; and they do nothing to refine themselves.

That is their life goal. To exist as a caveman. A wild dog.

So what's the problem?

1. They vote,

2. They have kids,

3. They occupy some same spaces as refined people.

4. They cross our paths every day.

5. They drive.

6. They promote low standards across society.

7. They can't be argued with or de-escalated in dispute. They are uncompromising.

Further:

Having a huge proportion of society aspiring to low standards is a backwards step in the evolution of civilised society.

How do we more refined civilised types cope, manage?

Bogans simply need to be mocked, laughed at, treated with disprespect and ignored for them to become harmless abberations.

We can't eradicate this sub-sect.

Like terrorists and religious nuts, we will never rid society of Bogans, but we can treat them in a way that keeps them at the bottom of the barrel of civilisation where they belong, where they want to be.