Cabana staking a beach too far and it should be nipped in the bud

I didn’t pay much attention to the cabana controversy when it first emerged. It seemed to be one of those summer stories that dominated a quiet time of the year along with road accidents, shark attacks and storms.

I have to say I had noticed a lot of them dotting the beaches on a post-Christmas sojourn to the Barrington Coast. (Note to self: Do not go anywhere at this time again.)

I thought sun-safe and all that and didn’t think much more about it.

But then I discovered the controversy wasn’t so much about having a shelter on the beach, although enough of them can form a view-blocking tent city, but using it to reserve a space until you’re ready to occupy it.

Then I heard it wasn’t just the beach where people were plonking their cabana or a shelter but national parks as well, again to make a claim on the spot whether they were actually there or not.

I recognised this behaviour.

It’s the same as booking multiple restaurants to cover all possibilities but only ever expecting to turn up at one. Of course, restaurants burned by no-shows have had to start demanding deposits and credit card numbers, turning what was a simple process into the equivalent of booking a hotel room or holiday house.

It’s similar to accepting invitations to parties or events but keeping your options open in case there is a better offer.

This loss of civility seems to be inherent in what I’ll call the reservation generation that suffers from an acute case of fear of missing out, the infamous FOMO.

So many choices, so many options, but also so many others to take my spot.

In short, it’s all about them.

They inhabit a new world devoid of the cultural norms that used to define being Australian – a sense of the collective or community and an egalitarianism that frowns on queue jumping and entitlement.

Social media and the internet have exacerbated this lurch to narcissistic individualism, but the seeds were sown in the neoliberal era of past decades in which self-interest was elevated above all else.

Is it any wonder that now even the beach, that most democratic and social levelling of settings, is now considered by some to be just another patch of real estate?

The irony is that the absent squatters are relying on the beach’s established etiquette to maintain their claim.

How long before that crumbles and a pile of cabanas is dumped in the dunes, probably replaced by others whose owners are prepared to occupy and defend their square of sand? Or quietly moved to another section of the beach, or packed up and slipped into the boot of the car.

It could so easily get out of hand.

It is un-Australian, and Australians should bristle at this kind of behaviour and its logical conclusion – the privatisation of our beaches.

The law is the overt force that holds a society in place, but it is the unwritten rules of civility that define the cultural identity of a society and how it conducts itself.

The cabana story may have been just a holiday kerfuffle, but it also serves as a political and social metaphor, and this weekend is as good a time as any to consider what kind of nation we are.

An inconsiderate, entitled bunch of ill-mannered privateers out for themselves, or a community of people guided by principles of shared interests that protect everybody.

Original Article published by Ian Bushnell on Riotact.