Hypocritical hysteria

By February 16, 2020Australian Politics

Respected journalist Paul Bongiorno had a go online at Finance Minister Mathias Cormann for his consistent lying, saying that if you are going to lie, make it a big one. This comes from a quote by Hitler’s minister for propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, who said: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”1

It almost goes without saying that Cormann spat the dummy, and said: “Are you for real! I speak with a German accent, so you accuse me of being a Nazi? You are absolutely despicable Paul Bongiorno. You clearly do not know what you are talking about. This is a disgrace and you should apologise.”2  This was simply a way for Cormann to deflect attention from his constant lying.

Unfortunately, after the outraged Tweet from Cormann, Bongiorno deleted the tweet and apologised with: “I have apologised because I meant no offence. The pile on from government ministers [is] ample proof that they know they egregiously abused state power and taxpayers’ funds for their own self interested political survival. The Auditor General so found- asserting otherwise is dishonest.”3  To my cynical mind, to apologise was a mistake. I would have simply gone on the attack and noted, as Bongiorno did, the constant lying by Cormann and numerous other ministers and backbenchers. However, I don’t depend on journalism for my livelihood, so it is perhaps understandable that Bongiorno backed off a little. This, from Bongiorno, was a cue for a pile-on by other Liberal hypocrites. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was one of the first to pile on. He said: “Invoking Goebbels, one of Hitler’s key henchmen, to attack my colleague Mathias Cormann is appalling, Paul Bongiorno. It shows a lack of sensitivity & understanding of history’s darkest period. You should immediately apologise.”4  Defence Minister Linda Reynolds also piled on, in reply to Bongiorno’s apology, with: “No Paul Bongiorno we spoke up because your despicable comments were vile, racist and completely unacceptable – anywhere any time. There is only one interpretation. Shame on you.”5

The hypocrisy of Cormann’s and others’ responses is demonstrated by the fact that when Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, called then Opposition Leader Bill Shorten the “Dr Goebbels of economic policy”, Cormann said nothing. Abbott immediately withdrew the comment and Jewish shadow Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus, was suspended from parliament by the worst speaker in living memory, Bronwyn ‘chopper’ Bishop6. Even worse, after Fraser Anning gave his notorious ‘Final Solution’ speech in the Senate, even Pauline Hanson disowned him, stating that it was “straight from Goebbels’ handbook from Nazi Germany”7; this was for Anning’s promotion of a discriminatory immigration policy. Surprising as it sounds, there are some lines even Hanson will not cross. This was not the case for many Coalition senators. Cormann was one of the senior coalition senators who went up to Anning and congratulated him, by shaking his hand. Others were: then Minister Bridget McKenzie, then Minister Nigel Scullion, then Minister Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, then Minister Matt Canavan, then Assistant Minister James McGrath, and then Assistant Minister Anne Ruston. It was only after people pointed out the appalling association of the phrase ‘final solution’, that this may have not been a good thing to do, that members of the House of Representatives came out and condemned Anning’s speech. On top of this stupidity, the Coalition voted for a motion in the Senate. This motion, stated that:

  • The deplorable rise of anti-white racism and attacks on Western civilisation
  • That it is OK to be white8

After suitable opprobrium was heaped on them from assorted sources, noting that the latter part of the motion came from the Ku Klux Klan, the Coalition realised the error they had made, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison had to apologise for the debacle9.

Last of all, the reaction by Cormann and others is rich, coming from a political party which brings out the dog whistle at every opportunity. This is a tactic used by the Coalition ever since the days of Howard. As Paul Keating put it: “I think it’s a Prime Minister’s duty; one of the primary duties of a Prime Minister is to protect the country from prejudice. Howard was happy to let the racism virus out. And it’s like a flu virus, you never get it back. You know, when someone at the top of the system…you see Bob before me, Malcolm Fraser before him, Gough Whitlam, John Gorton – none of us would play around with this issue. None. The only one to do it was a little guy from Bennelong.”10  It certainly continued during the Abbott hilarity, as well as under Turnbull’s and Morrison’s prime ministerships.11,12,13  The confected outrage by these vacuous hypocrites turns my stomach and makes me wonder how this country has sunk so low. That government ministers, in an attempt to obscure their lies, whine about a relatively innocuous and true statement, disingenuously pretending it was akin to the techniques of bigotry that they use all the time, is sickening.

Sources

  1. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/joseph-goebbels-on-the-quot-big-lie-quot
  2. https://twitter.com/MathiasCormann/status/1228190264310652931
  3. https://twitter.com/PaulBongiorno/status/1228205635071725569
  4. https://twitter.com/JoshFrydenberg/status/1228194290976739328
  5. https://twitter.com/lindareynoldswa/status/1228208114714828804
  6. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/mar/19/tony-abbott-compares-bill-shorten-to-nazi-propaganda-minister-goebbels
  7. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/aug/15/fraser-anning-speech-straight-from-goebbels-handbook-says-pauline-hanson
  8. http://www.blotreport.com/2018/10/15/coalition-disgrace/
  9. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-17/origins-of-its-ok-to-be-white-slogan-supremacists-united-states/10385716
  10. http://www.blotreport.com/2018/07/17/paul-keating-quote-5/
  11. http://www.blotreport.com/2018/01/01/dogwhistles-for-christmas/
  12. http://www.blotreport.com/2018/11/11/desperate-dog-whistler/
  13. http://www.blotreport.com/2018/11/20/yet-another-dog-whistle/

9 Comments

  • Yes Minister says:

    So much for freedom of the press. IMO, Bongiono was 100% correct and only retracted his comments after threats (whether real or imagined) from the Hun.

    Mind you I have more contempt for politicians (of all ilks and persuasions) , bureacrats and members of the legal – judicial racket than any other inhabitant of planet earth, although I do reserve special condemnation for the likes of SCUMMO, potato-head, fraud’n’bug, the screeching harpy and the Hun.

    Thomas Jefferson reminded us when he said ‘the freedom of the press cannot be limited without being lost, and the United Nations’ 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers”. Unfortunately contemporary mainstream media is to all intents a part of the uber-corrupt establishment and as such panders to every whim of the bottom-feeding bloodsucking parasitic scum who have usurped power.

    • admin says:

      YM,
      I agree to some extent. Unbridled freedom of the press has led to Murdoch’s media which has corrupted our media landscape more than could have ever been dreamed of. There need to be much stricter controls on media ownership, and truth in reporting. I doubt Jefferson could have foreseen the malevolence of Murdoch.

  • JON says:

    Did Bongiorno actually mention Goebbels? If so I agree it’s a little over the top for Twitter, although it would be perfectly suitable for a properly argued, lengthy opinion piece which provides examples of their constant lying and hypocrisy. Cormann and others in this rabble of a government have been allowed to get away with constant misinformation and blatant misleading of the public for far too long. As I’ve said before, it’s time journalists did their job better.

    This (https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-like-turnbull-has-squandered-his-political-strength-and-delivered-policy-cowardice-20200216-p5417q.html) from Sean Kelly shows just how poor our current crop of political journalists are:
    “On Thursday, a senate inquiry heard from the audit office that more than 40 per cent of projects under the notorious sports grants scheme were ineligible for funding, flatly contradicting the defence the Prime Minister had been using, that they were all eligible. This was news everywhere, but what is really remarkable is that this fact was also there in the original report. I found it myself on Friday, by hitting ctrl + F and typing in “eligible”. Did nobody do this, or – better yet – read the full thing before sending the Prime Minister into Parliament with the line?”

    DID NOBODY DO THIS? A good question for his colleagues and their fellow lazy bastards at the ABC.

    Still we have a way to go to plumb the depths of Trump’s USA where the rule of law has been hugely subverted by political interference in just 3 years. Could it happen here? With the disgraceful Murdoch media and desperate neo-conservatives, anything is possible.
    https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/a-thousand-former-justice-officials-call-on-us-attorney-general-barr-to-resign-20200217-p541d4.html

    Did you see this shocker yesterday?
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/we-want-to-see-balance-right-wing-activists-target-primary-school-children-on-climate-20200214-p540ti.html Can’t wait to see their “10 climate facts to expose the climate change hoax” and their “Smart Scientist’s Kit”. It’s amazing how people like Storer are happy to expose their fwitism for all to see, but that’s the new conservative way. The driver is obvious – the bigger the fwit, the more outlandish and strident the view, the more support you get from wealthy conservatives.

    • admin says:

      Jon,
      The original tweet was removed before I saw it (we had visitors staying with us for the weekend), so I was relying on secondary reports and the tenor of the outrage by Cormann and others. As a consequence, I suspected Bongiorno did mention Goebbels. The quote from Goebbels is well known and I have even used it previously on this blog. It is getting more and more difficult to avoid reference to the 1930s Nazis as our government, like that of Trumpistan, is using the same techniques to subvert democracy. The only thing that stands between us and blood in the streets is the ability of the media to call the government to account to show how vacant and incompetent they are. There are some signs that the media are beginning to do so, but the indications are small and much later than I’d have hoped. The rapid decline in sales of Murdoch newspapers is also something to be welcomed. Our local coffee shop has just become a ‘Murdoch free zone’. I had seen the ‘Advance Australia’ crowd wanting to get into schools. I think this could be counterproductive, and even some RWNJs are saying the same thing. I have a considerable amount of respect for numerous journalists; it is just that some of the remainder are so lacking in ability and perception, that it makes you wonder how they got a job in the first place.

  • Goebbels was responsible for presenting a favourable image of the Nazi regime to the German people.
    Cormann and conies are responsible for presenting a favourable image of the current Australian Government regime to the Australian people.
    I personally call Cormann the Belgian Rat, for ratting out Malcolm Turnbull.
    A couple of years ago (as an Australian resident), I applied to become an Australian citizen. I am still waiting and I guess that’s because of the Dutton crew.
    I am seriously thinking that becoming an Australian citizen may be a wrong move, with this current batch of scum running the place.
    I want to be proud of my government, not despise it.

  • JON says:

    I want to become an NZ citizen Gordon, for reasons often espoused on this site. Australians have become a bunch of ignorant, self-interested, complacent wankers in the last decade, and I see no great appetite for positive change. The fires were a wake-up call but will soon be forgotten, as was the massive corruption revealed by Justice Hayne in the “Banking” RC. Unfortunately there is NO political leader/aspirant anywhere who can inspire our youth or present cogent policy and argument.

  • Yes Jon. from what I have seen of Jacinda Ardern, she is a breath of fresh air and something to aspire to for a politician. But I don’t expect crooked Morrison and his cronies to take any notice of what is the right thing to do. They are too busy with their own self serving activities, like a bunch of pigs at the trough.

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