We live in incredible times, but still, it has been extraordinarily disappointing to witness how political ideology has guided reactions to a health crisis. Hypocrisy is rife. Take for instance, the federal coalition government, who closed the national borders, lambasting the Labor state governments (but not the Liberal ones) for closing theirs. Consider too, the about face of those were most opposed to Victoria’s voluntary assisted dying laws, when introduced. Back then, every life was sacred, no matter how old or sick the person. This meant people facing an imminent and agonising death should not be allowed to bring it forward, and end their own lives, painlessly, at a time of their choosing. Now, these same types demand various governments abandon restrictions and lockdowns because after all, only the old or the sick will die, and they were on their way out anyway. Suddenly, every life is not so sacred, after all. For months now, there has been vociferous criticism of governments, in particular, of Victoria’s, but the data is in. Across the world, voters expect their leaders to keep them safe, specifically, to prioritise human life over a balance sheet. Perhaps this is because we have all seen economies recover, but none of us have seen a person raised from the dead. The Pew Research Center recently asked citizens of various countries whether their country has done a good or bad job handling COVID-19. The countries that marked their governments with the highest “good” score were Denmark at 95 per cent, Australia at 94 per cent, Canada and Germany at 88 per cent, Netherlands at 87 per cent and South Korea at 86 per cent. The highest “bad” scores came from Britain, at 54 per cent and the US at 52 per cent. Closer to home, the results of a Newspoll for The Australian showed that despite the terrible mistakes made with hotel quarantine, and the cruelty of lockdowns, 62 per cent of Victorian voters are satisfied with how their Premier is doing his job, and 61 per cent think the current lockdown restrictions are “about right”. This data rises above the chorus of remarks by federal coalition politicians, and hyperbolic and often inaccurate criticism from the angry tub-thumpers on SAD (Sky after Dark). On SAD, our Premier is called “Chairman Dan” or “Dictator Dan” and Victoria is referred to as a “socialist republic” and a “failed state”. These insults demean every Victorian, regardless of how they vote.
[from The Weekend Australian, 26/9/2020]
Katrina G. Kelly
September 28, 2020
This is so reminiscent of the Joh years of political bastardry and compliant media that allowed criminality to flourish. I witnessed the degradation we are now re-living because media has neither the courage nor the ability to stand up to obvious corruption.
Tony Koch
September 13, 2020
One of the less attractive aspects of human nature is our tendency to hate the people we haven't treated very well; it's much easier than accepting guilt. If we can convince ourselves that the people we betrayed or enslaved were subhuman monsters in the first place, then our guilt isn't nearly so black as we secretly know that it is. Humans are very, very good at shifting blame and avoiding guilt.
David Eddings
September 9, 2020
Journalism is not stenography. It was never supposed to involve unthinkingly transcribing whatever nonsense a political leader might spout about the price of meat or takeaway pizzas without making an assessment of those claims. It was never about a reflexive positioning midway between the views of opposing parties. If someone is demonstrably lying, or talking through their hat, then that is what we should say.
Lenore Taylor
September 6, 2020
[The] Government is not going to be pushed around by Google and Facebook. It’s going to do exactly what News Corp tells it to do.
Paul Barratt
September 1, 2020
Andrew Bolt + Miranda Devine + Daisy Cousens + Rowan Dean + Peter Dutton + Blair Cotterell + Lauren Southern + Rupert Murdoch + Scott Morrison = Brenton Tarrant
Serkan Öztürk
August 29, 2020
As Trump accepts his nomination, his face heavily made up in golden make up, an unarmed black man is shot in the back seven times in front of his children. Meanwhile Americans believe they live in the 'greatest country in the world'!
Elaine McKay
August 25, 2020
The meaning of identity is now based on hatred, on hatred for those who are not the same. Hatred has to be cultivated as a civic passion. The enemy is the friend of the people. You always want someone to hate in order to feel justified in your own misery.
Umberto Eco
August 10, 2020
[on the USA] Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but you need to know how silly you look if you post some variation of, “Welcome to Socialism…”. You are not seeing Socialism. What you are seeing is one of the wealthiest, geographically advantaged, productive capitalist societies in the world flounder and fail at its most basic test. Taking care of its people. This crisis is not about the virus. This crisis is about the massive failure of our, “Booming economy,” to survive even modest challenges. It is about the market dissonance of shortages in stores, even as farmers/producers destroy unused crops and products. This crisis is about huge corporations needing an emergency bailout within days of the longest Bull Market in our history ending, and despite the ability to borrow with zero percent interest rates. This crisis is about corporatised healthcare systems being unable and ill equipped to provide basic healthcare, at the same time they post record profits. It is about crisis response depending on antiquated systems nobody remembers how to operate. But most of all, this crisis is a direct result of the politicisation of every aspect of our society for the benefit of a privileged few. The vilification of education, science, media, natural rights, rural lifestyles, urban lifestyles, charity, compassion, and virtually everything else for brief political gain has gutted our society.
Paul Field
August 8, 2020
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
