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“Be generous with your praise and considerate with your criticism”

What ever I have been involved in be it sport, the arts, politics, community or writing for The AIMN I have tried to adhere to my quote that suffices as the headline for this piece.

I have no doubt that I am influenced by my personal bias from time to time but in the main I believe that I am fair and considerate.

So, based on the principles of fairness and consideration I was a bit taken a back last week when Barrie Cassidy, on The Drum, gave the Government full-on praise for their handling of the Corona virus crisis.

I was not at all upset by the well-deserved praise but rather for the imbalance of it. Had he qualified it with an “it’s not before time mind you” or a “mind you it’s taken six years”, even a mention of “snapback” and I would have felt much happier.

If he had even mentioned that Morrison had said, “We have to get back to where we were before.” I would have declared a need for balance.

The truth of the matter is that after Morrison’s effort on the fire front he could not afford another cock up of the same magnitude.

After early mistakes with Centerlink caused by the obfuscation of the Minister for Government Services, Stuart Robert and some lessor things around the edges they gave it over to the experts who seemingly have and should take the praise – things under control.

When the Parliament met (as they should in a democracy like ours) and the Leader of the Opposition, Anthony Albanese said, “This is good legislation” in reference to the bill allowing for increases to Newstart etc. we saw for the first time two leaders wanting to meet in a bi-partisanship way for the betterment of the nation. The government should be praised. And It deserves the generosity of our praise.

But that the government refuses requests from people of sound lawful knowledge and judgement for the parliament to sit during this crisis deserves the sting of our criticism.

That it is doing so unassumingly to avoid criticism is manifestly wrong under any circumstances and continues their track record of almost seven years. There isn’t room to be considerate. They are just wrong.

They seem to, at long last, be listening to those reputable in the science of viruses. This also is deserving of our highest praise.

That they do not apply the same logic to the science of climate change is deserving of our most serious foreboding.

If you have a point of view, feel free to express it. However, do so with civility. Then your point of view is laced with a degree of dignity.

The government, when in opposition, was extremely critical of the Labor government during the GFC and after its criticism dried up almost went as far as denying its existence.

In fact, the Murdoch press followed suit despite the world heaping praise on the Australian government and its Treasurer Wayne Swan.

This new found bi-partisan approach has brought with it a community anticipation that things will change. Once having demonstrated that calm rational debate can work. The community has raised its expectations.

They are asking why it cannot work all the time. Well it can, and the exchange of intellectual debate and ideas needs to be re energised and it is incumbent on everyone to become involved.

The coronavirus has bought with it the hope of a renaissance. That a new understanding of whom we are and what we are here for might emerge from this dreadful time.

Would it be too much to hope that a new period of enlightenment might indoctrinate itself into the hearts and minds of our leaders who at present govern us from the perspective of self-interest only?

Have they woken to the fact that good open governance has its rewards? We have so much to learn from people we disagree with that it’s a wonder we don’t do it more often.

My thought for the day

Will we ever grow intellectually to the point where we are able to discern, understand and act on those matters that seek the good within us?

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15 comments

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  1. Neville mc donald

    If and it’s a big if I thought he was doing this for the good of the country I would praise him but and it’s a big but I believe he is only doing it to save his wre come of a political career .this person doesn’t do anything out of the goodness of his heart ,he professes to be Christian then proceeds to do unchristian acts .australia must act to rid the religious from all forms of government as it is a personal thing that has no bearing on the running of a country .we must always remember that government is by the people for the people and not for anything else .

  2. Harry Lime

    It will be the second “miracle” within 12 months if the Liar unveils a brand shiny new persona, and eschews his wicked ways.Think of the poor miners and corporates with their tax havens and dodgy bean counters.All the leaners had better brace themselves for the resumption of purgatory.

  3. Kaye Lee

    As Ted Mack said “We seem to have achieved “Government of the people by the powerbrokers, for the mates”.”

  4. Terence Mills

    The biggest blunder was to double unemployment benefits and rebadge Newstart as Jobseeker. Not that unemployment benefits didn’t need to be increased but the government hadn’t allowed for the cynicism of some employers who promptly sacked their workers and created the queues at Centrelink.

    The hasty introduction of Jobkeeper may slow the number of sackings…. we shall see.

  5. leefe

    I don’t think anyone deserves praise for grudgingly and eventually doing the bare minimum out of expediency. ScoMoFo and his mob will get (some, limited) praise from me when they can show the same spirit of bipartisanship we have seen from the ALP in this matter.

  6. LOVO

    You don’t praise these two-faced laggards for being dragged kicking and sceaming to the table. The term “Weather vanes” comes to mind. 😤

  7. whatever

    A quick perusal of Google News shows that Our ABC has been pressed into service as “NewsCorp Lite”, that is to say many radio/TV/publications of the same stable all publishing the same pro-Conservative headline.
    As many of the Murdoch mastheads are shut down Our ABC has become the home of the 100 monkeys who all type out the same right-wing drivel.

  8. Josephus

    Scotty cannot allow hordes of starving or homeless people rioting and looting, or in despair walking for hours to get home due to the shutting down of buses , dying on the roads, as in India. Nor can he quite sink to the level of the cruel and bigoted Saudis, who are sending thousands of Ethiopian migrants home: they who did the dirty jobs for their masters, who are now blamed for the virus, and who must now return to already swamped makeshift camps, to scant medical care as the plague thrives in cramped conditions, not to mention that other plague, the millions of locusts that eat anything green, both in Ethiopia and in neighbouring states.

    I suspect that Scotty sees the fires, the plague, the dying seas and rivers as vengeful visitations from God, or (not in Exodus), that successive disasters (add clouds of locusts, sick olive trees or cane toads as you wish, God having a keen eye for cultural variations) foretell the end of the world. God is a cruel tyrant, but so are most of His minions, who Lord it (pun intended) over us.

  9. pilot

    Sorry John, but as soon as the “All clear” siren is sounded the village idiots in the lnp (lowercase intended) will be back to their normal, abusive, greedy, lying and obfuscating ways. They will never EVER acknowledge that is was the left that pulled them out of their self-imposed sewer.
    These mongrels were dragged kicking and screaming into actually doing something. They preferred Trump’s plan rather than our wellbeing and that’s crap. Consider the past inquiries except TURC, consider their actions, consider their thievery. These clowns are a do nothing government when it comes to the majority of our population. They are an utter disgrace!
    Sadly we will be in for much worse in the future, count on it.
    No praise from me!!!!! 🤬

  10. wam

    A great read today, lord.
    Over the years you have lobbied for us”
    Keep an open mind. …
    Don’t take things as granted. …
    Ask questions relentlessly. …
    Don’t label something as boring. …
    See learning as something fun. …
    Read diverse kinds of reading.
    Some of my friends struggle to achieve one of these and most don’t read books or even watch diverse TV.
    Where do your conservative friends and relatives fit into ‘intellectual growth’?
    ps
    I hear the pompous rubbish from the mouths of king donald, prince smirko and sleazy pell and I mourn john clarke who, with daws, could have us in stitches putting these people into perspective.
    pps
    Josephus
    did you read the pommie church has put the silver in hiding???

  11. Kronomex

    “Have they woken to the fact that good open governance has its rewards?…”

    No they have not, it’s all political expediency by the LNP and when they deem the outbreak over they will come down harder than ever on us the little people in their rush to “get back to normal.” The unemployed will be first to feel the hammer drop when the Jobseeker bonus is removed and then they will be ground under the thumb of Scotty from Marketing and Crony Co. Inc. to get off their lazy arses and find a job to help the rest of Team ‘straya.

  12. Stephengb

    Good post today JL
    Rhetorically, may I differ in opinion

    “Be generous with your praise and considerate with your criticism”
    NO
    Be generous with your criticsm and considered with your praise.

    It’s ox not bipartisan- it is merely the ALP being one sided bipartisan .

  13. John Lord

    Good thought Stephen.

  14. wam

    How do you see what, the people who vote for the conservatives because they believe labor socialism is a disaster, share, lord?

    Without this basic contact, albeit one way, you words are diminished, your criticism hollow and your assertions unsupported..
    eg Have you seen the crowds in america today with signs that announce:
    social distancing is communism (racial mixing is communism thrown in makes for a theory???)

    ps
    stephen is having you on lord. ‘ed’ and ‘ate’ are not quite the same and generous means more than is needede?
    pps
    the stepford wives is on sbs world movies again.

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