Lidia Thorpe Stars In “The King And I”!
A few years ago I wrote about this elective class I taught called “Oral English”. It consisted of students making short speeches, having debates and discussing various issues.
Now when I say “discussing” what I actually mean is getting louder and louder until the various opposing forces were shouting at each other at which point I would stop them and remind them that they needed to discuss their differences at the sort of volume that wouldn’t have the principal concerned about the riot going on in my class. Eventually, I put forward a simple idea:
“Has anyone ever changed your mind by shouting at you?” I asked.
“No,” was the general consensus.
“Then why do you think you’ll change someone else’s mind by shouting at them?”
“We don’t,” said one girl at a slightly lower volume than was her usual want.
“Then why do you do it?”
“It feels good,” she replied. A response which got approving nods from most of the class.
I shrugged and told them to shout away, because who was I to stand in the way of progress. After all, this was before social media where it has become customary to insult, belittle and abuse anyone with a different viewpoint.
Which, of course, brings me to Lidia Thorpe and the various interperations of her… um, assertion… protest… assault…lack of understanding that wearing fur may attract a protest…
Anyway, her “Chuckie ain’t my King!” has a certain resonance with a lot of people.
Now before I show myself to be a representative of the colonial forces which have done so much damage, I’d like to say that my thoughts on the matter have a very limited perspective and I’ll certainly need to be educated on all the things that are wrong with my limited perspective.
Notwithstanding that, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Sam Newman’s statement that he was going to boycott the AFL grand final because of the “Welcome to Country”. Nobody cared…
Ok, some people cared. I mean the people who have the same views as Sam all agreed with him and…
Yeah, I suspect that people who agree with Lidia are all going, “Yeah, not my King. Great! Well done…”
And, as Lidia Thorpe said in an interview, “I don’t need votes…”
Which raises an interesting question about what she hoped to achieve because, well, I’ve given up the idea of a revolution so if you don’t hope to get votes how are you hoping to enact change?
Being old enough to remember the Republican debate I remember the argument Phil Cleary (and others) put forward, which I can simplify as if we reject this, then we can regroup and get the model we want… Mm, awesome Phil… who are you these days and why don’t the monarchists give you a forum any more?
Mm, not my king, except that he IS our king. I mean, I can say that accept the fact that as the Constitution stands he is the King of Australia and he can sack our governor-general and install himself… except for the precedent that British monarchs don’t do anything…
Ok, that’s a little unfair because they spend a lot of time shaking hands and opening things and it’s more work than some people have done… particularly those who only have to turn up to some Murdoch media outlet and pretend that they have something original to say about all the things that the others in the same outlet agree on…
I must say that I’ve found it difficult to write about Lidia because I agree with a lot of what she says but did she need to say it there and then because… and yes, once we start arguing about the most appropriate way to say it and the appropriate forum and where and when we can say that outrageous things are just not acceptable without spoiling the cucumber sandwiches, the battle for diplomacy has been lost and we might as well start ducking because those serving the cucumber sandwiches will always win…
It’s just that I can’t help but think of my time as teacher when I hear Senator Thorpe say that she only promised allegiance to the “hairs” and not the heirs.
It sounds clever and you can amuse your friends but – in the end – the people with the power don’t care and you haven’t exactly rocked their castle!
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6 comments
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Kerri -
Ian Joyner -
Terence Mills -
Canguro -
Anon. E. Mouse -
Andrew Smith
Return to home pageHave to say, when l tuned in to aunty to see wall to wall coverage by 3 commentators on Charles and Camilla’s sausage skills………
Mmm.. maybe that’s not gonna read so well when my next line was going to be
Maybe Lidia has a point coz he sure ain’t my Tampax.
It is not that the King should say sorry. That would be all very well. But in our democracy the power is with the people. What Australia showed last year is that a majority of people are still unable to say sorry.
And Lidia was actually on their side and fed it.
What Australia needs is a change in the heart of its people, not an apology from the King.
It now seems that our Lidia was not sworn in to bear true allegiance to Her Majesty, Her heirs and successors according to law but rather she inadvertently or as a joke swore allegiance to Her Majesty, Her hairs and successors……………
Whatever the case, she appears not to have been correctly sworn in according to Section 42 of our Constitution so therefore cannot sit [not literally as she doesn’t do much sitting in between her rants] in the Senate until that is remedied.
Section 44 can exclude certain people from being chosen to sit as a senator or member of the House of Representatives based on various criteria including owing allegiance to a foreign power. As Senator Thorpe has said that she does not accept the King of Australia as her King or her head of state then it could well be that she owes allegiance to some other entity in which case she cannot sit as a senator in our parliament.
Further, as she was elected to the senate as a Green senator for Victoria and then jumped ship to become an independent she has alienated quite a few Green voters and whilst this is not unconstitutional, perhaps her best and most honourable course of action would be to resign from the senate thus creating a casual vacancy to be filled by a Green in accordance with section 15 and then re-nominate in the 2015 election as an independent and see how she goes.
However, as she has been pocketing close to $300K as a senator, the honourable course of action may not be to her liking !
Chukka as a princeling was sort of okay; a polo player… I liked that at the time by association as I was then employed by one of this country’s land barons who was also in the national polo team and I got to ride his ponies which was a cool thing for the young idiot that I then was, but time brings change as it inevitably must, and Chukka the cool dude on the polo field became Charlie the would be a tampon in his mistress’s intimate inners and a player in the field of infidelity and eventually the Prince that lingered longer whilst waiting for Mama to kick the bucket and now to eventually arrive at his predestined position… ridiculously garbed in ermine-robed swaddling and crowned with gold tiara and gemstones and looking… let’s be totally frank… like a right dickhead, royal ponce, as if this is the highlight of his existence on the planet, this gag-worthy excrescence of nauseating posturing of something -what exactly? – that signifies meaning and depth? It’d be better to put the poor prick out of his misery… lead him back into the garden where he can spend his days chatting to the plants and ruminating on how to save the planet by capturing bovine methane eructions and channelling them into British households as a form of fuel for heating mouldy terraces.
Terrence, holding to the swearing allegiance of her majesty and offspring of the head of the country that colonised Australia, that still positions us as a colony of Britain, is more than a little sad.
If expecting First Nations people in our government to bow down to the British monarchy that caused so much damage to the original inhabitants is a tall order. Bearing in mind that it is not possible to actually know whether anyone actually means to honour the allegiance they swear to.
At least Lidia has made international news.
Unfortunately Lidai went lukewarm on Voice, seemingly listening to the No campaign, but one’s issue is how too many MPs, Senators and related influencers, with media complicit by using politics for free content and visual stunts, are displaying symptoms of raging narcissism….