Barnaby Joyce is always saying something remarkable for its inanity, and the last couple of days he’s done nothing to cause me to reassess my low opinion of his tortuous thought processes.
I watched him on ABC News 24 as he descended into red-faced blather on the subject, yet again, of Johnny Depp’s damn dogs, free associating like a unicyclist careening around the pavement whilst juggling plates about at any moment to topple, on the dangers Depp’s canines presented to our biological security. Not that I wish to play down Depp’s arrogant offences but Barnaby in the mix can reduce almost any topic, however serious, to farce.
Barely recovered from that comedic interlude, I was almost immediately subjected to Barnaby’s strident claim that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull should be returned as PM on the grounds that he, unlike Opposition leader Bill Shorten, has made a quid in his life.
I confess myself somewhat unnerved by this narrative newly entering our politics and seeking normalisation, that the only requirement for holding high office is the demonstrated ability to make a quid, or rather, millions of them. It matters not how the quid is made, indeed the less said about that the better, it’s merely the having of the quid that counts because having lots of quids equals substance and talent sufficient to run a country.
By this measure it is only a matter of time before one of the Kardashians runs for public office.
Those of us who have not made a quid, and I use the phrase as a metonym for wealth rather than the middle-class comfort that aspires to and imitates the shenanigans of the wealthy, are in this narrative called upon to respect the rich and accept the fact of their greater wisdom because after all, nongs like us are disqualified from power having not earned it, because we haven’t got the nous to acquire the requisite quids.
This attitude has been joyfully embraced by right-wing Christian fundamentalists, who have now incorporated as evidence of God’s love and favour the possession of wealth. You have quids because god wants you to have quids and if you don’t have quids it’s because god doesn’t want you to have quids because you haven’t been sufficiently subservient to him and you haven’t done his will.
This combination of politics and religion creates a powerful discourse in which having quids is normalised as a measure of sacred and profane achievement. Ultimately it relieves both religion and politics of the burden of giving a damn about anybody with less quids: either you haven’t earned it when you should have, or god doesn’t love you enough to let you have it so why should we?
As we approach the next federal election, assume the crash position and kiss your arse goodbye, because barring a miracle, this poisonous narrative will have found the normalisation it seeks, and the majority, who continue to show themselves as being far from the full quid, will keep the conservatives in place, normalising inequality, normalising lack of health care and education, normalising draconian police powers and further normalising the outrageous privilege of those with quids.
It is astounding how some people most disadvantaged by conservative ideology continue to support its rhetoric.
This article was originally published on No Place For Sheep.
Thanks Jennifer – spot on and amusing. Well done and you have got Barnaby perfectly.
Barnaby is a buffoon as well as not being the full quid.
Who needs the Kardashians? We already have the diverting spectacle of Donald Trump (who has a few quid, most of which he inherited) running for high office. Excellent article!
…as @amca01 says: Who needs the Kardashian’s… we’ve got Clive! Besides, you don’t need to be elected to make policy you only have to be of the order Twiggy or Maurice or Our Biggest Miner, Gina to have a say…. and then have “Le Jongleur” Roskam write the script and have it limp-wristedly delivered by Timmy and Jamie….. Kafka-esque it has all become
Good article.
‘Wonderful well written and funny article Jennifer, and it’s pretty scary when you are judged not on your worth as a human being but on how much money you have made or not made.
The same attitude was shown by Morrison when he had a dig at Shorten for his ”” Ill Fitting Suits””’ we are the serfs,they are the Overlords, make sure we know our place and dont dare question them or their decisions or they will cut you down like a rabbies iínfected dog.””””’
One of Australia’s problems, is farmers, who vote for f*ck-knuckles like Bananababy Joice.
Stop the farmers voting and you stop the problem cold.
The average mug punter has been conditioned for a long time now and this is summed up by Michael D Yates when he said in “The Great Inequality”:
“First, power allows a person unilaterally to change another’s constraints, and it can, when exercised long enough, change the habits of subordinates so that the latter act automatically in the interests of their masters. Second, those with personal power will inevitably also have social power, and this will allow them to make the rules that all must obey, and these will benefit the powerful. These rules, in turn, may come to seem normal, which lowers any costs the powerful would have to incur to maintain their power. Third, wherever there is power, there can be no democracy, since if there were, such power would be abolished by majority rule.”
Is this the definition of “not being the full quid”? It’s something we need to think about, of course only after the cricket, tennis, golf and footy and only if I don’t have to do anything and it doesn’t affect me in any way!
On the subject of Quids
The issue is our really dumb politicians borrow money from banks that we should be creating ourselves and then pay them interest.
Is it not time that we in this country had faith in each other, for our society to make a promise to itself. That promise can be written on something and we can call it money, but it will only have value if we all honour that promise to ourselves.
There is so much of this stuff we call money, of which the majority is digital (approximately 97%) and it is traveling at light speed around our planet. We have been conditioned to desire and possess as much of it as we can, because of this those that create it, the private banks, control us.
If this country had a system of sovereign money we could as a society make that promise to ourselves and not private bankers. You might say this is pie in the sky stuff and could never happen, but you would be wrong.
In 1914 in England because of WWI there was a rush on the banks and the financial system was on the verge of collapse, much like the situation we have globally today. In a matter of days the British government issued sovereign money, the Bradbury Pound thus averting a financial collapse.
There is a successful precedent for Sovereign Money that was implemented in days, that was realistic and effective. So if somebody says the concept is unrealistic and would never work, cite the Bradbury Pound.
If we were the full quid we would have something like the Aussie Quid, the people’s money?
Great article!
Good piece Jennifer. Joyce has certainly lost the plot… if he ever had it in the first place. How the hell does a nitwit like that have the second top political job in the country?
I seem to recall that the Bible explicitly and emphatically forbids the worship of Mammon, the golden calf — money. I guess it’s just another case of the rabid variety of Christians not knowing their Bible and simply needing another tool to express their hate. They really do have a lot of hatred, the poor dears. How horrible it must be to live inside their heads.
To buffoons like Barnaby and the LNP all publicity is good publicity no matter the message behind it.
As for the second point of the article what he is REALLY saying is that both he and ABBOTT are losers because neither have achieved independent and sustainable wealth outside of politics.
Both depend on their politicians expense accounts to get by and will rely on their politicians superannuation scheme to survive after politics.
Joyce wasn’t impressed with Depp’s attitude in his ‘apology’ video, noting the International actor looked as if he was auditioning for the Godfather.
Bravo pea brain you actually partly got it right but it wasn’t an audition it was Depp as Depp the actor taking the bloody mickey, with his dead pan, expressionless flat voice, without makeup and I suspect ensured he deliberately looked as haggard as possible, slouching on the settee.
It was all an act and contained as much sincerity as I would have had, if I had the misfortune to meet you in the flesh.
I agree the non declaring of the dogs was wrong, however Joyce’s whole handling of the episode was pathetic and at times childish, words usually associated with the ‘Deputy PM’.
It appears that Barnacles feels truly threatened by Pistol and Boo. Clearly either one of these cute little dogs have five times the charisma, ten times the intelligence and 100 times more compassion than the loathsome, crass, inarticulate, dumbed down BOGAN, Joyce aka the Totalitarian Tyrant from Townsville (TTT)! What a vicious, self important, pompous little grub Joyce is … a real legend in his own small mind. This nauseating megalomaniacal narcissist who has delusions of grandeur that almost match those of his hero, Abbottomy, will – no doubt – sink back into total obscurity at the next federal election when the popular, erudite Tony Windsor will WIPE the floor with this self serving, corrupt idiot! The staggering hubris of the TTT in self indulgently hiring FOUR EXPENSIVE HELICOPTERS at taxpayer expense right on top of the Bronwyn Bishop scandal proves that this repugnant and totally corrupt philistine is so disconnected from the rage and disappointment of ordinary people throughout Australia or is as dumb as a plate of coal dust! Either way, the TTT couldn’t be trusted to manage a jar full of 5 cent coins! How this vile personification of greed, self entitlement and sniggering arrogant condescension managed to rise up to be Deputy PM is one of the great mysteries of the modern world! Clearly, the worst scum in the LNP just keep rising to the top .. like faecal matter in a polluted pond! We need to cleanse our country from these vile pollutants who are decimating everything we love about this nation! DO IT at the next election!
To my point of view there’s ” Quids ” and ” Scruples ” …. when one accumulates the first at the expense of the second, another is entitled to comment ….. about the lack of the latter !!
Oh dear ! that ” entitled ” word crops up again ….. and out of context too ! .. tut !
Back to meditation. … 😉 …
I can’t help thinking about rich men and the eyes of needles. How did we get from that to equating the possession of great wealth as evidence of God’s favour? The majority of those with great wealth seem to me to act in a most unChristian fashion. And why should such people be better at running the country?
If the Turnbull government is returned at the elections it could herald a new era for Australia. We could take all the money out of Australia and store it in the Cayman Islands. The wealthy would guard the account numbers because they’re rich and that means they’re trustworthy enough, and the poor could learn to live on grasshoppers and witchetty grubs and the odd onion because that’s all they deserve. All the wealthy could helicopter everywhere until the poor died out and all Australia’s problems would be over.
Betcha that’s the plan… or something like it.
Barnaby is really looking forward to all the free helicopter rides.
The salient point lost on Joyce is that Shorten has also made a few quids.
The difference being that Shorten’s quids were made on behalf of others with less than he.
Turnbull’s quids were made entirely for himself!
Some great contributions everyone. Salstarat yours was brilliant, AIM never disappoints when a laugh amidst the serious arrives, not demeaning the serious comments for a second. Just about to detab a tinny, looking forward to it…cheers
You say: “It is astounding how some people most disadvantaged by conservative ideology continue to support its rhetoric.”
Do they really not realize that the rhetoric is full of lies?
Thanks Jennifer. John Oliver (Last Week Tonight on HBO in the US) did a good piece on the infiltration of the acquisition of money into the religious psyche as as determination of worth. As usual, the whole thing is simply about normalising the acquisition of wealth (and the gaining of wealth) as a measure of worth and gods reward. The televangelists in the US (and here) use it as a means of getting people to make them wealthy by the viewers sending in ‘seed’ money for later ‘harvest’. The fact that this mentality is infiltrating politics is not a good thing but is also another indication of the melding of politics and religion (Morrison’s church Hillsong unashamedly pursue wealth and use it as an indication of worth).
I too was dumbstruck by Banana’s comment about Mal’s worthiness for the job because he’s ‘made a quid’ – I just hope other voters are similarly turned off but I fear the note will hit a chord with the shallow public.
John Oliver;s piece on Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1xJAVZxXg
I think the llama is terrified to blink because Barnaby is a real life Weeping Angel.
Pardon my french…
Folk, for context, the little caption in french at the bottom of the cover pic …Don’t miss it or your will miss just how biting the satire is.
For those who don’t know French, don’t know anyone who speaks French, or don’t know of the existence of GoogleTranslate, “Ceci n’est pas un chien” = “This is not a dog”.
Yes, and you see the bafflement on poor Barnaby’s face.. what is it? You can almost sense the Alpaca doing a resigned eyeball roll.
Darn, I thought I got the breed wrong after I posted that comment. It’s not my fault, I had an attack of Barnabyitis.
I spoke with a friend last night on a range of topics. I don’t remember how the subject of Barnaby Joyce came up, but my friend was of the opinion that Joyce was a harmless idiot who means well. When I told of the many offices Joyce has, outfitted at taxpayer expence to the tune of a third of a million dollars each, when for most people a single office is sufficient, and the four expensive helicopter rides undertaken to avoid mere 45 minute car trips, again funded by the taxpayers so soon after Bronwyn Bishop’s helicopter error of judgement, my friend was amazed and altered their opinion of Joyce to that of a corrupt, self-entitled idiot.
Information is a good thing.
I have friends like that too, Miriam, but with some of them their minds are too made up to bother taking in a few facts. Their typical response after trying to say we had a lousy PM in Tony Aboot, was “he must be smarter than you because he’s prime minister and you’re not”. Well, he’s definitely smarter than them, at least.
God just told me he made a mistake and we are to rise up and smite those with too many quids.
And besides we should vote for Malcolm because he’s rich and were not and that makes him smarter than us! Just like the Americans should vote for Trump because he’s rich and they’re not!
A harmless idiot but who paid for the lobbying for Cubbie Creek?
Garths excellent post re John Oliver…amazingly some free to air Australian channels 4ME and 10, naming 2 are still showing these phony money ripping off preachers of lies, albeit in the early hours of the morning, including the still cash grabbing Creflo Dollar,(his parents knew a thing or two) who I see has postponed purchasing his 65 million dollars Jet. he does have another jet parked in a hanger waiting to be repaired. However that goes back to early last year, nowhere can I find any updated article on the purchase
I am unsure if Miss Karmas powers extend to the air worthiness of aircraft
http://www.christianpost.com/news/pilot-rips-claim-by-creflo-dollar-ministries-that-it-needs-65-million-luxury-airplane-to-carry-100000-pounds-of-food-135671/
John Oliver did a hilarious piece on the internationally despised Barnaby Joyce … my God, the current LNP are ALWAYS in the INTERNATIONAL NEWS for the WRONG REASONS! They go on and on turning Australia into a laughing stock and embarrassing us all on the international stage! …..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AihmeJtKXC4
Did anyone understand the reference to a frog in a sock or did I mis hear that bit?
The llama was thinking “What you talkin’ about, joyce ? I’m a llama. I don’t do French.”