“We’re more popular than Jesus now. I don’t know which will go first – rock & roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me.” John Lennon
Now, I try very hard to be fair. I am aware that not everyone will have the same moral code or the same life experience as I do. I try to listen and to accept people, even when they have a different viewpoint.
Yes, yes, I know that some of you are thinking that’s ridiculous and some people just aren’t worth the time and they’re just evil and stupid and…
I do understand and accept that point of view.
However, when I wrote a headline that compared Morrison to Churchill, I found many people attacking it without actually reading beyond the headline. Churchill, I pointed out, only really had one or two good moments in a long political career. Morrison, as far as I’m concerned, is yet to have that many.
So the narrative from some of the media about how he’s made a few mistakes but now he’s really hitting his stride strikes me as a little premature. “FROM DAGGY DAD TO FATHER OF OUR NATION,” read one headline. Now, I didn’t read the article so it seems unfair to condemn it on the basis of the headline, particularly after I’ve just complained about people doing that to me.
But, hey, if there’s one thing you need, to write opinion pieces, it’s hypocrisy in large doses, so let me make the following points to the writer of that article:
- Morrison’s “daggy dad” image was carefully crafted and about as genuine as a Rolex watch that sells for $30 but only if you meet Barry at the pub between five and six o’clock. I mean, take the recent curry making effort. It’s one thing to make a curry for your family, but it’s another to film yourself doing it and put it on social media.
- Giving inconsistent messages for several weeks, followed by a consistent message for a couple of days, does not make one a “father of the nation”. One usually becomes a father by having sex, so in the sense that Morrison has fucked the nation then I am prepared to concede there is some chance of him being the actual father, but I’d want DNA testing before I was sure.
- Some of Morrison’s recent moves have been a good idea, but usually, the ones that are good are the same ones he was condemning just a few weeks ago.
- One swallow does not a summer make…Although Bob Hawke could apparently down a whole yard of beer in one swallow and Morrison sculling a glass and putting it on his head is not really all that impressive when compared to Hawkie.
Yes, while I’m not saying that Morrison has done everything wrong, he certainly hasn’t done everything right. I understand that these are unusual times and how it’d be wrong to be too picky, We all need to be on Team Australia and all that.
However, his messaging on schools just created confusion. I’m still yet to understand how kids can be safe at school and not pass it on to each other, teachers or their parents, but they’re unsafe if they stay at home being looked after by granny, whom they are going to kill by picking up the virus. Apparently, the best medical advice says that only a very small percentage of kids are testing positive. Why? Well, the best medical advice doesn’t have an answer to that but the best medical advice is completely sure that they can go to school and only a very small percentage will catch it and an even smaller number will die from it, so it’s really completely safe.
And while I’m cynical about JobKeeper just being a way of hiding the number of true unemployed so that the statistics don’t look that bad, I can see that it’s potentially a good thing. Yes, Freddy doesn’t have any work to do but he’s still being paid by his employer who’s being paid by the government so he’s not actually unemployed and won’t be counted as such, which should make Freddy feel better because he has a job and the best form of welfare is a job even if it’s one where you’re basically not employed. Unfortunately, like so much that this government does, the reality doesn’t match the announcement. There’ll be employers who don’t apply because it’s too complicated, as well as employers who somehow rort the system leaving their employees to join the JobSeeker queue anyway. Either way, we’ll see unemployment hit unparalleled numbers, leading to a surge of IPA commentators appearing on the ABC complaining that not only does the ABC never put them on, but it’s ridiculous to be in lockdown when all you’re doing is saving the lives of a few people, and there’s no need to do that when we have so many spare people not working.
Over the next few months the cries about government debt will get louder until Scott Morrison abandons the non-ideological persona he’s tried to adopt over the past few weeks and insists that, in spite of the fact that they ran up more debt than all federal governments combined, they’re really, really good economic managers who will have the Budget back to surplus in no time at all and the crisis is over so anyone who doesn’t have a job clearly isn’t trying.
The whole thing about government debt is that it’s different from personal debt. I remember once reading a meme which said that the world was in debt to the tune of umpteen trillion dollars and it demanded to know what planet we owed it to. And that’s sort of the point about government debt. Who do they owe it to? There’s no simple answer but one way of the government has generated it, is through bonds. Who bought the bonds? Some of them have been bought by institutions which you own through your superannuation. So, in other words, some of the money taxpayers owe because of government borrowing, they owe to themselves.
Ok, I’m sure that an economist could explain that in much more detail so that you’d see that I’m guilty of over-simplification, but if we didn’t have people like me doing that, then economists would just keep explaining things with all those words that make you stop listening so that you ignore them and figure the whole thing is just too complicated and the Liberals seem pretty boring so they must know what they’re doing. After all, they keep telling the same sort of thing that your parents did when you didn’t want to listen to them and look how that turned out…
Yes, it’s just a few weeks ago that Josh and Scott were telling us that Labor hadn’t delivered a surplus since last century, but if you want to go back through history, it’s worth remembering that the only Liberal Treasurer to deliver a surplus in the last forty years is Peter Costello, who did it during the mining boom. Let’s not even point out his selling off of assets like our gold reserves for bargain prices.
I’ll just leave you with one final thought as we approach Anzac Day: Conservatives seem to have an obsession with everyone remembering what happened over a century ago, while demanding we all forget what happened last week!
[textblock style=”7″]
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
[/textblock]
Yes with the revelations in the “book of the week “ it’s obvious that scotty is a shallow god botherer with a thin veneer of moral righteousness
Morrison’s filthy forays into matters of fantasy and fraud and Fellatio friendly corporate crawling are the important discussion, for the lying turd has form, failure and frenzied fabrication to blot his imaginary record. Backed by a team of shit spreaders, it is popular with dung beetle type people, especially conservative country party dags and dropping who continue to ruin, degrade, pollute and scour our delicate nation. The nation needs grossly revised attitudes, institutions, policies and plans, all well beyond a greedy grabbing, gouging, grubby grafting gang under this Piltdown Man, the P M. And Turnbull, belatedly honest before terminal beheading, might be ejected by the corporate c–k-s—ing NSW liberal donor obeying, knee bending, handout for career, obey the patrons party.
It won’t be long before Fox News claims Morrison IS Jesus…then he will put his arm around the tangerine twat’s shoulder and say ‘This is my Messiah and I support him.’
Wankin ParbeckApril 20, 2020 at 10:07 am
It won’t be long before Fox News claims Morrison IS Jesus…then he will put his arm around the tangerine twat’s shoulder and say ‘This is my Messiah and I support him.’
Which is why, when I hear that MT claims in his book that he knew what Scotty from Marketing was really like, ’cause if he did, why was he not awake to what he was up to before that fellow took his job off him by subterfuge? Wasn’t it the case that MT had to OK the 2nd Spill, for it to happen. And wasn’t there a visit to him the prior evening by that fellow he intimates he was wise to and then allowed it to proceed?
Only one thing could stop that conniver from becoming a US Pres, is he wasn’t born there, but I guess if anyone can get around that, a certain news paper owner should. Which is where your idea has merit, surely.
I suppose if Cartman/Trump can be a god king, then even someone as mediocre as Morrison can be the kitchen hand (first class) and accolyte.
“All the way with LBJ”.
Satire it may be for you, Rossleigh, but the eternal rounds of ‘borrowing at interest’ enables the haves to continually suck life out of the have-nots who need capital to move forward.
Ultimately, of course, the consumers of whatever the borrower used the capital for actually pay for it.
More of the ‘syphon upwards’ and less of the ‘trickle down’, as ever.
. . . but it’s ridiculous to be in lockdown when all you’re doing is saving the lives of a few people and there’s no need to do that when we have so many spare people not working.
There is the liar from the shire’s strategy. Sacrifice the superfluous peasants to keep the rest in the luxury they are accustomed to. As in the US where the majority of deaths are occurring among African Americans and other immigrants. Those associated with menial work will be and are the canaries in the coal mine. Sacrificed to appease the great god money.
Take a bloody good look at the filth we are governed by, a good look at this rotten, corrupt society, a good look at those hypocrites who profess to be christians and be disgusted at what is tolerated and praised by the braindead shit for brains f*ckwits.
What have we become? Does your ego still tell you you are a decent human? This construct is crumbling, torn apart by the rise of supremely incompetent, psychopaths/sociopaths, liars, thieves, con artists. These scum suckers ably and willingly supported by the arse licking shitheads. All promoted by repulsive rupert and news corpse — where the truth goes to die, fox news and other assorted traitorous criminals.
What an horribly disgusting race we have become. All of us de-evolving into piss weak, braindead arseholes, trapped by a construct that is rotten to the core. Apocalypse now, says nature, wake up now, says nature, no more, says nature, you have shit on me and ignored my warnings too many times, says nature. Now pay the price of your wilful ignorance.
“Mum, where’s dad?”
“Out in the back shed with that stupid national cabinet thingy he keeps banging on about. Why, dear?”
“Thanks, Mum.”
“Hey dad. Can I borrow the Holden?”
“Nah. It’s gone.”
“Oh. Bugger. That’s right. I said over dinner that night back in 2013 that $150mil would seem like pocket money one day.”……………
Apparently churchill started off his real career in the Gallipoli theatre of WW1. (After a bit of time in the Boer War)
Can we send scottyfromadvertising to Gallipoli? Please? If he is going to be compared to a “famous” politician he has to start somewhere, and not here sounds good to me.
It’s a pity you actually didn’t read the article before making your following points to Jacqueline Maley, the writer of that article, as it was actually quite a good article, however, the headline was not her words but taken from the following comment in the article – “Rodney Tiffen, emeritus professor of political science in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney, says Morrison has gone from “daggy dad to ‘father of the nation’”
Unfortunately Jacqueline Maley copped a lot of grief on social media by many many people like you who took the headline as her words & never bothered to read the article and if I was Maley I would kick the headline writer in the butt as not only did it not reflect the gist of the article, it also put people off reading it which is not a good ad if you’re trying to sell papers or subscriptions or promote your masthead and it also heaped a lot of abuse towards Maley which wasn’t warranted just as the attacks on your headline comparing Morrison to Churchill weren’t warranted either.
So to people who write headlines I would say be careful what you write if you want to get people to actually read the articles before making any comments and also if you want to promote your media masthead whether it be in print or online.
As for Morrison becoming a popular leader in a crisis I’d just like to point out that even though Churchill was a popular wartime leader who led Britain to victory over Germany in World War 2, he was then voted out of office by those very same people within 2 months of the war ending in Europe as the Labour Party was swept into office and while Morrison might be popular now during the crisis, let’s see how popular he is when he starts trying to wind back the stimulus packages to get the economy back to ‘normal’ once the crisis eases.
And the ignorant, easily confused, stupid bloody “general public” have swallowed all his “Socialist” bullshit & now he has leapt ahead in the opinion polls! WTF??? Great article, as usual, Rossleigh!
Quite right, Neil, but I did say that I was being hypocritical so in that sense, I’m completely in the right. And by completely in the right, I mean it in the same sense that Greg Sheridan was on the ABC this morning for his regular spot complaining about the ABC not giving a voice to people who want to attack it before hanging up because they’d tricked him by asking him a question about what he’d said yesterday to start the program instead of foreign affairs.
Yes, Rossleigh, that is one of their oldest and most hypocritical lines, when commercial msm is so reluctant to cope with questionings as to its own objectivity. My favourite TV show remains MediaWatch.
KISS is the key to success put something complex into a slogan. any dissent is draped in complexity and automatically 50% of Australians are out of contact, soon another 25% have switched off.
answer a slogan with a slogan or arm the labor faithful with a KISS antidote.
ps
Have I heard your post somewhere before, vikingduk,
there’s no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families?
pps
advertising works on the not so stupid, bronte, and is enhanced by fear of the future(thanks boobby)??