When asked for a response to the Moss Report (you know, the one that the Government set up because aid workers were going over to Nauru and encouraging people to self harm because well, isn’t that why people become aid workers?), Tony Abbott replied as follows:
“Occasionally, I dare say, things happen. Because in any institution you get things that, occasionally, aren’t perfect!”
Now I’m presuming that he’s referring to the detention centre itself and not his government because, as we all know, anybody who criticises his government is “partisan”. The Human Rights Commissioner is partisan, the UN is partisan, the ABC is partisan, I’m partisan, even some of the backbenchers are partisan. How can we tell if they’re partisan? Well, it’s quite simple. They criticise the Abbott Government.
A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece where I speculated on how Abbott would have handled allegations of sexual abuse in the Church if he’d become a Bishop. Someone suggested that I was drawing a long bow to try and link the cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church with Abbott just because of his religious views, and that it was a cheap shot. In fact, I only used the Catholic Church because Abbott once studied to be a priest, and sure, there are plenty of other institutions that I could have used. I guess now I could simply ask how he’d respond if he became Prime Minister. And the answer is simple! From time to time in any institution, you get things that aren’t perfect. Things happen.
Why am I getting this feeling of deja vu?
Ah, that’s right:
“Obviously the Australian Government deplores any use of torture. We deplore that, wherever it might take place, we deplore that. But we accept that sometimes in difficult circumstances, difficult things happen.”
That was at CHOGM when he was referring to Sri Lanka’s use of torture. (Alleged, and the allegations are mainly from people with a grudge against the Sri Lankan government because of being involved in “difficult things”!) He did go on to add that now that the war was over, Sri Lanka was a much more free and prosperous place. I’m sure that he wasn’t linking the two, because what sort of a man would justify torture. Actually, to be fair, he was deploring the use of torture, just saying that he understood that “difficult things happen”. Unlike the UN which tends to see some “difficult things” as torture and should just go back to where they came from and stop lecturing countries dealing with difficult circumstances… like people criticising the government. Or locking people up forever without trial because they’re supposedly “illegal”. (Mm, why don’t we charge them with law that they’ve broken? Have we gone soft on law and order?)
Of course, we’re not torturing anybody. We don’t run the detetion centres, that’s a private company. And we’re not responsible for the private company because they’re in another country and subject to its laws, so we can’t be interfering with another country’s sovereignty – unless it’s in the Middle East where sovereignty doesn’t count so much. But we just have to accept that “occasionally, things happen”. Difficult things happen. And we just have to accept that.
Ah, now I remember. It was his response to the death of the Australian soldier which demonstrated Abbott’s world view so clearly. We all remember:
“Shit happens!”
Yes, well of course it does. We just don’t expect it to end up Prime Minister!
P.S. Let’s not forget that wonderful explanation Mr Abbott provided to the “shit happens” comment.
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Excellent blog. Exactly what I’ve been thinking for a while. I’d like to post it on his facebook page. (You know the one, that has the biggest demographic of likers being from India and aged between 18 and 30.)
“Yes, well of course it does. We just don’t expect it to end up Prime Minister!”
Brilliant. Thank you for this line. Was feeling a bit crabby this morning… until I read this brilliant observation.
please sir i want you to find a person who was a schoolboy when abbott was in seminary at manly.this person is to accuse him of sexual misconduct..does not matter if not true just use the murdoch mantra of publish now and apologise 3 years later when all over
Now Terry, why make up lies when the truth is enough to condemn the man?
Ross you most certainly can criticise the Catholic Church because it operates under a set of concepts and values antithetical to the brute facts of science. Why is so much cruelty happening while many members of parliament are Catholic and Christians of other denominations? So Jesus loves the little children only when it is expedient. That religious people think they are beyond the bounds of criticism is ridiculous and anti-democratic. A rational critique of contemporary politics actually demands we deconstruct this nonsense and move towards a more rational empirically based response to political dysfunction. Rather than denying the right to religious belief we should expect those beliefs to encapsulate the facts of the day. They can maintain their faith divorced from magical, mythical dogma drawn from a largely obscure and primitive past. I have Catholic friends and do not hold back from critical assessment of the whole edifice of Christian intolerance, judgment, blame and retribution. Some agreer with me some don’t and that is just the way it is.
The lies, double speak, paradoxes and straight out hypocrisies presented in your article must be challenged at every level. We are undeniably complicit in torture and human rights abuses the problem is to move beyond dogma into a consensual recognition of the facts. Sometimes I think it’s a waste of time talking to these ignoramuses because they are truly irrational, illogical lying brutes with little regard for morality and human decency.
Obviously religion for these people is no more than a front for their greed and cruelty. This of course goes for all religions when, as I noted elsewhere, the purveyors of God’s love are the brutes of inequality.
Of course they scream like stuffed pigs about religious intolerance while they carry out unspeakable acts of cruelty, greed, injustice and inequality. All we are asking is for the doyens of religious ideology to come into the modern era whereby empirical facts challenge the vilification of others due to irrational distortion of the facts driven by magical, mythical beliefs in ideological superiority.
In short keep your religion but stop hypocritical justification of cruelty.
It’s time for all religions to vocally and vehemently challenge their corrupt and dysfunctional peers.
The trouble is when religions abandon their twin pillars of fear and ignorance of the people they will have nothing left.
Terry, telling lies doesn’t make the liar any better than Abbott.
Hilarious Clarke and Dawe
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-19/clarke-and-dawe-does-australia-need-a-government/6332758
If religions were not allowed to brainwash children, they would die. Tony Abbott’s whole way of thinking is the distorted faith based way. Logic and reason have never been factors.
As Tony has been quoted saying on many occasions – “It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission”.
I hope he remembers that after someone smashes his ugly face in.
We can all accept that bad things sometimes happen under various circumstances, but when you’re responsible for those bad things, the question that should be asked is “What are you going to do about it?”
Shit does not “HAPPEN”! It is caused by Arseholes!
And the current government is the proof!
Actually, to be technical about it Cleanlivin, the shit is caused by what one swallows, the arseholes just allow it to come out.
But I appreciate the point nonetheless.
the church is the suppository of knowledge that forms abbott’s understanding of life. it dictates the status of women, acknowledging there may be exceptional women like a pile of saints over the ages. But generally the menstrual mystery prevents women from equality.
But above all it allows him dispensation from lies because he is doing opus dei so lying for god is the truth. Giving him certain belief that he has not told lies.
Hitler was baptised as a Catholic. How’d that turn out? To those who would say that Abbott is different because he’s a democratically elected leader, remember that everything old Adolf did was legal in Germany at the time. Again, how’d that turn out? Stupid is as stupid does. Or more appropriately, prime minister is as prime minister does…. And no, I’m not going to use capital letters for the position he has abused. He doesn’t deserve that respect, as he’s certainly not ‘prime’, and he’s reduced the position to a global laughing stock.
Oh shite !! …. Lots of tangents here.
Seriously though – first @Jake … I was about to blow a gasket, until I read your post, which was timely and well said.
Hitler WAS baptised and raised a Catholic. … He turned his back on Catholicism / Christianity ( of any kind ) somewhere in his teens or a bit later – and devised an ideology which was Nazi-ism – with an ( ultimate ) aim to ethnically cleanse, create a new Aryan race ( perfection [ white / blonde ] he saw it as, I believe ), and beginning with ridding the world – first of Jews and ( had not the war been won by the Allies ) … to then rid the world of Christians as they were presented and present at the time.
As you said : “How’d that turn out” … Yes. … How indeed. With his defeat, but also with the murder of 6 million Jewish people.
I am not anti-Catholic, or anti-any other religion – specifically – but agree with some others here, that religion causes a whole heap of pain; that without the indoctrination of children, organised religion would fall in a big hole ( Aortic said similar ), and something has to be done about it – very quickly. What though ?
I have a few thoughts of what some might do or want to do, but none of them would serve any good purpose in the long run.
I also have to ask, how much of the obvious dictatorial and fear-laden uttered attitudes of the current leader here, has to do with the pm’s upbringing, and possible indoctrination – while studying to be a priest ?
Just wonderin’….
~~~~~~
“Hitler WAS baptised and raised a Catholic. … He turned his back on Catholicism / Christianity ( of any kind ) somewhere in his teens or a bit later – and devised an ideology which was Nazi-ism ”
That isn’t true. Hitler’s cleansing of the Jews was done in the name of Christianity.
http://www.nobeliefs.com/speeches.htm
Rossleigh – … ref : your article – the posted video sure does – says it all in fact. ” shit happens” in response to the death of a soldier ?? How caring !! How good of him !! …. and was he ever put on the mat in that interview. !!
Have to say – as usual, your writing prowess has lost none of its’ lustre.
……….
As a matter of interest ( ref. the abuse of children in religious organisations ) ….
Currently, there is a big investigation into the same kind of vile abuse of the young and innocent ( molestation / paedophilia ) … going on in the Jewish fraternity. It is going through a Royal Commission as we speak. Began in the Yeshivah College in Melbourne – and spread from there. … Quite a few Rabbis’ have ‘left’ or resigned over the allegations, not only of abuse, but of turning their backs on specific evidence that abuse was happening. … A very big uproar for the Jewish people. But almost identical to that of priests and the Catholic hierarchy – who also tried so hard to cover it all up.
stephentardrew mentioned : ” Jesus loves the little children only when it is expedient. “ …. Not sure what you mean by that stephen. … I think the remarkable Jewish man Jesus, did want what was best for the young, the downtrodden, and the maligned.
“Jesus loves the little children ” is a positive kind of childrens’ hymn promoting security, sung in Sunday Schools. … made up by whoever ( showing origin unknown ) … as part of indoctrination of children into religion – of any Christian form. The lyrics:
“Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Black and yellow, red and white
They’re all precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world ”
The good thing about this is the point being made to accept all – no matter what their colour – everyone is precious. …. Not a bad thing for a child to learn in fact. … but how many children of today have ever heard that child hymn / song ? …. I don’t even know if Sunday Schools exist any more – can anyone enlighten on this ?
Abhorrent however, that it has been turned inside out, and upside down – with more and more revelations of abuse of children by the so-called ‘leaders’ of these ( Christian ) religions, that sit there and sing that song with them. .. doesn’t apply to Jewish children, but the same things have happened there too.
Do we simply say then “shit happens” to all this ? …. Perhaps the illustrious pm could enlighten us all on this one. ???
Makes me totally ill.
Lee …
I believe we have been researching different aspects on this subject. !! …
Your link, shows a definite inclination toward acceptance of, or excuse for, Hitlers actions – couched in terms of Christianity ( sometimes, on that page ).
He was a manipulator, and would say anything and everything to con anyone listening, towards his ideologies. …. Does that sound like anyone we know now ???? …..
****
Your comment : “Hitler’s cleansing of the Jews was done in the name of Christianity.”
The way you have written that – seems that you agree that it was the right thing to do – but I can scarcely believe that to be your intention. So – I won’t … but it’s a little off beat.
Because – if getting rid of Jews, was done in the name of Christianity, then they were wanting to rid the world of the very people from whom Jesus – the Jewish rabbi / master ( according to the Bible ) came from.
That doesn’t make a lot of sense – but then, nothing in organised religion really does – does it ?
“The way you have written that – seems that you agree that it was the right thing to do – but I can scarcely believe that to be your intention. So – I won’t … but it’s a little off beat.”
STFU you demented old woman. I said nothing of the sort.
Check your post Lee … ( April 5, 2015 at 11:10 pm ) …
That’s exactly what you said – and you know it. …. Your comment : “Hitler’s cleansing of the Jews was done in the name of Christianity.” – – you said it.
I had a very big chuckle at your response. …. OMG …. what a perfect expose of the type of person you really are !
If I had stopped to think before replying to you, I’d have realised the exact kind of mucky, filthy response you would give to my reply …. you ARE a delightful piece of work, aren’t you ?
I should have remembered a previous promise I made myself on another post a while back – that was – to never again respond to you.
And so it shall be ……. Bung that in your pipe and smoke it …….
Do your damndest, use dirty language, anything you like – I am done with such a rude ignoramus.
No, you check the post and learn to read. I’m tired of you reading stuff that isn’t there and making assumptions when you know shit. I simply stated a well-documented fact. It doesn’t mean that I agree with Hitler’s actions. You’re a complete and utter moron who is too busy rambling with your nonsense and jumping to the most ridiculous conclusions to take the time to read what is written. And once again you have promised never to respond to me again. Please keep your promise this time. Your promises are as meaningless as Tony Abbott’s.
And you madam / sir / whatever !! lee ….. are simply a troll.
Doing what trolls do best – abusing, attempting to insult, twisting words, obfuscating – all to get a reaction – of one kind or other. … or perhaps you need a little attention. …. of some sort.
I have seen you do this before.
Seriously – go elsewhere …. with your nonsense. ….
I could make further really rotten and nasty comments, as you have done to me, but won’t stoop to your low level. ….
Meantime –
p.f.f.t.
I haven’t twisted anything. You made a false statement. I provided evidence to the contrary. Since when is that trolling or twisting words? Then you falsely accused me of anti-Semitism. Nowhere did I state that I agreed with Hitler’s actions. You made that up. You’re an incredibly stupid woman and your reading comprehension skills suck arse.
Apologies to readers in advance, but I feel that I have the right to defend myself, and to stand up for myself. …It will take up some room because of spacing, but is not too much actual reading …. I would prefer no posts in support – or not – of my comments. I would like this back and forth diatribe to end.
Here then is my response, in part – to Lee :
” I haven’t twisted anything.” … depends on how something is read, as to what ‘twisting words’ is, doesn’t it ! ,,, A moot point.
” You made a false statement.” — No – I have not uttered any false statements in this ‘exchange’. I have said what I have believed – as most do on this network.
” I provided evidence to the contrary.” – you mean this ? : http://www.nobeliefs.com/speeches.htm –
That link provided only speeches attributed to Hitler – there are thousands of sites, blogs on the Internet that are involved in researching the profile of Hitler – what he did, how he did it, who and what he was, the analysis of his Mein Kampf, the history of the Third Reich – and much much more – about that one person.
So it was not specifically ‘evidence’ … it was one collection of speeches only, for gosh sakes.
” Since when is that trolling or twisting words?”
Have dealt with the twisting bit. …. A troll is someone who deliberately agitates to get reactions – and the more recent of your posts – the abusive comments and character assassination, is often what a troll does on social media / independent media.
When things got nasty … you used words to describe me or my comments / writing, as follows : –
…… STFU you demented old woman. ( we all know what STFU means )
…… you know shit
…… You’re a complete and utter moron
…… You’re an incredibly stupid woman
…… your reading comprehension skills suck arse.
I do not back away from having made some inflamatory statements to you as well. But your use of words was insulting and totally uncalled for.
…….. continued –
….. furthermore –
” Then you falsely accused me of anti-Semitism.” …. at no time did I accuse you of anti-semitism … you chose to read it that way … obviously skipping over the comment I made – ” but I can scarcely believe that to be your intention. So – I won’t… but it’s a little off beat.” …. I still think it was a little ‘off-beat’ … simply in the way the comment was worded – but I did qualify my comments in a proper manner, as repeated in this paragraph.
” Nowhere did I state that I agreed with Hitler’s actions. – You made that up.” …. It was your LINK that showed a bias towards Hitlers’ alleged Christian flavoured speeches …. not actually you. I did say it was the link … you obviously didn’t read that bit. !! … the next lot on his list of ethnic cleansing ( I can provide a link that alleges this ) … were the Christians – except he lost the war. If he had won – we’d have seen mass murders of Christians as well ? … Maybe ? – but the world will never know.
I’m sure you realise that a lot of blogging and internet sites are based on assumptions, contrivance, pushing an ideology or beliefs etc. … Google ‘End Times’ and see what you come up with. The fors and againsts – the pros and cons – it’s mind boggling and a lot is written just to frighten the hell out of readers.
” You’re an incredibly stupid woman and your reading
comprehension skills suck arse.” …. How very adult ? …. no further comment.
In fact – no further comment at all. ….
This is not productive debate, it is an out-and-out slanging match, a verbal donny-brook … and it must end.
Do you ever stop to read the absolute nonsense you write?
“So it was not specifically ‘evidence’ … it was one collection of speeches only, for gosh sakes.”
Mmmm… yes… quotes made by Hitler himself, spanning several years, including during the actual Holocaust, attributing his actions to his religion, which was Christianity. Of course your personal unfounded opinion is better evidence!
“I do not back away from having made some inflamatory statements to you as well. But your use of words was insulting and totally uncalled for.”
Some inflammatory statements? Try vicious lies. If you’re going to call me anti-Semitic and a supporter of the Holocaust with no evidence whatsoever, expect some very strong language in return!
“The way you have written that – seems that you agree that it was the right thing to do”
That’s not a comment about the link. That is your opinion of me. It was just a link with no personal opinion offered. You chose to make it personal.
Whether or not the author of the website agrees with Hitler’s actions is irrelevant. The link was posted to a series of referenced quotes made by Hitler himself. His own words disagree with part of your opinion of him.
That is just one website quoting Hitler. There are many more, plus books and articles quoting him. The link between his actions and Christianity is very well-documented. Whether or not you want to accept that matters little to me.
Lee – –
I now ask this of you – “Do you ever stop to read the absolute nonsense you write?” ….
Enough said …
I think you’ve made it all perfectly clear, exactly what your intentions are here – on this post / site.
Bye now !!
Hitler used religion and built upon its history of anti Judaism. The rest is invective.
I note especially Abbot’s laughter at the thought of Pacific islanders’ homes sinking under the sea, and something about their having no sense of time. Whatever. An idiot.