There’s a great tendency for Whataboutism in politics. You know the sort of thing, so and so does or says something inappropriate and, instead of starting from the very obvious point that we all agree that the action is wrong, a similar indiscretion from the other side of politics is brought into the conversation.
“Scott Morrison went on holiday while Australia was burning…”
“So what, Julia Gillard took time off to attend her father’s funeral!”
Ok, they’re not always that ridiculous but generally, it really doesn’t matter. The fact remains that we should be starting from a point of CERTAIN THINGS ARE NOT OK NO MATTER WHO DOES THEM!
So before I start talking about the stupidity of the whole idea of it’s okay that threw a brick through your window, because you threw a stone at me, I’d like to make a few points about the incident that was a bigger talking point than Richard Colbeck failing the pub test.. something which our Deputy PM never does:
- Grace Tame did not smile during her photo with the PM. That’s it. She shook his hand stood beside him and posed for the photo. If people are suggesting that it showed a disrespect then I seriously suggest that they have a screw loose. If it wasn’t for all the Peter Van Onselens and Janet Albrechtsen’s and Pru Goward’s carrying on then it wouldn’t have been as big a deal. For all we know, she may not have been smiling because her shoes were hurting her feet!
- It’s fine to have an opinion different from mine, but can we now move on because – in the scheme of all the insults and disrespectful behaviours that have occurred – one person not smiling is hardly the equivalent of Alan Jones’ suggestion that then Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, be tossed into the sea. This is NOT a case of Whataboutism; this is a case of there’s no fucking comparison, so let’s actually get some perspective!
- And YES, I am aware of the hypocrisy of pointing out that someone criticising someone else’s bad manners is – in fact – bad manners… However, I’ve decided that I want to be pre-selected for a safe Coalition seat and there’s nothing like hypocrisy to ensure one has a career path in the current government.
So, let’s move on to a couple of the stories of the day… After considering writing about Scott Morrison’s daughter’s poem, I’ve decided against it. I’m not going to fall into the obvious trap. It’s like he’s Nero and sent his daughter into the Colosseum and then when the gladiators carve her into little pieces, express shock that they should do such a thing when she’s only a child after all and nobody should attack a child in the Colosseum because they don’t belong there. By the way, Nero didn’t actually fiddle while Rome burned… he played the lute. Morrison, on the other hand, keeps the lute to him and his friends…
Which brings me to the terrible waste of money on the Great Barrier Reef. We’ve just committed a billion dollars to… I’m not sure. Something to do with the Reef. Whatever, it’s over ten years, so most of the money committed is going to be spent by future governments. I can’t emphasise that enough. EVEN IF THIS GOVERNMENT IS RE-ELECTED, MOST OF THE MONEY WILL BE SPENT AFTER THEIR THREE YEAR TERM.
However, we also need to remember that Reef is not in danger. I know this because the current government told us all – very clearly – that there was no reason for the UN to put it on the endangered list… and we spent money to make sure that didn’t happen.
Sooo… if it’s not endangered, why are we spending all this money on protecting it? Why aren’t we spending money on endangered things like Josh Frydenberg’s political career? (Speaking of which, do you think that they should offer car parks with the slogan, “This Time We’ll Actually Build Them!” or does that remind people that they didn’t deliver?)
Yes, Whataboutism is a great thing. After a young Muslim girl, Haneen Zreika, said that she couldn’t play during pride round because of her religion, I noticed various tweets asking whether a Christian would be allowed to exclude themselves from a gay pride round and what about Israel Folau… Now, I think that it might be worth pointing out that there’s a difference. For the purpose of an actual decent comparison, let’s leave religion out of it for the basis of making me sound more reasonable than anyone actually is: Israel Folau sent a tweet that his employer objected to; Zreika said that she couldn’t play and her employer said ok. Folau said that he wouldn’t stop sending tweets. On any level, there’s a pretty big difference there.
Anyway, I noticed that the new slogan from the Liberals “We Don’t Use Slogans” Party is “SECURING OUR RECOVERY”.
I couldn’t help but wonder if they were referring to spending taxpayer money to secure their recovery in the polls. After all, insist the economy going beautifully.
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