The ad created by GetUp! that's already creating a bit of ruckus.
Everyone's 'talk first, invent policy later' politician, Tony Abbott, the Inspector Clouseau of Federal Parliament, has recently bought us another stunner in his long line of top-shelf comedy and barmy comments. Recently he said that if he was PM, he'd use the Navy to turn back asylum seeker boats, and if necessary, repair them at sea before turning them back.
Hence the title of this post. Jughead sometimes makes me wish I had much more palm to facepalm with.
The policy in itself isn't really policy, it's what Tony continually dishes up in lieu of policy - it's what we call rhetoric. He says any mad old bit of twonk that he thinks will further divide the Australian public, and make him Boy Most Likely To Be PM. In that, maybe we could laugh it off as just another mad thing Tony's said.
The thing is, Tony walks a fine line. I'm never quite sure whether he's one of the most skilled dissemblers and showmen in politics, or just a drooling lunatic who should be given a pack of entirely sky blue crayons before being locked in his padded room. Would he get the Navy to do this, if PM? Your guess is as good as mine.
Trying to discuss the actual international law Australia's signatory to, as regards asylum seekers, is almost impossible in Australia. We are far more invested in the myth of asylum seekers than the reality;
The Myths: 'Illegals', 'Queue jumpers', 'Flooding our borders', 'Deterrent to people smugglers'.
The Reality: It's not illegal to seek humanitarian or political asylum in Australia, by any means. Processing camps are packed with millions of people, some stay there for years, still under threat of violence. Australia is the destination of a relative trickle of asylum seekers, we take in even fewer. We don't arrest people smugglers, we arrest poor people who work on shitty boats. Real people smugglers don't give a shit about our laws.
Try telling an Australian this, and it's not that they won't believe, it's almost like they can't. A large swathe of our population seem choked and in the grip of their irrational tabloid fears. You can't tell them facts. The media certainly won't ever publish them, not when sensation and fear sell more papers. So our government policies are locked on a roller coaster of ignorant fear, rather than rationality and compassion. We're like a village mob in a Frankenstein film - all torches and pitchforks, but little common sense.
So, GetUp! have decided to lambast Tony 'No Policies' Abbott, with their sarcastic and satirical 'Abbot's Navy' ad. Having just read the 100 or more comments on Facebook about it, I'm not surprised to see the usual 'boat people' fears frothed out again, nor am I surprised to see the usual accusations of GetUp! being a member of an international communist conspiracy. In my experience, say anything vaguely left of centre in this country online, and you'll have a million and one stupid-ass C.H.U.D. people all lining up to dribble their paranoid nonsense at you. I think half of them must never read anything but the Herald Sun, and get all their TV news from Sunrise, while the other half would like to see Australia turn into a right wing prison camp.
A lot of pissed-off RAN people lambasted the ad for a variety of reasons, from the inference that it might make people think the RAN support Tony's latest folly (a fair call), to an unfocused anger that anything featuring the RAN making a satirical jab at something else is *huff*puff* WRONG!
Unfocused criticism from RAN service personnel aside, the biggest problem this ad faces is that our country is not run by compassion or common sense, it's run by idiocy and fear. This ad won't make a dent in the public psyche. Australians will keep believing lies and nonsense, and opportunistic dolts like Abbott will keep stirring the fear pot for personal gain.
In the meantime, we go nowhere, at top speed.
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