• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

AusPoliGAF |OT| Boats? What Boats?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Fredescu

Member
Well, what has this campaign achieved?

Will muslim women feel more empowered to wear their choice of clothing? No.

I don't think either of us know the answer to that. I'm not sure I care either way what it's achieved. Showing solidarity with someone who might feel persecuted seems like a nice thing to do. If you have some evidence that it's had negative effects, or the people are offended by it, I'm interested. Your argument so far seems to be "people being nice on Twitter think they're so good."
 
A

A More Normal Bird

Unconfirmed Member
Does it matter?

That people are 'twittervists' and not doing anything at all constructive but pretending to in the twitterverse?

No it doesnt. Its all awful background noise that makes decent people feel good without doing anything. So in that sense, it does matter.

Twitter has replaced doing things. Cause lets face it, doing things is hard #doingthingsishard.

I mean, I mentioned orwell once! I think ive done my part to stop the police state!
Um... this isn't really a response to my post. Your initial post was implying that there may have been a level of assumption on the part of the woman who offered to escort the Muslim woman she saw removing her headscarf; that the woman may not have been distressed and trying to hide her religion for fear of reprisal. I agreed, but asked if it made any difference when assessing the wider response, hashtag etc...

I don't really use social media and heartily enjoy making fun of twittervists/slacktivists/clicktivists/whatevertivists but you can't compare this trend to people believing their online posts will somehow bring down African warlords. I'm sure there's plenty of eye-roll inducing sanctimony but there are also people offering actual support to any who request it and even without physical action it promotes social cohesion and sends a clear public message, which is what matters when you're talking about issues of perception and attitude.
 

hidys

Member
A few days late but here are Crikey's politician of the year award:
Most effective minister: Julie Bishop
Least effective minister: Joe Hockey
Most effective shadow minister: Anthony Albanese
Least effective shadow minister: Richard Marles
Best parliamentary performance: Malcolm Turnbull
Politician of the year: Scott Ludlam

http://www.crikey.com.au/2014/12/15/the-2014-crikeys-ludlam-top-in-a-year-of-duds/ fairly certain the article is paywalled.

I actually agree with all picks.
 

markot

Banned
Um... this isn't really a response to my post. Your initial post was implying that there may have been a level of assumption on the part of the woman who offered to escort the Muslim woman she saw removing her headscarf; that the woman may not have been distressed and trying to hide her religion for fear of reprisal. I agreed, but asked if it made any difference when assessing the wider response, hashtag etc...

I don't really use social media and heartily enjoy making fun of twittervists/slacktivists/clicktivists/whatevertivists but you can't compare this trend to people believing their online posts will somehow bring down African warlords. I'm sure there's plenty of eye-roll inducing sanctimony but there are also people offering actual support to any who request it and even without physical action it promotes social cohesion and sends a clear public message, which is what matters when you're talking about issues of perception and attitude.

Oh, and in regards to thatly... well it does doesnt it? In my scenario, its an imposition, and the event surrounding her is being jumped on by the 'twitterverse' for their own needs.

Imagine that, you feel like taking off your hijab for whatever reason, and there are dozens, and some white person goes 'no! You dont have to do that!'

Now how do women who dont want to wear it feel? Everytime they do it, 'its a sign of fear in a society that stigmatizes them' and cant be a personal act for a numberable number of reasons.

As for the 'social cohesion'? Twitter isnt part of society. Its an abstract of it, its own little bubble that rarely permeates into the real world.

Look at the Nigerian school girls. All forgotton. Still kidnapped. Boko Haram still running amok in Nigeria.

"But I tweeted that months ago? Hows it not fixed?!" These sorts of things are just as effecting in creating any sort of change, beyond the 'oh I feel good about that tweet!'.

The worlds a complicated place. 140 characters and a # dont do anything.

You are not offering help to anyone by putting a # in a post. You are not your online persona. Your physical presence still counts for something.

Just look at the USA. Congress has the like 11% approval. And they get alot of hate on twitter, on facebooks, on the myspaces. And what happens when theres an actual election that can change things? Record numbers of tweets bemoaning the situation, AND NO ONE VOTING.
 
Oh, and in regards to thatly... well it does doesnt it? In my scenario, its an imposition, and the event surrounding her is being jumped on by the 'twitterverse' for their own needs.

Imagine that, you feel like taking off your hijab for whatever reason, and there are dozens, and some white person goes 'no! You dont have to do that!'

Now how do women who dont want to wear it feel? Everytime they do it, 'its a sign of fear in a society that stigmatizes them' and cant be a personal act for a numberable number of reasons.

As for the 'social cohesion'? Twitter isnt part of society. Its an abstract of it, its own little bubble that rarely permeates into the real world.

Look at the Nigerian school girls. All forgotton. Still kidnapped. Boko Haram still running amok in Nigeria.

"But I tweeted that months ago? Hows it not fixed?!" These sorts of things are just as effecting in creating any sort of change, beyond the 'oh I feel good about that tweet!'.

The worlds a complicated place. 140 characters and a # dont do anything.

You are not offering help to anyone by putting a # in a post. You are not your online persona. Your physical presence still counts for something.

Just look at the USA. Congress has the like 11% approval. And they get alot of hate on twitter, on facebooks, on the myspaces. And what happens when theres an actual election that can change things? Record numbers of tweets bemoaning the situation, AND NO ONE VOTING.

The US system is messed up for a rich tapestry of reasons , most of which Social Media is only tangentially related to:

0) They exclusively use FPTP with the exception of their Electoral Colleges which manage to be even worse than FPTP since they've been known to be co-opted for political purposes (so some of them do representative splits , while others do Winner Takes All).
1) People like their Representative, they just hate everybody else. Even if their Representative is demonstratively appalling.
2) The Democratic Party is about as inspiring as Labor Unity. They tend to run as Republican Lites in the hope that the Left will be forced to vote for them while they pick up the Centre.
3) This is tightly entwined with the Anglophone Left being far less brave/crazy (pick one) than the Right. No one is going to try and primary a Democrat in an edge seat from the Left while the Tea Party will do the opposite all day every day.
4) And relatedly there's no genuine far Left crazies to put the Far Right crazies in perspective. They have 1 person who's willing to use the word Socialist and there's a complete dearth of any of the truly crazy far Left stuff that would occupy a similar ideological space to Ted Cruz or similar.
5) Things are Gerrymandered to hell and back.
As a result of 2,3 & 4 it's absolutely impossible to motivate the ideological Left to vote without losing the Center. 3 further means that its almost impossible to force the Democrats to move Left, so once they move Right you tend to be unable to rewin this ground. 5 means that even with substantial democratic majorities on the popular vote the Republicans still sweep in. The only reason the Democrats manage to persist is that its impossible to gerrymander a state, so when big things like the presidential election actually motivate people to vote, the Democrats can get a presidential win and a senate majority.

There's also the universal problem of the Left: There is no Left , not in the way there's a Right. Its easy to identify something to be conservative or reactionary about. Its freaking hard to get 5 Leftists to agree on which generally progressive idea should get the greatest priority or agree on what sacrifices need to be made for such (eg I'm a lot less 'The suppression of unacceptable speech/ideas is a good thing' than most whereas in many areas of social freedom (marriage, security state) I make the average Leftist look positively straight laced.

The only thing that social media has to do with the above is its tendency to reinforce partisan bubbles but newspapers, religions and social groups have been doing that for centuries anyway.
 

Shaneus

Member
A few days late but here are Crikey's politician of the year award:
Most effective minister: Julie Bishop
Least effective minister: Joe Hockey
Most effective shadow minister: Anthony Albanese
Least effective shadow minister: Richard Marles
Best parliamentary performance: Malcolm Turnbull
Politician of the year: Scott Ludlam

http://www.crikey.com.au/2014/12/15/the-2014-crikeys-ludlam-top-in-a-year-of-duds/ fairly certain the article is paywalled.

I actually agree with all picks.
lol, Marles iswas my local member (before rezoning).

Is Bishop really the most effective minister?

Edit: lol comment:
You see, this year I would’ve gone for Tony Abbott as politician of the year, but only because he seems to be the person most responsible for the rise in support for Labor and The Greens.
 

Fredescu

Member
B5GSJhDCQAErDjf.jpg

.
 

senahorse

Member
Did anyone end up telling her that's it's not a parody account?

Wait, I know Bolt is an imbecile but is that account actually real? I always thought it was just someone having a laugh, it certainly reads like sarcasm but then again I guess so do bolts articles.
 

Fredescu

Member
Wait, I know Bolt is an imbecile but is that account actually real? I always thought it was just someone having a laugh, it certainly reads like sarcasm but then again I guess so do bolts articles.

They're from the comments section of his blog. Not from the articles themselves.
 

hidys

Member
lol, Marles iswas my local member (before rezoning).

Is Bishop really the most effective minister?

Edit: lol comment:

I'm not sure what Richard Marles is like as a local member. All I know about him in that capacity is that he represents Labor's safest regional seat and sits in the neighboring electorate to mine (now Liberal after last election which is a shame because I quite likes Cheeseman).

Though in his capacity as Shadow Minister for Immigration he has comprehensively failed at every opportunity. Just looked at his conduct during Reza Berati's death.

Fucking abysmal.

Also I think Julie Bishop only wins best Minister by default since every other Minister comprehensively failed in their portfolios.
 

markot

Banned
Even the LNP are too touchy feely for markot.

Doesnt this endear fear, in the great unwashed menace known as the average Australian. Lets not pretend, just reread the hostage thread, that while 'protecting' muslim Australians, this segement of the population largely utterly detests a large portion of white Australia.

Its not a message of hope. Its a message of fear.

Lets not pretend, pretendingly as we may be, that there isnt a large part of 'enlightened' Australia that utterly looks down upon the common man. Well, common white man.

This is an extension of that.

Cause even the event itself, she wasnt protecting that woman from harassment, from the great unwashed. It was a woman that took of a hijab for unknown reasons. But dont worry, ill project my feelings right onto you, you, as a brown person, are incapable of any thought that doesnt extend from the actions of white people. The whole world is a reaction to white people. Oh white people, when will their tyranny end? This poor woman, taking off her hijab, when will the white devils stop pestering them? Iraq! Halliburton!

The image of certain ethnic groups and countries this way is a sort of racism. Lets take Africa, that great country. People still blame colonialism for Uganda's anti gay laws. They put the blame on white people going there and causing trouble. These noble savages could never, ever, do something we consider wrong, or indeed anything, without our help and imposition.

There is a racist strand in modern liberalism. The othering of the Australian public, while at the same time othering the Australian Muslim as someone needing protection, and only acting out of, in every respect, the actions of the Australian public, agents without any agency, agency is for the white liberal trying to make the world a better place, youll thank me in the end.

Modern liberalism can largely be defined, not fair, certain popular strands of it, as the hatred of western civilization, seeing all its actions as evil, and the utter devotion to 'minority' rights beyond all rights. Identity politics has ravaged the left.

Fear the bogan, the worker, the commoner, the non educated, the working class.
Love the migrant, the foreigner, the minority, the outsider.

This is the end result of identity politics, you lose your identity. You are no longer a muslim woman capable of independent thought, you are no longer a gay person capable of nuance and your own ideas, you are no longer a poor white Australian with their own background. You are the Muslim woman living in fear of white Australia. The gay person who lives under draconian laws imposed upon them by the terrible Christians. You are the poor white Australian. A bogan who we must fear.

And who wins when every single difference between us is a cause for not only celebration but also classifying as a group? The rich and powerful. Identity politics has been probably one of the most effective tools in keeping conservatism in power. Divide and conquor baby.

So no. There is no message of unity in this spectacle. There is no great coming together of Australians. There is simply more dividing, more pandering, more mindless stereotypical.

If its bad when 'they' do it, why is it fine when 'we' do it?

How do you win 'class warfare'? Get the lower classes to turn on each other. Identity politics. Good intentions gone awry. Just look at the USA.
 

Fredescu

Member
I agree with pretty much everything you said that wasn't related to the hashtag thing.

I just think you're making a huge assumption that this woman didn't want or need the sympathy. I'm not saying she did! I'm just saying that you haven't convinced me that she didn't. In lieu of a strong argument that she didn't like being pandered to, I'll err on the side of solidarity and just being nice.

Here's an article you might like that treads similar territory to your argument: http://jezebel.com/i-dont-know-what-to-do-with-good-white-people-1671201391
 
"Clive Palmer media adviser Andrew Crook detained in Brisbane over alleged kidnap of National Australia Bank executive".
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-19/palmer-media-adviser-arrested-over-alleged-kidnap/5978632

The ABC understands Queensland Police will allege Mr Crook and Mr [Tony] Smith [ex-Sydney Swans AFL player, now property developer were involved in a January 2013 attempt to coerce a witness in a $70 million civil case involving Mr Smith to recant his evidence, using subterfuge and threats of violence.

They have been investigating claims Mr Crook and Mr Smith lured the witness, an employee of the National Australia Bank, to Singapore and on to Batam Island in Indonesia using the pretence of a possible job offer from Clive Palmer.

Mr Palmer is not thought to have had any involvement in, or knowledge of the plot.

It will be alleged that once on Batam Island, the witness was strip-searched, threatened and forced to make a statement recanting his evidence.
 
Doesnt this endear fear, in the great unwashed menace known as the average Australian. Lets not pretend, just reread the hostage thread, that while 'protecting' muslim Australians, this segement of the population largely utterly detests a large portion of white Australia.

Its not a message of hope. Its a message of fear.

Lets not pretend, pretendingly as we may be, that there isnt a large part of 'enlightened' Australia that utterly looks down upon the common man. Well, common white man.

This is an extension of that.

Cause even the event itself, she wasnt protecting that woman from harassment, from the great unwashed. It was a woman that took of a hijab for unknown reasons. But dont worry, ill project my feelings right onto you, you, as a brown person, are incapable of any thought that doesnt extend from the actions of white people. The whole world is a reaction to white people. Oh white people, when will their tyranny end? This poor woman, taking off her hijab, when will the white devils stop pestering them? Iraq! Halliburton!

The image of certain ethnic groups and countries this way is a sort of racism. Lets take Africa, that great country. People still blame colonialism for Uganda's anti gay laws. They put the blame on white people going there and causing trouble. These noble savages could never, ever, do something we consider wrong, or indeed anything, without our help and imposition.

There is a racist strand in modern liberalism. The othering of the Australian public, while at the same time othering the Australian Muslim as someone needing protection, and only acting out of, in every respect, the actions of the Australian public, agents without any agency, agency is for the white liberal trying to make the world a better place, youll thank me in the end.

Modern liberalism can largely be defined, not fair, certain popular strands of it, as the hatred of western civilization, seeing all its actions as evil, and the utter devotion to 'minority' rights beyond all rights. Identity politics has ravaged the left.

Fear the bogan, the worker, the commoner, the non educated, the working class.
Love the migrant, the foreigner, the minority, the outsider.

This is the end result of identity politics, you lose your identity. You are no longer a muslim woman capable of independent thought, you are no longer a gay person capable of nuance and your own ideas, you are no longer a poor white Australian with their own background. You are the Muslim woman living in fear of white Australia. The gay person who lives under draconian laws imposed upon them by the terrible Christians. You are the poor white Australian. A bogan who we must fear.

And who wins when every single difference between us is a cause for not only celebration but also classifying as a group? The rich and powerful. Identity politics has been probably one of the most effective tools in keeping conservatism in power. Divide and conquor baby.

So no. There is no message of unity in this spectacle. There is no great coming together of Australians. There is simply more dividing, more pandering, more mindless stereotypical.

If its bad when 'they' do it, why is it fine when 'we' do it?

How do you win 'class warfare'? Get the lower classes to turn on each other. Identity politics. Good intentions gone awry. Just look at the USA.

So many bizarre projections and inaccuracies in this post.

The major one being the use of identity politics in the US. You might not be aware of a little thing called the Southern Strategy: the use of which has turned working-class people against their own interests in droves within America. And I wouldn't exactly call the Republican Party an outpost of your Frankenstein left-wing straw man.
 

markot

Banned
Wow. Because the southern stratagy had nothing to do with identity politics... what? The Republicans have effectively convinced alot of poor white people that their identity is all that matters, they have voted against their interests for decades. This is identity politics.

And you are actually going to pretend that a rather large portion of the left doesnt hate the 'average Australian'?

I cant think of a more detested segment of the population than the Bogan. (And previously to that other white poor groups.)

In general its perfectly socially acceptable to demean, joke about, and show alot of contempt for certain white people in many western nations. The 'trailer trash' in the USA and other groups... etc... We can have shows mocking them, their culture, their way of life, their way of speaking... etc...

Did you bold parts of my post randomly?

To me you would have to be blind to not see the first part you bolded. Also the second part. The third was a joke. The fourth is a pretty accurate representation of many liberals, just look at how eager they are to attack christianity and how far they will go to defend islam. You can crack jokes about evangelicals openly, you can mock President Bush and his religion. You cant do that to a minority, a non white person, or some other country.

I stand by all my comments. And would give myself a B-, C+.

Republicans are experts in identity politics, as are Liberals in Australia. Its the wedge issue. I mean, the Republican party has, not by accident, become the white christian party.
 
A

A More Normal Bird

Unconfirmed Member
markot, seeing as this is still going I'll post my reply to one of your earlier posts that a storm snaffled:

Apologies if you don't want your post broken up but it's easier to reply to that way:
Oh, and in regards to thatly... well it does doesnt it? In my scenario, its an imposition, and the event surrounding her is being jumped on by the 'twitterverse' for their own needs.

Imagine that, you feel like taking off your hijab for whatever reason, and there are dozens, and some white person goes 'no! You dont have to do that!'

Now how do women who dont want to wear it feel? Everytime they do it, 'its a sign of fear in a society that stigmatizes them' and cant be a personal act for a numberable number of reasons.
I don't agree that this will somehow make all Muslim women afraid to take off whatever headwear they're wearing and think you're really reaching there. You're extrapolating out from the initial incident: the hashtag isn't "Keep your burqa on," it's a general offer of support to any Muslims or people of ME appearance on public transport.
As for the 'social cohesion'? Twitter isnt part of society. Its an abstract of it, its own little bubble that rarely permeates into the real world.
It is/was a huge trend across all social media that was reported widely in the print/broadcast media as well. If you don't think that sort of message could reassure anyone or provoke any thoughts... I don't know what to say.
Look at the Nigerian school girls. All forgotton. Still kidnapped. Boko Haram still running amok in Nigeria.

"But I tweeted that months ago? Hows it not fixed?!" These sorts of things are just as effecting in creating any sort of change, beyond the 'oh I feel good about that tweet!'.

The worlds a complicated place. 140 characters and a # dont do anything.
I find it a little funny that you included this when I specifically said that this is not like that situation (or Kony) and that I hold a healthy disdain for that sort of thing. This isn't a problem that (mostly) requires serious physical resources to solve, it's largely about attitudes and perceptions. Is it going to make all bigots realise they're bullies and all potential extremists realise they're not hated by the majority of the country they live in? Of course not, but no one thing will. This helps, a little bit.
You are not offering help to anyone by putting a # in a post. You are not your online persona. Your physical presence still counts for something.
Except there are people who are actually offering help. As in, posting "if you take the following bus/train and want someone to ride with, message me." As I mentioned in my initial post, Muslims/people of ME appearance feeling unsafe on public transport in the aftermath of these events is an actual thing and was being reported before the hashtag blew up. Mock the sanctimony, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Also going to reiterate that I barely use any social media and don't need to be reminded that my physical presence still counts for something.

As for your more recent point: yes there is division in mainstream Australian society and a tendency to look down on bogan/rednecks/McMansion types. Thing is, unless you're Miranda Devine and fervently believe that there is absolutely no Islamophobia in Australian society, I don't see how this does anything but diminish those divides. Someone who was dead certain that they were one of only two dozen non racists in Australia would be proven wrong. Also, I'm not sure if I follow your point about identity politics. Are you saying that this sort of attitude on "the left" drives others to the right, or just that it somehow makes it weaken itself?
 
Wow. Because the southern stratagy had nothing to do with identity politics... what? The Republicans have effectively convinced alot of poor white people that their identity is all that matters, they have voted against their interests for decades. This is identity politics.

And you are actually going to pretend that a rather large portion of the left doesnt hate the 'average Australian'?

I cant think of a more detested segment of the population than the Bogan. (And previously to that other white poor groups.)

In general its perfectly socially acceptable to demean, joke about, and show alot of contempt for certain white people in many western nations. The 'trailer trash' in the USA and other groups... etc... We can have shows mocking them, their culture, their way of life, their way of speaking... etc...

Did you bold parts of my post randomly?

To me you would have to be blind to not see the first part you bolded. Also the second part. The third was a joke. The fourth is a pretty accurate representation of many liberals, just look at how eager they are to attack christianity and how far they will go to defend islam. You can crack jokes about evangelicals openly, you can mock President Bush and his religion. You cant do that to a minority, a non white person, or some other country.

I stand by all my comments. And would give myself a B-, C+.

Republicans are experts in identity politics, as are Liberals in Australia. Its the wedge issue. I mean, the Republican party has, not by accident, become the white christian party.

You misread my post there. My point was that the Southern Strategy--existing as the quintessential use of identity politics in America--doesn't fit with your hyperbolic "identity politics is ravaging the left" narrative. Social justice warriors on tumblr who might be out of touch with the working class aren't the equivalent of Republican Super PACs pouring millions of dollars into negative advertising in the American South with the square aim of getting working class citizens to vote against their self-interest.

If you're sincerely worried about the concerns of the working class, then I think your outrage is misplaced on this dubious majority of left-wing people who supposedly "hate [W]hite Australia" and "[W]estern civilization". Yes, I don't see this and, of course, must be blind.

Otherwise, there's a lot of confirmation bias going on in the rest of what you're saying, especially cultural representation in media. And, yes, I also view this as mostly inaccurate and hyperbolic.
 

markot

Banned
My point was that the Southern Strategy--existing as the quintessential use of identity politics in America--doesn't fit with your hyperbolic "identity politics is ravaging the left" narrative.



Um wot?

The left in America is pretty much dead and they have constantly been moving ever to the right since... Nixon. And it doesnt look like theyll have much except for the Presidency going for them, and thats only because the Republican candidates are such a joke.

My point stands, it has ravaged the left in the US.

I also never said majority. Its easy to defeat someones arguments when you make them up.




Is it going to make all bigots realise they're bullies and all potential extremists realise they're not hated by the majority of the country they live in? Of course not, but no one thing will. This helps, a little bit.

The idea that a racist can create an extremist is so stupid. The people who attacked the school in Pakistan were not yelled at on a bus. The people who attacked the twin towers did not feel like social outcasts. The underground bombers were not spat on by the general British public.

Views and actions make people social outcasts. People who become extreme become outcast from society and their community. It generally flows one way.

Essentially the view is 'we have to be extra nice to muslims, lest they get explodey'? So to combat this threat, we must start wearing badges, identifying ourselves as 'good white people' to seperate protect them from the 'bad white people'.

Racists are a small minority, its just as stupid for an average Australian to advertise that 'theyre good' as it would be for a muslim to advertise that 'theyre not a terrorist'. Cant we have a presumption based upon human decency? Things like these dont diminish any divides, they essentially just reconfirm them. The white protector will ride with you, and shield you. I dont think muslims needs to be told that not all Australians are racists. I dont think australians need to be told that all muslims arent terrorists.

Identity politics weakens the left by making it turn on itself. Common interests are demolished by personal issues. Looking at the USA, just look at how the poor white Americans flock to the party that literally hates them. By both sides harping on about differences, about identities, about values, about... etc... all these small things that generally dont matter all that much, we create a vacuum by which those in power can control the issues and politics.

Its almost quaint to talk about 'classes' anymore in political discourse. Now we have divided outselves into smaller and smaller islands, all fighting for our own thing and generally not too worried about what the other islands want.

The left has a harder time in general, it tends to attempt to appeal to the 'better angels' in us. The right bases itself on emotion more or less.

One takes time, is fragile, requires great effort, and isnt 'natural'. The other is just gut instinct.

When you jettison 'bogans' or 'howards battlers' or whatever, instantly dismiss those who have a problem with boat people, you cant bring them along for the ride and educate them. Its very easy for the right to get these people on side.

You cant help people if you simply cast them as the villain of the piece. You also cant help people if you cast them as eternal victims.


You cant cast all muslims you see as victims. You cant cast them as terrorists. You cant dismiss 'bogans' and the white under class.... etc... there should be a level of consistency for all humans, and all human suffering.

And I do have a pretty big problem with the way white people pretend its ok to laugh at bogans or other white people because 'were laughing at ourselves'. No, theyre not, theyre laughing at a distinct group that is different to them. I do think its a problem when people make fun of or fear minorities, its also wrong to do that to minorities who happen to be white.
 

Fredescu

Member
If you're sincerely worried about the concerns of the working class, then I think your outrage is misplaced on this dubious majority of left-wing people who supposedly "hate [W]hite Australia" and "[W]estern civilization". Yes, I don't see this and, of course, must be blind.

He didn't say "majority", but you must have missed all the anti bogan/western sydney stuff last election. Bogan is generally used as a classist term by the more educated and there's no taboo surrounding it'd use, which should be the first clue.

People that become more educated in a field that is up for public debate tend to get a bit exasperated in having the same argument 100 times over, so I kind of get that people could throw their hands in the air and give up. If you ever want a political movement that wants to implement complex ideas, you need to be ready and able to do that though. A good first step would be to quit revelling in classist terms like bogan, white trash, and whatever. Try and have patience and empathy for the less educated, no matter how many hundreds of times you have to explain whatever concept, or unpack a fascist scare tactic.

Then you've got the problem of picking your battles. The biggest inequality problem in the world right now is rich vs poor. This really needs to be targeted as a primary. Something like marriage inequality is just so irrelevant in the grand scheme of things that you have to question whether you'd ever split your base over it. Obviously we need gender and racial equality, but pursuing those goals often helps split those who would support lessening the rich/poor gap. I don't claim to know the answer to that problem.

That said, idk what markots point is wrt to the hashtag. It's not like racist comments are only in the underground, you see them all the time in the news with the public transport videos for example. Sure, the news has a habit of making a problem seem bigger than it is, but I don't see a problem with a campaign countering that notion.
 
markot: I was speaking to your narrative of liberal identity politics (i.e. concern for minority rights) stopping the left from being inclusive to the working class, particularly the white lower classes. I used the Southern Strategy as an example of right-wing conservative forces being the prime manipulators of identity politics based on fear. On a relative scale between the two, I feel your outrage is disproportionate. If you're just talking identity politics full stop affecting the traction of left-wing principles amongst electorates in Western nations, then yes, we're in agreement, it can damage the left. As it can damage the right. And that's the nature of politics: it's not going away.

He didn't say "majority", but you must have missed all the anti bogan/western sydney stuff last election. Bogan is generally used as a classist term by the more educated and there's no taboo surrounding it'd use, which should be the first clue.

People that become more educated in a field that is up for public debate tend to get a bit exasperated in having the same argument 100 times over, so I kind of get that people could throw their hands in the air and give up. If you ever want a political movement that wants to implement complex ideas, you need to be ready and able to do that though. A good first step would be to quit revelling in classist terms like bogan, white trash, and whatever. Try and have patience and empathy for the less educated, no matter how many hundreds of times you have to explain whatever concept, or unpack a fascist scare tactic.

Then you've got the problem of picking your battles. The biggest inequality problem in the world right now is rich vs poor. This really needs to be targeted as a primary. Something like marriage inequality is just so irrelevant in the grand scheme of things that you have to question whether you'd ever split your base over it. Obviously we need gender and racial equality, but pursuing those goals often helps split those who would support lessening the rich/poor gap. I don't claim to know the answer to that problem.

That said, idk what markots point is wrt to the hashtag. It's not like racist comments are only in the underground, you see them all the time in the news with the public transport videos for example. Sure, the news has a habit of making a problem seem bigger than it is, but I don't see a problem with a campaign countering that notion.

True. He said "largely defined" or "a large part of" or at least "certain popular strands" in reference to modern liberalism and its apparent hatred of White Australia and Western civilization. Still ridiculous.
 

markot

Banned

r1chard

Member
Because we need more cyclists 'riding together'... few things annoy me more than cyclists who ride 2 a breast in a cycling lane and spill over to the actual road for actual cars.
How dare cyclists use the roads their taxes pay for. How DARE they.
 

markot

Banned
How dare cyclists use the roads their taxes pay for. How DARE they.

Cool. I guess cars should just start riding two to a lane too and not care about cyclists. I mean, they pay taxes too.

Or maybe have consideration for others that share the facilities, and I dont know, follow the rules?

A bicycle lane is wide enough for one bike? One bike should be in it. A car lane is wide enough for one car? One car should use it. Its not rocket science. I mean it shouldnt be, apparently to alot of cyclists and motorists road rules are some strange quantum science that only professors could ever understand.
 

Jintor

Member

In which sense?

1) [During his time as Minister for Women], Abbott's top achievement was Repealing the Carbon Tax.
2a) Abbott's top achievement [in the context of being the Minister for Women] was Repealing the Carbon Tax [{Because of its implications for Women}]
2b) Abbott's top achievement [in the context of being the Minister for Women] was Repealing the Carbon Tax [{implication: No more noteworthy achievements in the context of being the Minister for Women}]
3) ???
 

Arksy

Member
Now women have more household money to spend on clothes right.

That's the beauty of it! They can spend it on whatever they want instead of being told what they have to spend it on! Amazing isn't it?

In which sense?

1) [During his time as Minister for Women], Abbott's top achievement was Repealing the Carbon Tax.
2a) Abbott's top achievement [in the context of being the Minister for Women] was Repealing the Carbon Tax [{Because of its implications for Women}]
2b) Abbott's top achievement [in the context of being the Minister for Women] was Repealing the Carbon Tax [{implication: No more noteworthy achievements in the context of being the Minister for Women}]
3) ???

All of the above I guess. :p
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom