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darren_stranger
All right, as was inevitable, it's time to add my own thoughts to the post-election flood of navel-gazing seppuku.
To be honest, i've been preparing myself for this for weeks, if not months, talking myself down off the ceiling so as not to leave myself open to another descent into disgust and loathing at the people around me, of the kind that has been eating at my soul from the inside for the last three years. For the first day or so that's pretty much how i felt, apalled at the triumph of cynical self-interest over principles, ethics and basic human decency. But slowly i'm managing to gain a little perspective.
It's beginning to become clear what went wrong. As it was last time, this was a victory for fear, fuelled by another Big Lie, a scary story where a Labor victory could leave you hopelessly struggling to meet your mortgage payments, with the wolves of debt snapping at your heels and threatening to leave your children without a roof over their heads. It was utter crap, of course, but as i've said elsewhere, the 'beautiful' thing about playing to fear is that it pokes the irrational part of the mind, so no matter what Labor said to reassure people that interest rates are not dependent on who gets in, once that seed of fear and doubt has been planted, it's taken root where no amount of logical argument can dislodge it.
As to just how cunning and underhanded a lie it was, tcpip explains here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/tcpip/31511.html
Which is not to say the result is any less a disaster, from the Emperor gaining control of the Senate through to the fact that they'll be even more smug and deaf to pleas on 'issues'.
Perhaps the only comfort that can be taken is that there are at least a couple of ways that it could have been worse:
1. While there was no effective backlash against the disgusting and immoral things the government has done, at least the public didn't vote them in as a *reward* for those exact things. Last time the fear Howard played on was explicitly and calculatedly racist, and while it hasn't been tested whether opinions have changed on that score, it's easier to deal with a fear of the interest rates boogieman overshadowing ethical issues than an unequivocal endorsement of Howard's stance on those issues.
2. There is one other outcome that could be conceivably much worse than the one we got - a Labor victory followed by the disastrous financial crash that people have been predicting for some time. No matter what international or global pressures you cited, people would blame Labor and we'd have a Liberal government for decades afterwards. Even a rise in interest rates would be enough to validate the scary stories and set people against Labor for years, and any short term gains would have disastrous long terms costs. Highly speculative, of course, but still a way It Could Have Been Worse.
Of course, the reality is we're stuck with a Liberal government with control of the Senate to pass whatever odious legislation they please, and no reason to listen to anyone's bleating (not that they cared much anyway, but what notice will they take now of an appeal for a forest or an asylum seeker or a Guantanamo detainee when this has proven beyond a doubt that they're not even a blip on the election-issue radar?).
The question is where to from here? Part of me wants to take a sort of "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's" approach and just worry about how i live my own life (as inspired by earlier discussions with folks like gothsuck) and the small things i can do to make life better, but it does seem like giving in on the 'big issues' and they are simply too important to leave to evil, cynical men. What i can do to make a difference now, i'm at an utter loss to know. Much more thought needed on that, and so many other things..
Since it seems to be the done thing at the moment to quote some piece of poetry to reflect the issue, i was going to wheel out that old Gunter Grass poem i often quote, but on reflection perhaps this song is more appropriate.
Frightened
It's all out on the streets today, be sure you've found a place to hide
Too busy with the rat race, you pass by on the other side
Yours is the face of the new Australia*, the blinkers on your eyes
Find your safe position and cling on for dear life
You're so frightened..
Everybody's so frightened..
The papers tell of rape and murder, everything that you want to hear
Bad tidings on the radio find the words to name your fear
So you never pick up hitchhikers, never talk to strangers
Believe the world outside your bolted door is evil
You're so frightened..
Everybody's so frightened..
You are just a victim of your own bad dreams
While people are the same as we've always been
But through the blindness in your eyes
For just one minute i see them shine:
"Love me, won't you love me?"
But they all turn away.
Well you never fight for anything, you always turn your face away
And you never get involved in trouble, let all evil have its way
So as the girl screams in the street below, you turn up the television
Perhaps you'll see it on the news, well it's nothing to do with you
You're too frightened..
Everybody's so frightened..
Why is everybody so frightened?
New Model Army (*locally adjusted)
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-11 06:06 am (UTC)I'm trying to take comfort in the fact that Family First just might be a mad wildcard (they want to say 'Sorry' for example), or that the balance of power won't fall as expected.
Or that the Liberals will do something so mind-bogglingly corrupt the Governor-General dismisses them.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-11 06:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-11 06:20 am (UTC)The Wildcard
Date: 2004-10-11 06:18 am (UTC)And have you noticed that the head of Family First is an Aborigine?
From what I remember of being heavily involved with Pentecostal/evangelical/charismatic happy-clappy modern Christian churches was that many of the converts are from disadvantaged backgrounds and still have a bit of material disadvantage to deal with. That does not mean that they are bigotted. It means that they know what it's like to be dead poor and try to hold a family together.
They'll probably be in favour of uncool stuff like censorship, but at the same time they're unlikely to be in favour anything that makes life harder on anyone trying to do the right thing and improve their life.
Re: The Wildcard
Date: 2004-10-11 07:49 am (UTC)i found this interesting post of some of what they stand for..
http://www.livejournal.com/users/daharja/124923.html?#cutid1
Re: The Wildcard
Date: 2004-10-11 11:21 am (UTC)They see things through their own cultural filters just as we all do, and some of what I hear fellow lefties say is simply the flipside of The Best of Christian Bigotry.
Most religions are anti abortion. Even Buddhism. It's a basic spiritual principal to preserve all human life and that extends all the way from teeny weeny embryos to murderers on death row. No wiggle room.
It is good spiritual practice to care about all life. That does not mean that we'll all be forced to be vegetarians.
Re: The Wildcard
Date: 2004-10-11 11:27 am (UTC)Re: The Wildcard
Date: 2004-10-11 11:28 am (UTC)Re: The Wildcard
Date: 2004-10-11 11:54 am (UTC)Re: The Wildcard
Date: 2004-10-11 12:18 pm (UTC)and the comment the family first made last week (all lesbians are witches and should be burnd at the stake )
bad taste i admit .. see the :p = is toungue in cheek smiley
Re: The Wildcard
Date: 2004-10-11 09:10 pm (UTC)*sigh*
I'm just trying to find some hope in all of this. :*(
Re: The Wildcard
Date: 2004-10-11 11:52 am (UTC)I've heard that FF are AOG.
What I said was that they are different to the horribly bigotted Baptist churches of the deep south that we hear a lot of the horror stories about.
In fact, if memory serves, I'm pretty sure they had a fundamental theological disagreement with the Baptists in that the Baptists don't believe in what's known as the gifts of the Holy Spirit which is a major part of AOG services and activities. Basically, they both think the other is risking going to hell for their position.
Born again Christians can be fairly likeable, high energy, positive thinking, and compassionate people who do not shun people for their past mistakes. The first ex-prostitute and recovering smack addict I ever met was at church. Her life had been amazingly hard and the people of the church had helped her heal and make a happier life for herself. If that's what she needs then good for her. Nobody forced her, nor would they think of forcing anybody.
Thanks to the Darlinghurst branch of the church I met many people like her when I was 16. I got to see for myself how life is for people who aren't just like me - a white private school girl from the suburbs. Christianity really can do real good for some people and it is essential to their lifestyle.
Re: The Wildcard
Date: 2004-10-11 11:34 am (UTC)Re: The Wildcard
Date: 2004-10-11 11:53 am (UTC)Re: The Wildcard
Date: 2004-10-11 11:44 pm (UTC)well actually that isn't really true.. they are using it as a back scratching card to get thier own "family policys" in..
no subject
Date: 2004-10-11 04:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-11 11:57 pm (UTC)Then again, I'm having flashbacks to '96/97 when the first thing I recall them doing was taking an axe to University funding. It was only a matter of days after that the effects were felt where I worked (at a uni).
I.T. is already being watched like a hawk because of spending (and no help that last year we had some very major infrastructure come due for replacement) so if the government cuts funding even further, we're going to feel it in a major way.