The McCarthyite strategy of trawling social media accounts in search of something, anything, that can be remotely pinned on a politician or candidate continues unabated. At the moment, the game is paying off handsomely for all sides, as column inches are dedicated to self-rigtheous outrage and sniffy indignation, and a slew of candidates are humbled and cast aside. But, like all these silly political gotcha games, itāll surely all end in tears.
From the 90s ātravel rortsā scandal to last yearās imbroglio over MPsā citizenship, these attack strategies have a way of getting out of hand. On the one side, social media nastiness is spilling over into real life. On the other, censorious opportunists are already salivating at the chance to regulate their fellow citizensā speech ever more.
First, the schadenfreude. Quote:
Greens leader Richard Di Natale has been accused of double standards as he stands by two of his candidates who made racist jokes on social media despite condemning other parties over hate speech.
The Greens candidate for the seat of Lalor, Jay Dessi, joked about having sex with children and dead people, made a racist joke about an Asian manās eyes, posted a cartoon about oral sex and liked a post about abortion and child pornography. Next to a photograph of an Asian friend wearing a frog hat, Mr Dessi wrote: āWhich eyes are the real eyes?ā
In the Northern Territory seat of Lingiari, Greens candidate George Hanna has refused to apologise directly for sharing a meme in which Liberal candidate Jacinta Price was called a ācoconutā. End of quote.
While itās tempting to take guilty pleasure in the holier-than-thou Greens once again being hoist on their own petards, and while Di Natale really is a sanctimonious hypocrite, these latest indiscretions are almost beyond trivial. The only one worthy of any real notice is the only one where the offender is unrepentant: itās all very well for Hanna to bleat that ācoconutā isnāt a racist slur, and anyway heās Aboriginal so it doesnāt matter, but it really is a racist slur. Jacinta Price has had to endure months of racist abuse, often directed from Aboriginal Australians, for not being the āright kindā of Aborigine.
But Di Natale is not just a hypocrite, heās a dangerous opportunist. At the same time as his own candidates are indulging in typical social sewerism, Di Natale is using exactly that kind of nonsense to try and silence anyone he doesnāt like. Quote:
Scrutiny of Senator Di Nataleās candidates comes after the Greens leader pushed for legislation to regulate the media and stamp out alleged hate speech, targeting Sky News and News Corp commentators ĀAndrew Bolt and Chris Kenny and 2GB radio host Alan Jones. End of quote.
I suspect that the main reason that leftists like Di Natale are so determined to stamp out speech that they donāt like is because their fellow leftists are so obviously unable to differentiate between speech and actions. To the Greens and their cronies, there is no line to be drawn between babbling online about āpunching Nazisā and actually going out and assaulting anyone they disagree with (who are, in defiance of all rationality and historical veracity, labelled āNazisā). Quote:
Senator Di Natale also downplayed links between his party and the woman who tried to egg Scott Morrison yesterday at a Country Womenās Association eventā¦Senator Di Natale distanced himself from the protester, telling the ABC: āThere are millions of people who vote for the Greens.ā He branded the attack on Mr Morrison ādisgracefulā. End of quote.
Di Natale does have a point: itās backwards reasoning to argue that just because someone supports the Greens, the Greens must also support them. Yet, it cannot be dismissed out of hand that the violent extremists who besiege speaking events are so closely aligned with the Greens. Quote:
[Scott] Morrison described the Āalleged egging attempt as an āugly type of protestā, and called on Australians to disagree better.
He compared the incident to vegans who invaded farmersā land and members of militant unions who āstood overā small business owners and employees. End of quote.
theaustralian
Not to forget the unionists and activists who smashed their way into Parliament House in 1996, or the violent Aboriginal mob who besieged then PM Julia Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott in a Canberra restaurant in 2012. Then there is the incident of a Liberal supporterās dog being shot in an apparent message, last week.
Thereās a common thread to all this violence. Can you spot it?