Fear/Politics
Well I'm not one (usually) to make a bold political statement. Particularly online (where it counts for little), let alone through my art. That's not to say politics doesn't motivate me in any way. Quite the opposite is true. I just hate how musicians whine and rant in their songs to an extreme that renders the point useless. Quite often these individuals (who no doubt mean well) will do something to fuck up during their career making everything they ever stood against irrelevant, and if there is one thing that suffers from that happening more than anything else, it is the heart and essence of protest itself. When someone whose stance on a issue I admire does a back flip, or sells it out for political favour, I feel helpless, like I've lost my voice mid song.
I say all this as preface/disclaimer to the following political rant.
I am afraid of Tony Abbot.
What scares me about him leading the opposition is his fundamentalism, and his method of playing the political game. Tony Abbot wants to win. He doesn't want to lead, just to be the leader. During the Howard years, politics in this country was reduced to a shit slinging contest, where nothing good for the nation ever comes. Tony's opposition tactic is playing this game. Blocking new ideas purely because the opposite team thought of them, when you have zero to offer as alternative. This is disruptive and dangerous.
I am also afraid of peoples apathy. I am afraid that this country will choose to side with a party who wants to do nothing, over a party who wants to create change. I'm afraid of you. I don't think Australians are ignorant, but I do think we like to choose the easy option. I am appalled by the current government and opposition's inability to take action on important environmental issues. Appalled by the smoke and mirrors tactics employed to draw attention away from hard issues, rather than focusing energy upon them and fixing problems.
In news today, as a first point of call as Opposition leader, Tony Abbot points the finger at K-Rudd for being over seas too often. Says that he should be here to tackle things like interest rates. How much longer can we listen to this? Smoke and mirrors people. We know that the government has no control over the reserve bank. Abbot calls action on climate change "crap", and plans to block an ETS in favour of more research and blah, blah, blah. Well what does he want to do instead? No, no policies. It's happening again. In the months ahead, watch the catch phrases and bullshit fly.
I want things to start happening. Who's with me? When our little voices can be heard (seriously, a vote every 3 years..? some voice), demand action. Look beyond the shit slinging major parties, don't waste your vote on their extremes. Put people who care about the country/world in the senate. Make an informed decision. Understand the process. Don't just vote for a major because you want to be on a winning team, otherwise we all lose. Otherwise everything comes grinding to a halt yet again. Otherwise the only other option we've really got for change (real, immediate change) is violent revolution, and who wants all that mess?
End rant.
j.
I say all this as preface/disclaimer to the following political rant.
I am afraid of Tony Abbot.
What scares me about him leading the opposition is his fundamentalism, and his method of playing the political game. Tony Abbot wants to win. He doesn't want to lead, just to be the leader. During the Howard years, politics in this country was reduced to a shit slinging contest, where nothing good for the nation ever comes. Tony's opposition tactic is playing this game. Blocking new ideas purely because the opposite team thought of them, when you have zero to offer as alternative. This is disruptive and dangerous.
I am also afraid of peoples apathy. I am afraid that this country will choose to side with a party who wants to do nothing, over a party who wants to create change. I'm afraid of you. I don't think Australians are ignorant, but I do think we like to choose the easy option. I am appalled by the current government and opposition's inability to take action on important environmental issues. Appalled by the smoke and mirrors tactics employed to draw attention away from hard issues, rather than focusing energy upon them and fixing problems.
In news today, as a first point of call as Opposition leader, Tony Abbot points the finger at K-Rudd for being over seas too often. Says that he should be here to tackle things like interest rates. How much longer can we listen to this? Smoke and mirrors people. We know that the government has no control over the reserve bank. Abbot calls action on climate change "crap", and plans to block an ETS in favour of more research and blah, blah, blah. Well what does he want to do instead? No, no policies. It's happening again. In the months ahead, watch the catch phrases and bullshit fly.
I want things to start happening. Who's with me? When our little voices can be heard (seriously, a vote every 3 years..? some voice), demand action. Look beyond the shit slinging major parties, don't waste your vote on their extremes. Put people who care about the country/world in the senate. Make an informed decision. Understand the process. Don't just vote for a major because you want to be on a winning team, otherwise we all lose. Otherwise everything comes grinding to a halt yet again. Otherwise the only other option we've really got for change (real, immediate change) is violent revolution, and who wants all that mess?
End rant.
j.
posted by j. at 10:27 AM
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