6 - # of Straya threads or # of times we've changed Prime Minister in a decade?

[Kieran McConville]

So long, suckers.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

How depressing is that photo of the new Senate.

 

[Axver]

I'm going to spend the next six years wincing at Senate photos aren't I.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Hey, only three for Derryn. Yaaaaaaay...

 

[Axver]

Remember that Stop Tony Meow browser extension that replaced all images of Tone with pictures of kittens?

We need a new version of that for pictures of Pauline.

 

[Kieran McConville]

How about an extension that replaces all photos of your political bete noires with pictures of, I dunno, Hitler. Wait, that meme cat saluting like Hitler. That.

 

[cobl04]

I don't think I could vote Greens at a state level. Daniel Andrews is doing a great job.

 

[Axver]

I'm so confused by that opinion poll that came out showing Matthew Guy with a higher approval rating than Dandrews.

That said, I'd never vote ALP 1. The joys of preferencing.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I'm almost sorry to bump this sad sack of a thread now that Australian politics is back on ice, nothing changed and nothing resolved (someone may emerge at this point to yell at me about One Nation but fuck that, they are a symptom, not a cause)...

Not strictly 'Strayan' but since it's unlikely to get discussed in FYM; what happens if Jeremy Corbyn actually wins this re-do of the British Labour leadership contest? Because he very well could. It certainly isn't any of the interchangeable cast of Blairites who have seen the party's membership top half a million.

 

[Axver]

It really is breathtaking the disconnect at the moment between the parliamentary Labour Party and much of the supporter base. I won't be shocked if the party fragments in two. But the problem is that will just cement the Tories in power.

I will confess, however, that my knowledge of UK politics - at least of the present day - is not nearly as good as that of the US.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

I'm almost sorry to bump this sad sack of a thread now that Australian politics is back on ice, nothing changed and nothing resolved (someone may emerge at this point to yell at me about One Nation but fuck that, they are a symptom, not a cause)...

Not strictly 'Strayan' but since it's unlikely to get discussed in FYM; what happens if Jeremy Corbyn actually wins this re-do of the British Labour leadership contest? Because he very well could. It certainly isn't any of the interchangeable cast of Blairites who have seen the party's membership top half a million.

He should win, even as much as the Labour Party are trying to purge its members of 'entryists'. Owen Smith is a hapless embarrassment and I can imagine no one really legitimately likes him.

 

[Kieran McConville]

He should win, yes. At what point do the parliamentary party have to just live with it? Or there is Axver's option, some kind of futile self-defeating split. I mean, when you find yourself on the same side as Tony Blair, you sort of have to wonder why you're in public life.

All this crap about entryists and Trotskyist plots... the people so described would probably number a couple of thousand in all of the UK.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I will confess, however, that my knowledge of UK politics - at least of the present day - is not nearly as good as that of the US.

I will confess that I am in the same boat. I guess it stands to reason, since the empire is in Washington now and not in London.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Congrats to Triple J for giving platforms to fascists now.

 

[Axver]

I will confess that I am in the same boat. I guess it stands to reason, since the empire is in Washington now and not in London.

Yep. Safe to say I have a more informed opinion on British politics in 1846 than I do in 2016 (Earl Grey you fool!).

Congrats to Triple J for giving platforms to fascists now.

Trump appeared on Hack?

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Trump appeared on Hack?

Blair Cottrell from neo-Nazi group the UPF.

 

[Axver]

Is that for the discussion on "Aussie patriots" they've been advertising?

 

[Kieran McConville]

Triple J's 'Hack' is very much of the 'on the one hand, but on the other hand' school of current affairs journalism. I just realised it's over six months since I even listened to anything on that station. Don't miss it.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Is that for the discussion on "Aussie patriots" they've been advertising?

Yes. It was on last night.

 

[Axver]

I was quite deliberately avoiding that.

I too hate the 50/50, "A says/B says" journalism that gives everything equal time, but I would have thought that for a discussion on "Aussie patriots", at least what I saw billed, it is only reasonable to at least let a so-called patriot speak for themselves rather than have a whole bunch of people attack a strawman? Give him enough rope, even.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Also, to judge from call-ins back in the day when I used to have Hack on, a surprising proportion (or maybe it isn't surprising, eh?) of young strayans are very very rightwing. All that talk of demographic salvation (see also the coming Democratic majority in America) is a mite shortsighted I think.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I was quite deliberately avoiding that.

I too hate the 50/50, "A says/B says" journalism that gives everything equal time, but I would have thought that for a discussion on "Aussie patriots", at least what I saw billed, it is only reasonable to at least let a so-called patriot speak for themselves rather than have a whole bunch of people attack a strawman? Give him enough rope, even.

I would tend to agree that merely letting the dickhead hang himself on air is probably no bad thing... it all comes down to how the program handles it. Tom Tilley (if it's still him) doesn't fill me with confidence.

 

[Axver]

Also, to judge from call-ins back in the day when I used to have Hack on, a surprising proportion (or maybe it isn't surprising, eh?) of young strayans are very very rightwing.

Replace "strayans" with "people" and you have today's unfortunate FYM episode.

All that talk of demographic salvation (see also the coming Democratic majority in America) is a mite shortsighted I think.

Entirely. With regards to the Democrats specifically, whatever majority they have will prove illusory within a couple of electoral cycles. People do not stay clustered behind one party forever, especially not now. The Republicans as we knew them are at death's door, and Trump at the moment has the pillow a millimetre from their face, but there is no reason why the Republicans won't take on another guise that appeals to whatever demographics exist in a decade.

The alarming part is that an extremist tack, whether it be in the direction of a Trump or something else, is perhaps most likely. The one prediction I will make is that politics across the Western world will get more extreme in the next couple of decades. This is unlikely to be a good thing (I say as somebody whose views are far from the centre).

 

[Kieran McConville]

Replace "strayans" with "people" and you have today's unfortunate FYM episode.



Entirely. With regards to the Democrats specifically, whatever majority they have will prove illusory within a couple of electoral cycles. People do not stay clustered behind one party forever, especially not now. The Republicans as we knew them are at death's door, and Trump at the moment has the pillow a millimetre from their face, but there is no reason why the Republicans won't take on another guise that appeals to whatever demographics exist in a decade.

The alarming part is that an extremist tack, whether it be in the direction of a Trump or something else, is perhaps most likely. The one prediction I will make is that politics across the Western world will get more extreme in the next couple of decades. This is unlikely to be a good thing (I say as somebody whose views are far from the centre).

Yep. The dam is broken now, or near to it. How extreme politics gets depends who steps up to the plate. If it's more Trumps, or their soulmates, and if they have the stage, well then.

What happened in FYM today? I am afraid I was busy, you know, working.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Also, to judge from call-ins back in the day when I used to have Hack on, a surprising proportion (or maybe it isn't surprising, eh?) of young strayans are very very rightwing. All that talk of demographic salvation (see also the coming Democratic majority in America) is a mite shortsighted I think.

I'm not that surprised, although predictably I see very little of that within my own friend circles. Every now and then you do get exposed to it, partly because of the university environment you're unlikely to hear too much in the way of reactionary views. In my experience, people do reveal themselves in Facebook statuses that they don't necessarily show in person.

 

[Axver]

I'm horrified how many of my relatives on Facebook (generally distant ones, fortunately) who you would identify as traditional working-class left and who never voted for Abbott take much pleasure in sharing anti-refugee and anti-Islam memes. I'm always seeing shit shared from pages with idiotic names like "stop the mosque in Bendigo" and "we stand with Sonia Kruger".

Anybody who thinks that these "Aussie patriots" are just an element of the far-right is sorely mistaken. I have a colleague who loves pointing out that strict limits on immigration, including race-based limits, are a longstanding ALP tradition premised precisely on working-class solidarity. Many of the arguments these people articulate are straight out of the playbook of the union movement of a century ago, especially those who are not in any way affiliated with the religious right (hell, sometimes they hate "god botherers" almost as much as they hate "muzzies").

What happened in FYM today? I am afraid I was busy, you know, working.

Oh, the Trumpkins got straight-up sexist, brazenly and unapologetically, essentially blaming a woman for her (soon to be ex-)husband's infidelities with an underage girl. It was vile.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I'm horrified how many of my relatives on Facebook (generally distant ones, fortunately) who you would identify as traditional working-class left and who never voted for Abbott take much pleasure in sharing anti-refugee and anti-Islam memes. I'm always seeing shit shared from pages with idiotic names like "stop the mosque in Bendigo" and "we stand with Sonia Kruger".

Anybody who thinks that these "Aussie patriots" are just an element of the far-right is sorely mistaken. I have a colleague who loves pointing out that strict limits on immigration, including race-based limits, are a longstanding ALP tradition premised precisely on working-class solidarity. Many of the arguments these people articulate are straight out of the playbook of the union movement of a century ago, especially those who are not in any way affiliated with the religious right (hell, sometimes they hate "god botherers" almost as much as they hate "muzzies").



Oh, the Trumpkins got straight-up sexist, brazenly and unapologetically, essentially blaming a woman for her (soon to be ex-)husband's infidelities with an underage girl. It was vile.

You don't have to scratch the surface too hard before it gets ugly, I've noticed. FYM I mean.

As for the anti-immigrants, anti-muslims memes, that stuff is just, just barely under the surface. it may not be tolerated at an Australia Day official event or a government citizenship day or other such 'official' moments, but it's certainly not restricted to the radical fringe, unfortunately that's true. That some of it has deep roots in Labor tradition is probably part of it, sure.

Just look at any comment thread on a Guardian article. I've made clear in the past that I have issues with The Guardian, but many readers have other issues of their own that seem to boil down to the paper not prosecuting the clash-of-civilisations with enough vigour (shit, Natalie Nougayrede is banging the drum to bomb the shit out of Syria again, what more do folks want?).

 

[Kieran McConville]

I'm not that surprised, although predictably I see very little of that within my own friend circles. Every now and then you do get exposed to it, partly because of the university environment you're unlikely to hear too much in the way of reactionary views. In my experience, people do reveal themselves in Facebook statuses that they don't necessarily show in person.

Nobody I know voted for Nixon.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

You don't have to scratch the surface too hard before it gets ugly, I've noticed. FYM I mean.

As for the anti-immigrants, anti-muslims memes, that stuff is just, just barely under the surface. it may not be tolerated at an Australia Day official event or a government citizenship day or other such 'official' moments, but it's certainly not restricted to the radical fringe, unfortunately that's true. That some of it has deep roots in Labor tradition is probably part of it, sure.

Just look at any comment thread on a Guardian article. I've made clear in the past that I have issues with The Guardian, but many readers have other issues of their own that seem to boil down to the paper not prosecuting the clash-of-civilisations with enough vigour (shit, Natalie Nougayrede is banging the drum to bomb the shit out of Syria again, what more do folks want?).

I'm always here for the Nougayrede hating. One of the most worthless journalists around, the epitome of centrist/liberal greyness and moralising.

Nobody I know voted for Nixon.

I could count the number of people I encountered who had voted Abbott in 2013 on one hand. I think I made one person feel particularly guilty about having done so.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Was that one person Tony Abbott? Because that would rule.