Nothing Happening

[Svartalf]

The malay are being rational again...

[mistermack]

Some of the remains of bodies, from the Germanwings murder crash have been moved from A to B.
It's sad..
but it's not news.

I agree, something must be going right, when the movement of coffins is the headline news.

Better than more planes crashing.

[mistermack]

Some real news at last :

Totally disgusting behaviour was witnessed on the beach in Weston Super-Mare today.............A man and woman were arguing in front of a load of children, when she suddenly smacked him one on the head and it all kicked off between them. The police turned up and the policeman ended up using his baton on the man, but the man actually managed to get the baton off the copper and started hitting the copper and the woman with it.
Then a crocodile turned up and stole all the sausages......

[JimC]

A Punch and Judy show, right?

[mistermack]

A Punch and Judy show, right?

One poor feller dead !

That's......... the way to do it !!!

[pErvinalia]

Fascism is growing in Australia (most notably from our politicians). I can't be bothered explaining it. No one gives a fuck anyway.

[JimC]

Fascism is growing in Australia (most notably from our politicians). I can't be bothered explaining it. No one gives a fuck anyway.

Whatever right wing sentiments are being expressed in Oz, by politicians or others, it is stretching a point to call it fascism, in the real meaning of the term. There is a tiny number of neo-nazis that possibly deserve the term, but otherwise it isn't useful terminology. If we go too far in that direction, it is the same as Seth labelling anything faintly left wing as marxist...

[pErvinalia]

Bullshit, Jim. You've just validated my reasoning to not bother. This has nothing to do with neo-nazis and nationalists (which are growing). It has to do with the government's repeated disregard for the rule of law, secrecy, and disrespect for our democracy. If someone as educated and aware as you don't even see this creeping problem, then we are definitely fucked.

[pErvinalia]

Saying you can't use the "F" word until the point that a system actually is fascist is ridiculous. In any case, I describe what's happening as small "f" fascism. It's heading in that direction. And unless people actively vote/act to stop it, it will keep creeping that way. Once you give up powers and civil rights to the government and corporations it gets in a sense exponentially harder to get them back and reverse the trend.

[Hermit]

Whatever right wing sentiments are being expressed in Oz, by politicians or others, it is stretching a point to call it fascism, in the real meaning of the term. There is a tiny number of neo-nazis that possibly deserve the term, but otherwise it isn't useful terminology.

The brother of a girlfriend was the vice president of the New South Wales Young Libs at the time. He said the members of the right wing of the party, which was then and remains now the dominant faction of the Liberal Party, were known as "The Uglies" by everybody else. He said their meetings he had to attend by virtue of his office was like walking into a closed conference of brownshirts. I think rEv is right. Liberal Party politicians tone down what they really think when it comes to making statements for public consumption. Underneath their reprehensible right wing views hide even more thoroughly disgusting ones.

[pErvinalia]

Yep. You see it every time they go off script. Like last night's Q&A episode where Steve Ciobo told one audience member he'd be happy to see him stripped of his citizenship for threatening to kill someone, without judicial review. In response to that, today we've had mass confected outrage from the conservatives about how this audience member was allowed to be on the show and ask uncomfortable (but very relevant) questions to our politicians. Malcolm Turnbull has come out and answered questions about this audience member' free speech by saying that he believes in free speech, BUT, not in the case of a live television show. Only in the case of a recorded interview. Bullshit! He's not a "Liberal". He's a threat to our democracy. And the Prime Minister has come out this morning to AGAIN repeat the question to the ABC - "who's side are you on?". Yes, Jim, that's very democratic and liberal behaviour. Nothing slightly fascist about bullying the national broadcaster for not painting everything this government does in a positive light. It's basically GW Bush's "you're either with us or against us" bullshit. Same shit from the PM this week saying that people who respect the rule of law and want the courts to deal with citizenship revocation are "rolling out the red carpet to terrorists". It's shocking what's been happening lately. I wish people would wake the fuck up.

[JimC]

Look, I agree that the conservative elements of the Liberal party are feeling their oats, getting somewhat more extreme, and need to be opposed and countered in political debate. I just think that throwing around the term "fascist" is historically absurd.

[pErvinalia]

Bullshit, again. Excising parts of the country and shrouding it in a cloak of secrecy and little to no oversight is not liberal democracy. Introducing laws to make protest illegal is not liberal democracy. Introducing laws where doctors basically have to forgo the Hippocratic Oath in certain parts of society isn't liberal democracy. Wanting to strip citizens of their citizenship WITHOUT court involvement is frighteningly fascistic. I don't know how you can't find that a fascistic move. Breaking international and most probably national laws to pay criminal organisations to continue their activity, without oversight or investigation is NOT liberal democracy. Suggesting the nation media should be on the "side" of the government is a very worrying development. These are dangerous times, and people sleep walking through it is making it worse.

[pErvinalia]

And it's not just the Coalition. It's also the Labor party (to a slightly lesser extent). There is really no effective opposition in this country and the Fourth Estate has all but collapsed as a giant joke. These points alone are enough to make it an utter joke to call us a liberal democracy. If we aren't a liberal democracy, what are we?!? We are heading in the direction of authoritarianism. And it's neoliberal/capitalist, not socialist. So that puts it firmly in the direction of fascism. So what do you call our system in light of the current stripping of civil rights, flagrantly ignoring international and probably national laws, and the growing secrecy and criminalisation of whistle-blowing??

[JimC]

The most recent alterations to the ""stripping of citizenship" legislation has removed the ability of it to be unilaterally decided by the minister, so most of your objections to hat have vanished; it will be a court decision (admittedly, this was forced on Abbot so that he could get it though parliament - his instincts are autocratic and dangerous...)

And remember, the people they are talking about are dual citizens who have committed terrorist offences overseas, and who would slit your infidel throat without a single qualm...