Hatboy's Hatstand

Day 23. 64 pages, 28,839 words.

I received this link from my esteemed associate Mr. dreameling, and thought it was interesting and relevant to the recent political gulf we’re seeing not just in the US, but in a lot of western countries.

It’s a long read, but worth throwing onto your open tabs list and scrolling through sometime. If you were ever wondering just why the political debate has broken down and what agendas are at play here, this gives some very good info.

The idea that the left is depraved, corrupt, and ruthless has been an important strain of American conservatism since the movement began. But in the Trump era, it has metastasized. Right-wing policy ideas have been so thoroughly discredited—does anyone even argue anymore that trickle-down economics will ensure mass prosperity?—that the only apparent reason for conservatism’s existence is to fight back against evil liberals. This is, of course, not the sign of a healthy political movement. The right’s support for McCarthy has been a long-standing embarrassment for American conservatism. Its embrace of Trump may be history repeating itself.

So yeah, that explains a lot about why “conservatives” think and act the way they do. The left, liberals and progressives in general, are truly horrifying.

Here’s an amusing thing, speaking of the horrifying progressives and how they’re super-comparable to the conservatives (according to the conservative ideology of necessity).

An Australian senator, formerly of the white supremacist One Nation party and now of the Fucking Psychotic Dipshit Bob Katter Australian Party, just made his first speech in the senate and accidentally by complete coincidence called his proposal for immigration a “final solution” to the question of Muslims In The First World.

A final solution. Because isolationist and anti-immigrant parties – excuse me, anti-non-white­-immigrant parties, they’re perfectly happy to ship in those white South Africans who are being genocided[1] – never slip white supremacist dogwhistles into their speeches. And nobody ever described a policy as a “final solution” and went on to do anything horrifying. Ever.

[1] And because this is the level of discourse that is the new normal now, let me assure everyone that of course if people in other countries are living in a war zone, or at risk of genocide, and are fleeing for their lives, we should absolutely grant them asylum. Oops, that actually already applies to all refugees, of all skin shades.

Fortunately, this giant moronic shitball named Fraser Anning (go and check out his Twitter if you 1) have some spare time and want your faith in humanity eroded a small but statistically significant amount, 2) want to see an Australian-flavoured, way lamer and more clumsily-executed Racist Grandad Clickbait Reel than Donald Trump’s, and I know, that’s really saying something) seems to have unified a lot of Australia’s politicians and other public faces in condemnation of the … just appallingly ghastly shit he just said. What a despicable excuse for a human being this creature is.

On Wednesday, lawmakers across the political divide moved to pass parliamentary motions censuring Mr Anning for his “racist hate speech”, noting in particular his use of the phrase “final solution”, and his “false, misleading and hurtful statements” about Muslim Australians and other immigrant groups.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Mr Anning had made “a shocking insult to the memory” of those murdered in the Holocaust.

Well said, that man.

And Edpool’s own two cents’ worth for Anning’s Twitter feed posterity. In case you were interested in the background, he’s bitching at an Aboriginal activist’s admittedly hyperbolic and understandably angry metaphor about burning Australia(…’s current inhumane and imperialistic policies about native conciliation and inclusiveness) to the ground.

But perhaps the greatest response came from the giant floating turd himself, Bob Katter. Although he absolutely supported this fuckwit’s hate-speech and his dreams of restoring the White Australia policies of the early 20^th Century (mmm, let’s restore Australia to its glory years!), he couldn’t help but try – and fail hilariously – to excuse Anning’s use of the “final solution” genocide code.

Mr Katter said he supported Mr Anning’s speech “1000%” but suggested that his colleague did not know much about the Holocaust.

“He’s smart, but he hasn’t read all the history books,” Mr Katter told reporters.

Yeah, nah, he’s not smart. He did, however, know exactly what he was saying to the increasingly emboldened white supremacists who form the backbone (if you’ll excuse the inappropriate term) of his political group.

So he, and you, and all your slimy mouth-breathing adherents, can fuck off.

This is it. This is another toll of the bell, another blast of the horn calling us to do quite literal, possibly physical, certainly ideological war. This is the shape of things to come and the time to stand up to it and make it very, very clear where you stand, is now. Because publicity stunt or not, this is where they stand. And I am not, and will never be, by action or inaction or fear of black-and-white divisiveness, one of them.

– Pre-ranted yesterday on my way through Helsinki on the bus. Posted from my Huawei y’know the rest.