Malcolm Turnbull should resign and call an election
this is just the start of this blog. I'll try to polish it up a bit as I go. I felt a bit constrained in what I could say on my other blog fairgreenplanet because it's directly linked to my research and my job as an academic.
Obviously I'm still a researcher and academic, but the purpose of this one is to say stuff that I think is important as global citizen. The fact that that seems to conflict in some way with my work as an academic is clearly a BIG problem, which I hope I'll be able to untangle as I go.
I don't think it's just me. I suspect a lot of academics, and others, like journalists, aren't saying what we really think because of some vague and ill-specified ideas about civility and objectivity and the proper conduct of public debate. I think this is contributing to the disastrous global mess we are in with climate change, environmental degradation and increasing inequality. Please bear with me while I try to figure this out.
Warning: I've been banned from a couple of 'progressive' blogs, one of them a blog that aspires to be feminist. I think the people who did this are idiots, although at the same time I don't think calling people idiots really contributes to useful public debate. But I do think what they did and said was extremely stupid. So these are the puzzles I'm grappling with. It lets off steam to call people idiots, but does it help the cause of being a good global citizen? Possibly it may, if it deters people who presumably want a sustainable and fair society from behaving like idiots. (In using the term idiots, I am specifically not trying to say anything stigmatising about people with mental health issues, although there is some history that I acknowledge.)
One thing I want to say today is that Malcolm Turnbull is an idiot (again, I say that without condoning calling people idiots in a general sense - I know it's wrong to call people idiots generally, but the greater good of expressing my fury at Turnbull seems to outweigh that).
More specifically, Turnbull is unethical. I've written on fairgreenplanet about his dishonesty on renewable energy and climate change. He has also recently tried to stir up racism in Victoria for political gain. Now he stands with Trump, apparently promising $2 trillion of OUR super for Trump's America, while refusing to speak honestly on gun violence. He should resign and call an election. He is not fit to be Prime Minister.
Ok so should I censor my responses about calling people idiots and just write the more considered views about behaviour and ethics? But how can you convey emotion - which is important - without saying what you feel?
What Malcolm Turnbull is doing is wrong, really dangerously wrong. It needs to be called out.
(Just edited title to reflect this)
Another edit: it's even worse, I forgot to mention Turnbull's $2billion of OUR money towards an armaments industry in Australia. I presume this too is part of his desire to align with Trump, since Trump wants to increase America's stockpile of weapons and Turnbull the merchant banker would see an opportunity to sell arms to America. Doesn't matter that you're selling weapons of death, as long as you're selling. When did Australians agree to this? (We didn't even get asked)
Also of course there's the ongoing, bilateral with Labor, vile treatment of asylum seekers, this time with the particular expertise of Dutton and 'BorderForce'. What a fucking joke that is - BorderForce - it's like something a four year old would come up with. Except it's not a joke, it's fascist.
Obviously I'm still a researcher and academic, but the purpose of this one is to say stuff that I think is important as global citizen. The fact that that seems to conflict in some way with my work as an academic is clearly a BIG problem, which I hope I'll be able to untangle as I go.
I don't think it's just me. I suspect a lot of academics, and others, like journalists, aren't saying what we really think because of some vague and ill-specified ideas about civility and objectivity and the proper conduct of public debate. I think this is contributing to the disastrous global mess we are in with climate change, environmental degradation and increasing inequality. Please bear with me while I try to figure this out.
Warning: I've been banned from a couple of 'progressive' blogs, one of them a blog that aspires to be feminist. I think the people who did this are idiots, although at the same time I don't think calling people idiots really contributes to useful public debate. But I do think what they did and said was extremely stupid. So these are the puzzles I'm grappling with. It lets off steam to call people idiots, but does it help the cause of being a good global citizen? Possibly it may, if it deters people who presumably want a sustainable and fair society from behaving like idiots. (In using the term idiots, I am specifically not trying to say anything stigmatising about people with mental health issues, although there is some history that I acknowledge.)
One thing I want to say today is that Malcolm Turnbull is an idiot (again, I say that without condoning calling people idiots in a general sense - I know it's wrong to call people idiots generally, but the greater good of expressing my fury at Turnbull seems to outweigh that).
More specifically, Turnbull is unethical. I've written on fairgreenplanet about his dishonesty on renewable energy and climate change. He has also recently tried to stir up racism in Victoria for political gain. Now he stands with Trump, apparently promising $2 trillion of OUR super for Trump's America, while refusing to speak honestly on gun violence. He should resign and call an election. He is not fit to be Prime Minister.
Ok so should I censor my responses about calling people idiots and just write the more considered views about behaviour and ethics? But how can you convey emotion - which is important - without saying what you feel?
What Malcolm Turnbull is doing is wrong, really dangerously wrong. It needs to be called out.
(Just edited title to reflect this)
Another edit: it's even worse, I forgot to mention Turnbull's $2billion of OUR money towards an armaments industry in Australia. I presume this too is part of his desire to align with Trump, since Trump wants to increase America's stockpile of weapons and Turnbull the merchant banker would see an opportunity to sell arms to America. Doesn't matter that you're selling weapons of death, as long as you're selling. When did Australians agree to this? (We didn't even get asked)
Also of course there's the ongoing, bilateral with Labor, vile treatment of asylum seekers, this time with the particular expertise of Dutton and 'BorderForce'. What a fucking joke that is - BorderForce - it's like something a four year old would come up with. Except it's not a joke, it's fascist.
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