Pauline Hanson: still a racist moron

[Jusenkyo no Pikachu]

White Pride Alert!…also, what are “aboriginals”?

For context: apparently the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony spent too much time on our traditional owners…never mind that we got Jack Thompson, Delta Goodrem and “You’re The Voice”…

[Gutter Monkey]

She's genuinely pretty dumb, she often struggles to form coherent sentences and quite often uses common words incorrectly or doesn't know what they actually mean. Her use of the word "indigenous" here is a good example.

If it were any other politician I'd say that they were deliberately using words ambiguously to put up a smokescreen for most of the population but to send a dogwhistleto the "true believers" at the same time but she's really not smart enough to be that devious.

In a recent interview she was genuinely confused and hurt that politicians from other parties would snub her and not want to be her buddy, she's one of those people who assume that she's a Good Person doing Good Things For The Country and anyone who disagrees with her is trying to undermine her because [reasons]

[Skeptic]

I have never worked out if Pauline Hansen is actually dumb or vile, or is she a combination of both. She does some really stupid thing to get attention, and seems to be against anyone who is not English-speaking white christian. She campaigned recently against halal food, clearly not knowing anything about it and not realising that it included foods like fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and eggs, all of which are automatically halal. (This event was all the more funny as she was filmed outside, trying to lean against a fence till she realised it was barbed wire).

Then she started complaining about the amount of "Aboriginals" (wrong word, aboriginal is an adjective), who were participating in the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, while not realising that every country participating had at some time been under the control of the British empire. These ceremonies always feature the indigenous culture prominently.

Australia has got off lightly with regards to bigots in our governments. We have a dozen or so, some countries have hundreds.

[RichardM]

We have one really, really big one and millions of others.

[ganzfeld]

Originally Posted by Skeptic

Australia has got off lightly with regards to bigots in our governments. We have a dozen or so, some countries have hundreds.

I don't see what other countries have to do with it. "We're not as bad as others" has never been a compelling statement. It's true for everyone but the very worst.

[Lainie]

"Someone else did something worse" is an excuse I didn't accept from my daughter when she was a child.

[Gutter Monkey]

I don't think that Skeptic was excusing the bigots we have in parliament or their actions, just noting that this bad situation could have been much worse.

[Gutter Monkey]

I should probably add that there's a good chance that we'll have a leadership challenge in a day or two and there's a chance that the current moderate Prime Minister might be replaced by an extreme right winger so the situation might get a LOT worse very soon.

[Sue]

Originally Posted by ganzfeld

I don't see what other countries have to do with it. "We're not as bad as others" has never been a compelling statement. It's true for everyone but the very worst.

I see your argument but in the context of a country electing officials I think it's a valid point to make. Canada, as an example, is hardly exempt from racism and our own version of "Make Canada White again" but I stand with Skeptic when I say as least our elected officials spouting these beliefs are not numerous - we have indeed gotten off lightly (recently) but we need to be vigilant, in part because...

Originally Posted by Gutter Monkey

I should probably add that there's a good chance that we'll have a leadership challenge in a day or two and there's a chance that the current moderate Prime Minister might be replaced by an extreme right winger so the situation might get a LOT worse very soon.

Here it's not at the national level that there is concern (yet) but provincially we are heading into an election with a very unpopular liberal who is currently Premier and the person chosen to lead the Conservative party is :sigh: Doug Ford. Someone who appeals to the same kinds of people who voted Trump in in the US.

[Dasla]

Originally Posted by Skeptic

I have never worked out if Pauline Hansen is actually dumb or vile, or is she a combination of both.

She also jumped on the "Vaccines are BAD!!" bandwagon. Briefly, I think. I don't know if she got off that idea because she realised it was bs or because she discovered that is a more looney left idea and not a looney right idea.

I think that people that have a looney idea they want pushed contact her cause they think she is their women. Because she has pushed some nutty ones.

[Jusenkyo no Pikachu]

Originally Posted by Dasla

She also jumped on the "Vaccines are BAD!!" bandwagon. Briefly, I think. I don't know if she got off that idea because she realised it was bs or because she discovered that is a more looney left idea and not a looney right idea.

I think that people that have a looney idea they want pushed contact her cause they think she is their women. Because she has pushed some nutty ones.

Surprisingly enough, she also supports reforming cannabis law.

[GenYus234]

Not really that surprising, legalization of marijuana is supported by both people on the left and people on the right. The left generally sees it as punishing people for something relatively harmless with less societal costs than other legal things like alcohol. The right (I know this was the position of libertarians) sometimes put it in the context of reducing governmental interference.