Republican Presidential Debate Time Is Here!

Why the Republican Party Can't Win

I have a confession to make. I'm a political junkie. I find the world around me and the people in it endlessly fascinating. Trying to understand why our society is the way it is keeps me up at night. Then there are the things that bring me joy. One of those is about to begin.

The debates between candidates for the Republican party nomination begin on August 6^th. It's a circus. It's like watching the a train crash in slow motion. This year we have the clown in chief (Donald Trump) who will be trying to out wacky some of weirdest and wackiest candidates the Grand Old Party (GOP) have ever thrown together.

The contrast between the Republican debates and the Democratic debates is as fascinating as it is informative. Democratic debates are filled with sensible earnest looking people putting on their serious face and explaining how their 4,500 page tax plan is the good for the nation. Republicans on the other hand will just scream that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) who collects tax is in everybody's face and when elected President I'll abolish it. And the crowd goes wild!

As amusing as it is, it's indicative of a larger fact. Republican's cant win. The most obvious reason, is that American demographics have changed and are continuing to change. Since 1992 Republican candidates have legitimately won one election presidential election. That of 2004. The election of 2000, was so close, that it was called before all the votes were counted. It turns out, that after all the votes were counted, Al Gore, not George Bush won the state of Florida and therefore should have been declared president. 2004 was an anomaly due to the Iraq war.

How did it come to this?

America continues to diversify. In the 2012 presidential election 26.3 % of voters were non-white, up 2 % from 2008.. That doesn't sound like much, but consider that Obama won that particular segment by 80% - 17% for Mitt Romney and you can see that the GOP has a real problem. In fact after the 2012 election defeat the Republican National Committee (RNC) postmortem opened with the words:

“The definition of insanity, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Sadly nothing has changed since 2012.

Immigration

Latino (or Spanish speaking) voters are the second largest minority in the USA after African Americans. They make up 20 million eligible voters. They tend to be 1^st or 2nd generation immigrants to america. The immigration programme is something they're quite familiar with. When Republican candidates talk about immigration, however they tend to do so in unflattering terms. Such as:

" When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists." - Donald Trump June 2015

Insanity

While it's obvious to anyone that insulting the voters you need for the general election is insane, it has to be done. The reason is that of course anyone running a line that is remotely palatable to voters in the general election simply can't win the Republican Party nomination.

But Why?

I think there are a 3 major reasons for this. The first we'll call the Echo Chamber Effect.

Echo Chamber Effect?

One of the most unexpected effects of the information revolution was the echo chamber effect. People were now free to gain information about the world around them from only the sources they believed in. People no longer sat down together to watch the evening news. News could be had from anywhere and from anyone. People didn't choose the mainstream media anymore, they wanted news they agreed with all the time.

This was the perfect time for Rupert Murdoch to start Fox News. Fox News is the most brazen partisan news organisation there has been, and probably ever will be. Fox News truly lives in an alternate universe where Barack Obama is a communist born in Kenya. They employ circular logic to brainwash viewers in exactly the same way a cult does. Any information (such as this blog) that does not agree with Fox is a product of the evil liberal media. Therefore it is rejected, which feeds the belief in Fox and the conservative media.

Amusingly (and frighteningly) it isn't just voters who become brainwashed by this nonsense. Karl Rove simply refused to believe Obama had been elected in 2012. Why? All the polls pointed to a Romney win. This doesn't make sense. Except it makes perfect sense, because Fox was lying about the polls and had been for months. His meltdown is amusing in a sad kind of way and you can watch it here:

Powerful Republicans are just as likely to fall into this alternate universe as the white working class voters who make up the majority of their constituency. It's an Orwellian place where facts have no meaning, change constantly or are ignored if not helpful to the republican cause. But the biggest problem about the echo chamber, is that Republicans have started to believe their own propaganda.

The Gerrymander Effect?

The USA has no independent umpire when it comes to drawing electoral boundaries. Gerrymandering is drawing the political boundaries for political gain. The original Gerrymander was enacted by Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry in 1812 and looked like a salamander.

What happens is that both parties get together to group all voters of one party together to create a safe seat. Both party's benefit from this practice by reducing the amount of seats "in play" so that finite party resources can be spent on fewer and fewer marginal districts. Unfortunately in the USA today the House of Representatives has extremely few contested districts.

The average Congressman sits in a very safe seat. The public are extremely unlikely to throw him or her out. On the other hand, they must listen very closely to those in their party. If they become unpopular, they will lose the right to stand for their party. Their party who are caught up in this alternate universe where reality and facts do not tread. It leads to Congressman denouncing global warming as a devious plot designed to bring back socialism or whatever claptrap the echo chamber is reverberating with today. I would like to remind you that these people make policy decisions that effect not just America but their footprint echos throughout the 7.3 BILLION humans on planet Earth.

Free Trade Effect

Republican voters in America today tend to be the lesser educated manual laborers. Salt of the Earth people like miners, plumbers and manufacturing workers. These are the people who have suffered from overseas competition. Competition from economies that have far lower wages.. Real wages among the working and middle class in America haven't risen in 40 years.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/09/for-most-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/

It's always during difficult economic times that the far right raises its ugly head. As Americans lives fail to get better, people need someone to blame. According to the right wing eco-chamber it's Obama. But of course it's also immigration.

The Gordian Knot

The American right has tied a Gordian Knot for itself. To break out of the echo chamber is damn near impossible. 4 years ago Mitt Romney didn't even try. Will Someone manage it this year?

Governor Jeb Bush

Not Jeb Bush who has put together the same team his brother had. So expect America to invade Belgium if he's ever elected. But of course he wont be. Being brother to the WORST AMERICAN PRESIDENT in a generation is a handicap he can't beat.

Governor Chris Christie

Current Goveror of New Jersey. Too moderate (sensible) for most Republican voters, but if by some miracle he is nominated might make a good opponent for Hillary, and a POSSIBLE GOOD PRESIDENT. Could be the one to untie the Gordian Knot.

Senator Ted Cruz

Political bomb thrower. GOD HELP AMERICA if he's ever elected

Governor Scott Walker

RIGHT WING IDEALOG. Current Governor of Wisconson. My Personal Pick for the nomination. I think he'll win the nomination, run against Hillary and lose.

Dr Ben Carsen

GROUND BREAKING NEUROSURGEON. Currently polling well. African American. A dark horse.

Governor Mike Huckabee

Former Governor of Arkansas, CHRISTIAN ACTIVIST and FOX NEWS PERSONALITY Governor Mike Huckabee. He's likable enough but definitely wont be the nominee. As a Fox News Talking Head, he cant break the Republican Party free of the echo chamber.

Senator Marco Rubio

CUBAN AMERICAN Marco Rubio from Florida is an impressive orator and could portray a more welcoming America in the general election. Which is why he won't win the nomination. An acolyte of Jeb Bush, he's handicapped by Bush's run as well. Possible untier of that Gordian Knot.

Senator Rand Paul

SON OF SENATOR RON PAUL, Rand has made his mark as a Libertarian Candidate. He's a bit of a political bomb thrower and far too unorthodox to be in real contention. Doesnt live in the echo chamber, therefore has little credibility to those inside it.

Governor John Kasich

Current Governor of Ohio, former member of the House of Representatives and former FOX NEWS PERSONALITY. Definitely wont break the echo chamber.

Donald Trump

Property magnate and Reality TV Star Donald Trump is a 21^st Century PT Barnum. The circus is in town and he is the ringmaaster and head clown. His ties to the Clinton's will be exploited if he continues to lead in the polls. He revels in controversy. All the serious candidates are waiting for him to screw up and burn out.

The Clown

So we return to where we began. Donald Trump's popularity is a symptom of the sickness and depravity of the echo chamber world of right wing politics in the USA right now. While democrats chuckle to themselves about how this election is a shoe-in, the rest of America and the world aren't laughing. Candidates who could challenge the Democrats and make good Presidents are left by the roadside while morons and idiots hurl invective around insulting everyone who isn't white, straight and christian. It's quite the spectacle, but a healthy democracy needs at least two strong parties. What we have here is one party who aren't even trying (Clinton again) vs a drunk, disorderly knife fight. Americas problems that need addressing that don't go away. They just get shelved as too hard.

Bronwyn Bishop Expenses Scandal

What the Bronwyn Bishop Scandal Says About Both Sides of Government

So Bronwyn Bishop has finally resigned from the Speakership of the Parliament of Australia. Thank goodness that's over. Being Speaker of the House was always an ambition for Bronnie, after a senior cabinet post became out of the question. Her points of order objections were the stuff of legend among those who inhabit the lower chamber.

One can understand then her reluctance to leave her position, it comes with a very nice residence, plenty of perks and makes you feel important. But the lasting impression that I have is that had she been sensible, she would still been speaker.

First of all there is the actual expenses claim. $5000 on a Helicopter ride when it really must have only saved 45 minutes at the most is ridiculous. But lets not forget the $90,000 European trip aimed at securing the Presidency of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Then there is claims to attend the weddings of colleagues where Parliamentary business was discussed with shadowy somebodies we cant know.

The rules are crystal clear. Party and personal business cannot be claimed. Commonwealth business can. Simples.

Of course these were bad. But not intolerable.

Secondly and I think more importantly was her (and the govt's) response to the scandal when it erupted. After a few days she fronted the media and refused to say sorry. She did say the biggest apology she could make is that she would pay back the money, but then claimed that she was on Commonwealth business talking to people as Speaker of the House. The fact that these people were Liberal Party doners went unsaid. This was fraud. Pure fraud. Had she said "The helicopter ride was wrongly classified and exorbitant. I'm repaying it, I made a mistake." She would still be speaker today. Instead she accepted no responsibility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCOBpJlgoh0

Thirdly this was a massive case of Bronwyn and Tony's chickens coming home to roost. It was Tony's opposition that mercilessly pursued the last Speaker of the House Peter Slipper. A man who was sentenced to 300 hrs of community service, given a 2 year good behavior bond and told to repay his $958 expenses claim on Cabcharge.

Bronwyn's conduct as speaker also contributed to the the force with which Labor pursued Mrs Bishop. The Speaker was unfair and divisive. She kindled genuine anger in those opposite. Therefore when the expenses scandal broke Labor (who have a vested interest in voters not paying too close attention to politicians expenses) decided to attack fully.

There is a disturbing trend in the last 8 years in Australia for politicians to ignore the big picture. This was pioneered by Kevin Rudd. John Howard had an overall narrative. He maintained that interest rates would always be lower under Liberal than Labor. He wanted everything he did and said to be interpreted through that lens. This is where Kevin, Julia and Tony have all failed. They play the 24hr media cycle. If you have more positive coverage in a given period of time than the other side you win. But with no long term plan, the small gains mean very little. Hugely popular PM's can fall quickly and hard.(eg PM Rudd.). The genius of Howard's approach is that even unpopular actions were interpreted through a lens created by Howard himself. It creates robust political support. What we have now is a bunch of private school prefects arguing over unimportant nonsense that is completely removed from everyday Australia's life.

It's a "Total War" approach to politics which eschews common sense and reason, boiling political life down to a Real Time Strategy video game. But we aren't just units on a battlefield to be ordered, rallied, cajoled or sacrificed. We have lives, homes, children, hopes and dreams.

John Howard, Paul Keating, Robert Menzies et.al understood this. They reasoned that as human beings we needed to trust our leaders. They outlined their vision for Australia and advocated powerfully for their ideas. 

Contrast that with todays generation of politicians. Explain to me Bill Shorten's vision for Australia. Or Tony Abbott's for that matter. They don't have one. They just grind on bit by bit day by day with minutia. Don't give an inch. Don't let them push you back. But none of it means anything.

Bronwyns way of dealing with her public sinning is indicative of this new culture. "Give them nothing". Nothing that could be construed as an apology. Especially if that is what is called for. The problem with this approach, is that it forgets who the message is aimed at. We the public can detect bullshit. And Bronnies confession without confessing stank. Bigtime.

So to any politicians or political staff reading this. Your culture is terrible. Wake up to yourself. You're not fooling us, just reminding us how we despise liars and removing hope for the future.

Bronwyn Bishop finally accepts the inevitable

2 Prof Farnsworths in one day!

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bronwyn-bishop-resigns-as-speaker-20150802-gipry2.html

TPP Talks Falter. Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme safe for now.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-01/trans-pacific-partnership-delegates-fail-to-reach-final-deal/6665204

The Adam Goodes Controversy - what's really going on?

Adam Goodes Controversy – What's really going on here?

I have a confession to make. I don't like Australian Rules Football. The first 9 year of my life were spent in Punchbowl in Sydney where Rugby League was king and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs were Gods. The Mortimer brothers were my sporting hero's growing up.

In time my family moved to the St George area but I didn't lose my love of the blue and whites. My first sporting memory is of the 1979 grand final where St George beat Canterbury. I was 4 years old and devastated.

An Indigenous Football Player

Now I'm no stranger to booing players, in my Rugby League following days I used to boo Anthony Mundine. Anthony Mundine is an indigenous man who I felt at the time had an ego that had to be heard to be believed. I used to joke that Anthony Mundine couldn't make the game today because he was detained by a full length mirror.

In my more lucid moments if pushed I would have told you that Anthony Mundine was an excellent player and to break him psychologically on the field would give my team a match winning edge. I would also have told you that in no way was my booing of Mundine racist. I would have believed it when i told you that too, but 20 years later i can now understand that what I resented was an unaustralian (as i saw it) way of relating to fans, players and sponsors in professional sport. I disliked him because he didn't act like a product of my culture where humility is valued in its Sportsmen.

Men like Mark Taylor, Peter Sterling and even Sir Donald Bradman were grounded in this more humble culture. When Mundine came along saying I'm the greatest play-maker in the world, I found him offensive.

She Called him What?

The current controversy surrounding Adam Goodes is driving the media into a frenzy. I think we need to take a step back and get some context.

In 2013 during the Australian Football League's (AFL) Indigenous round, Adam Goodes (playing for the Sydney Swans) was called an ape by a 13 year old female supporter of Carlton. Goodes told officials what had happened and pointed the fan out. She was subsequently ejected from the arena. This news report from the seven network shows the incident.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOSTe_CeOvw

The perpetrator of the abuse was indeed a 13 year old girl. Goodes gave a thoughtful and heartfelt press conference the next day. He said he did not blame her, but that society needed to be educated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZkquBdLm0E

The Collingwood fan did call him after the press conference as he announced on twitter

"Just received a phone call from a young girl apologizing for her actions. Lets support her please#racismitstopswithme #IndigenousRound "

• Adam Goodes (@adamroy37) May 25, 2013

So what should Goodes have done? Should he indeed have called out the racist taunt or ignored it? Many Australians feel he should have ignored the girl because she was so young. He even admitted that she could not have understood how the taunt would be understood by him.

To that I say BULLSHIT! Should minorities all over Australia be subject to racism because people don't know any better? Of course not. It doesn't matter if you are 13 or 93, racism is wrong and should be called out.

To ignore the girl would be to accept the status quo. To call her out would be to cause considerable trouble for her on that night, but remember she did call him an ape. That is a clearly racist statement.

The problem for Goodes though is that he tripped one of the unconscious nerves in white Australia's subconscious. That of the black man dominating the white woman. To make it worse she was 13, not even a woman. That's how it started.

So from then on Goodes was booed whenever he touched the ball. He was called a sook, because he couldn't take being called names.

This year during the AFL's indigenous round (the jerseys, the ball, etc were all themed Aboriginal) Goodes was receiving boos from the Carlton supporters. So after he kicked an aboriginal themed ball through an aboriginal themed goal wearing an aboriginal themed jersey he did an aboriginal themed wardance as celebration. Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5-ZVXE-LGw

EVERYONE LOSES THEIR MIND!!!!

What ever happened to sport as entertainment! That was awesomely entertaining and in the best tradition of crowd/player interaction. Frankly I wouldn't have been surprised if Goodes had walked up to the TV camera at the end of the match and yelled "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!!!!"

Now Goodes isn't the first sportsman or woman to have a go at the crowd after scoring a goal, but of course as the 1^st aboriginal player to do so, Goodes tripped another unconscious nerve. The angry black man.

Australia tends to be a tolerant and accepting society, minority figures are embraced and loved. People like Christine Anu, Ernie Dingo, Ahn Doe, to name just a few. However that minority figure must not question the status quo. Minorities should be grateful for the country we provide for them.

Of course that the riches we enjoy were indeed hard won, they were hard won from another people. Those people are still here, and when they (the aboriginal people) remind us of that fact, and that they have a powerful, distinct, ancient culture white Australia loses the plot.

So Adam Goodes is an (unconsciously scary) sook. He needs to calm down and stop bullying the Carlton supporters and that poor white girl.

Bullshit.

White Australia has 228 years of keeping the black man down. white Australia systematically dispossessed and then ethnically cleansed black Australia. white Australia attempted genocide. Frankly Aboriginal Australia has been more forgiving than we would be under the same circumstances.

Herein lies the problem for white Australia. Many in this country find it difficult to come to terms with the genocide perpetrated by our ancestors on Mr Goodes ancestors. It's a difficult journey.

It's a journey that I 20 years ago on the sidelines at Kogarah Oval booing Anthony Mundine had not yet embarked on. It's why one half of white australia looks at the other half and says "stop being so goddam racist" while the other half who haven't made the journey yet look back in horror and say: "I'm not racist, the big scary black man threatened me". They don't understand their own triggers.

One final thing, if you are hit by Adam Goodes imaginary spear, lie still until the imaginary paramedics come to your aid and take you to imaginary hospital.

YA BUNCH OF SOOKS!

A.Russell

The TPP Friend or Foe?

Who really runs Australia?

Australia is a representative Democracy. Clearly we the people run Australia. We elect the politicians who run the show on our behalf and we maintain the power to hire and fire the politicians. They have the power, informed by our popular consent to make laws in our interest for the benefit of all Australians. That's our sovereign right as an independent nation.

National Sovereignty

Australia is a sovereign nation wich invests the Australian Parliament with the power to make our own laws and control our own destiny. Frankly if we Australians arn't looking out for Australia, then who is?

JJ Harrison

Trans Pacific Partnership

Currently the Australian Government is in negotiation with US, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam – and there are proposals to extend it further. One disturbing aspect of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is that no-one who has seen the document is able to talk about it. You must sign a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) to view the document. That NDA restricts you from talking about the deal until 4 years AFTER the treaty is concluded! Luckily Wikileaks obtained and published a 30,000 page draft which contained some facinating but ultimatly disturbing information.

Trans National Corporate Sovereignty

One of the most disturbing aspects of the TPP is the clause which establishes an Investor State Dispute Settlement protocol. These are independent United Nations or World Bank sanctioned courts where government regulations, rules, actions and court decisions can be challenged by corporations who feel that their interests are being infringed by local law.

Why now?

Actually it was we Australians who upset the corporate apple cart when the last labor govt instituted plain packaging for tobacco products. The tobacco companies who had invested billions in branding were brought low by a measly mid range power who regulated their market by deleting branding from their product and replaced it with ghastly images of cancerous tumours and dead babies. Smoking rates in Australia plummeted. Something had to be done to be certain this never happened again. The video below is a great summary of what happened.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UsHHOCH4q8

Not Just Tobacco

All kinds of industries are standing on the sidelines watching the Australian tobacco experiment with great interest. It isn't just tobacco at stake. At stake is whether a nation state has the right to regulate it's market by restricting intellectual property rights.

The leaked document extends patents on pharmaceuticals beyond 20 years which is a humanitarian issue because developing countries will have to pay more for their pharmaceuticals. For everyday Australians well being, it is difficult to imagine the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme surviving scrutiny from the TPP's international courts. Patents will also be allowed on plants and animals.

Expert Opinion

Concern about the TPP is widespread. So much so that on Nov 13 2014 a group of 80 Legal professors of good standing in the USA wrote to President Obama with the following request:

"We, the undersigned intellectual property law academics and scholars, write to

ask you to support immediately changing the secretive TPP negotiation process in law and in practice, and follow instead the example set by the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled, as explained below."

Basically what they asked for is the intellectual property rights portion of the TPP not to be adopted and for the status quo to continue.

What other areas are affected?

1. Wages:
   The Free Trade deals Australia have signed to this point have had an unwanted side effect. Australia has begun to participate in a wages "Race to the bottom". This is a race where even the winner loses. It will become much worse under the TPP.
2. Sovereignty:
   Australian Sovereignty will be emasculated giving Multinationals the right to challenge Australian Law
3. The Environment:
   Australian Environmental Laws can be challenged if seen as a harmful to global trade.
4. Agricultural Quarantine Laws:
   The Australian agricultural sector relys on a strong quarantine law. These will undoubtedly be challenged.
5. Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme:
   A scheme which lowers prices is obviously against the interests of Multinationals. It will go.
6. Media:
   Fair use clauses will be diluted or challenged under the TPP. Remember Net Neutrality and how it was saved by Google, Wikipedia et.al. Kiss Net Neutrality goodbye. They failed in the US Congress, so this is how they will get what they want.
   
   
   What to do?
   
   
   A Free Trade Deal can be a good thing, but it needs to be done on our terms, not the multinationals. This is one where your local Parliamentarian needs to know you value our sovereignty, our PBS and clean air and water. Tell them if they vote for the TPP in this form, it will go badly for us and by extension them. They need to hear that we are not asleep. Only then will they scrutinise what others have wrought. 

Australia, The Anzac Myth and the Thought Police

The above quotation is often attributed to Voltaire, but probably comes from 1993. It's author appears to be Kevin Strom. So it's a myth that Voltaire wrote that quote. Myth Busted. To have a myth about Voltaire busted is one thing, but what if someone were to bust a myth you held dear to you. Like The Anzac Myth?

The Anzac's have been sanctified in Australia. Every Anzac day we remember their sacrifice on the beaches of Anzac Cove. Their bravery and honour is revered as a role model for young men and women all over the country. The values of mateship, irreverence, distrust of authority, audacity, fair play and classlessness have become synonymous with Australian culture.

Much of this is even true! But many legends are just that. The story of Simpson and his Donkey are an amalgam of a few different men.

I was taught in school that the incompetent English sent the Anzac's to the wrong beach to land. It's a lie.

Peter Weir's film Gallipolli taught me that we were treasonously abandoned by the English at Suvla Bay. It's a lie.

Much of the popular understanding of Gallipolli was created by Charles Bean, the army's official war correspondent. Bean, like all journalists and historians had an agenda. Bean saw the story of glorious defeat in Gallipolli. The story of powerful, natural soldiers brought down by a dastardly (British) command staff who failed to see the potential and the brilliance of the soldiers at their command. 

The truth was a little more run of the mill. The Gallipolli offensive was a mess. The Anzac's performed as an inexperienced force often does at the start of a campaign. Everything and everyone was untried and untested. Some things and people performed well, others failed. It is only through the crucible of combat that systems and men are tested and honed. Green armies inevitable struggle in their first engagements.

Why would Bean report differently? Remember that Charles Bean was embedded with the army in a similar way that the press were embedded in the US army for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Except that Bean wasn't employed by the press, he was army through and through. His agenda at the time was to paint the army as desirable place to serve as possible to increase recruitment numbers at home. He succeeded greatly and the Anzac Myth was born. It holds to this day.But there are certain things we weren't told. Which brings us to Scott McIntyre. 

Last Anzac Day Scott McIntyre, a football (the round-ball version) journalist with SBS criticised the Anzac Myth in public by tweeting some very distressing ideas that run counter to Bean's agenda.

Tweet 1

"The cultification of an imperialist invasion of a foreign nation that Australia had no quarrel with is against all ideals of modern society."

Tweet number one puts the rest of the tweets into the context Mr McIntryre intended. While I can't speak for him, McIntyre seems to have been disturbed at the jingoistic interpretation of a war of Imperial acquisition he called a cultification.

The factual assertion of McIntyre's tweet here is accurate. Britain targeted the Ottoman

Turks in a bid to open a warm water port for Russia. Success may have postponed the Russian Revolution, but the added side effect was that Turkey would be too weak to hold it's territories which would become Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Jordon. Many of today's problems can be directly traced to the 1919 treaty of Versailles, which gave much of the the middle east to Britain and France and was the result of the collapse of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. That's what they died for. The British Empire. To expand it's border. Unfortunately those troops great grandchildren had to go back to the region to fight ISIS in 2015. Had the landings in Gallipolli never taken place, the nation of Iraq may have never existed. This might be an offensive fact, but it's only offensive if we value myth over reality.

The Middle East before the Anzacs Came

The Middle East after WWI

 

Tweet 2

"Wonder if the poorly-read, largely white, nationalist drinkers and gamblers pause today to consider the horror that all mankind suffered."

Tweet number two is offensive if you are poorly read, white nationalists who fall for the

myth of Anzac and the glorification of soldierly values. Very few people would self identify with this group, therefore, I cant see how this tweet is offensive. However I have corresponded with literate, intelligent people who felt this tweet was offensive. People who pause to consider the suffering and horror of war. So lets talk about Nationalism. Patriotism is a fine virtue in moderation. Pride in ones identity is clearly beneficial, however patriotism/nationalism is often subverted into a hatred of outsiders. I well remember the nationalistic fervour that preceded the Cronulla riots. Malignant radio shock jocks stirred up anti-Lebanese sentiment among the type of nationalistic drinkers and gamblers Scott McIntyre referred to.

Tweet 3

"Remembering the summary execution, widespread rape and theft committed by these ‘brave’ Anzac's in Egypt, Palestine and Japan."

This is painful to confront. However it is necessary for an adult nation. Australians certainly summarily executed enemy soldiers in both world wars.

Take this excerpt from the Diary of Eddie Stanton who was posted to Goodenough Island in PNG:

“Japanese are still being shot all over the place, The necessity for capturing them has ceased to worry anyone. From now on, Nippo survivors are just so much machine-gun practice. Too many of our soldiers are tied up guarding them.”

This is the reality of war. To believe it isn't is naive. As for rape, I offer the following testimony from Australian officer and translator in Hiroshima:

"I stood beside a bed in hospital. On it lay a girl, unconscious, her long, black hair in wild tumult on the pillow. A doctor and two nurses were working to revive her. An hour before she had been raped by 20 soldiers. We found her where they had left her, on a piece of waste land. The hospital was in Hiroshima. The girl was Japanese. The soldiers were Australians.

The moaning and wailing had ceased and she was quiet now. The tortured tension on her face had slipped away, and the soft brown skin was smooth and unwrinkled, stained with tears like the face of a child that has cried herself to sleep."

Of course Australians at war have raped, stolen and summarily executed the enemy. All army's do. So lets remember the victims of war, not just the the soldiers but the civilians, the children, the women and the families of those left behind.

Anyone contesting the thieving claim McIntyre makes need only look to the battle of Wazzir in 1915. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Wazzir

Coming from the explicitly white Australia to Cairo was quite the culture shock and the "Master Race" was quite keen to maintain dominance over the "Niggers" as Victor Ault wrote:

"we thrash the black fellows with whips … Every nigger who is impudent to a soldier gets a hiding … I can’t say how many I’ve belted and knocked out.”

in Palestine Anzac's massacred the village of Surafend. No-one knows the death toll, (but near 100) and both Australia and New Zealand were forced to make (pathetically meagre) reparations to Britain (who ran Palestine at that time).

Tweet 4

"Not forgetting that the largest single-day terrorist attacks in history were committed by this nation & their allies in Hiroshima & Nagasaki"

To regard the Nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as war crimes may not be a sentiment that you agree with, but it is undeniably a mainstream sentiment. To air that sentiment on Anzac day suggests a link. It's there. War is horrific. If we are to remember war, please remember it all, the waste of young life, the killing of innocents, the misery of the survivors and those who linger too long.

Tweet 5

"Innocent children, on the way to school, murdered. Their shadows seared into the concrete of Hiroshima.”

The image is the one he uploaded. It speaks for itself.

Back to  Pretend Voltaire

Scott McIntyre discovered at the  cost of his job that you are not allowed to criticise the Anzac's. Why is that? Clearly the Anzac's do not rule over us. So who does?

The truth is that we are the ones who police the Anzac myth, not pretend Voltaire's

imaginary rulers. We police it, because it is a comfortable, lazy way of viewing the world. It neatly explains our high living standard because we deserve it.

It leads us to persecute those who hold differing opinions than the status quo. Free speech is dying in this country and it isn't the craven politicians killing it. it's us We have become the "Thought Police". In a democracy we are the rulers who decide who can be criticised and who cannot.

Sacrifice of Angels

My fervent hope is that as a society we can maturely discuss our foundation myths, because Bean wasn't wrong. Far too many young men were killed needlessly. Bean went on to found the Australian War Memorial. To commemorate and remember the sacrifices our troops made. McIntyre would like us to remember the horror of war. The indiscriminate killing of innocents and soldiers alike. For me those two goals are not mutually exclusive. Soldiers go through the type hell in war I cannot fathom. But war of course doesn't stop at soldiers. The mother losing her son/daughter on a distant front, the loss of a child in the rubble of your home, the trauma of rape that women bear when a rampaging army conquers new territory, The horror of a child waking to find their parents are dead, or the second sun flaring brightly in the sky, reducing children to a shadow on a wall.

So next Anzac day spare a thought for our brave soldiers sent by politicians to enforce the national will. But also spare a thought for the victims of solders, the ones who suffer to survive, and the ones who weren't so lucky.