This is a continuation of a note I wrote yesterday. I’ve included that note here, and the continued thoughts can be found after the paywall.
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Part 1.
Who else feels like they’re going slowly insane? Weapons expo showcasing bombs and “how to increase your lethality”, a steadily rising cost of living, imminent climate collapse, genocide being excused and funded by white supremacy, impossible productivity pressures - we are not meant to live like this. And we are so fundamentally fucked by the system that NEEDS us to live like this in order to maintain its primacy that it’s become so easy to continue soothing the masses with nonsense so the majority of us don’t rise up to upend the whole thing.
I saw someone share a post today of someone else calling for citizen rights to report people for expired parking permits. Their caption was something like, “I am begging you to exorcise the cops from your body” (Or words to that effect.)
I feel the same seeing people curse at the protesters in Naarm, who have spent the past four days valiantly fighting against the Land Forces expo. Land Forces! What a fucking name for it! An expo where weapons manufacturing billionaires show off aircraft that can target entire regions with bombs that can vaporise thousands in seconds. And people are complaining about the “violent” protesters and their disruption to business and civility.
The fucking ALP premier of Victoria, a right wing fascist in lipstick, has used the parliament to wage an attack against the Greens member for Richmond, whose solidarity with the protesters she called “exploiting a humanitarian crisis in the Middle East”.
A “humanitarian crisis”. A genocide that has slaughtered over 100,000 people in less than a year is just a crisis come down with the rain. Is there anyone perhaps remotely responsible or involved in perpetuating this crisis? In leading it, facilitating it, cheering it on? Or is it just the standalone tragedy of the group of people being slaughtered, devastating but unstoppable. Oh well.
This same Labor government loves to brag about its policies on “gender equality”, and how it values women’s leadership. Oh it LOVES being able to sneer at the Liberal Party (conservatives for any non-Australians) and their terrible track record on women, the scores of allegations of sexual harassment, sexism and blanket misogyny that run rife therein. The ALP cares about women.
But not those women whose bodies and babies are being shredded by US supplied bombs given to Israel; the same bombs and artillery being shown off at the Melbourne Convention Centre and its “Land Forces” expo.
The ALP has learned enough to know never to speak about men’s violence against women as an amorphous problem, untraceable in its origin and just sadly to be expected in an unpredictable world. But here they are, talking about “humanitarian crises” and accusing the only party in government actually fucking clear sighted though to do something about it of “exploiting it” for votes.
Even if that were true - even if the Greens were cynically using the plight of murdered Palestinians to steal votes the ALP belongs to them by right - what should that tell them about the mood of the electorate? Does it perhaps suggest that the general public does not actually agree Israel should be given carte blanche to destroy Gaza and annihilate her people? Does it suggest we might actually have some of conscience that the ALP and its power hungry hacks can’t wrap their measly, unimaginative little brains around?
And so yes, I feel like I’m going insane. The world is gobbling up the most asinine of displays in US politics, cheering on a genocide supporter for being able to string three sentences together in the face of a lunatic racist in rapid cognitive decline - as if showing up Trump is difficult! Oh, she ATE!
If you reject the idea that one has to support a Democratic presidency “or else Trump will win”, you’re somehow calling for everyone to vote for him.
This is the PROBLEM. The system has so successfully moved itself towards the far right that people don’t even understand that what we see as “left” is just slightly left of fascist rule. And the slightly-left-of-fascist-rule party - the Democrats - will not shift towards morality as people mistakenly seem to believe, because why would they? They have never had to!
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