Our Reasoning Ability Is Rapidly Diminishing

I’m becoming increasingly fed up with people labelling me in their pathetic attempts to justify their own bias. We see this a lot on social media. It isn’t the domain of one group or another. People from all groups are doing it. Hence my lament that mankind’s ability to reason is rapidly diminishing.

Like many,  I was horrified by the number of attacks carried out in the preceding 24-hours by Islamist extremists. I posted a comment on twitter attaching a clip from the BBC website. Out of the 10 most recent updates 8 related to events, highlighting 5 different attacks.

Number two on the recent update list mentioned Gay Marriage to which someone replied “Gay marriage is more important than 165,000 Christians being murdered every year”. In the context of the BBC updates I replied it’s just detailing the most recent updates, nothing sinister in that. Well from there I was accused of being young (I’m not) and weak (I’m certainly not) and that Jones (assume he meant Alan Jones) and Paul Murray are wrecking a 1000 years of the conservative tradition. WT!!!

As it happens, I don’t listen to Jones or watch Paul Murray, but I digress. Now I did suggest the reply was the dumbest reply of the week. This was followed by an assault (using the latest weapon of choice of the social media crusaders)….. You are a Leftist!!!! Well, actually I’m not. In  fact, I’m a dedicated middle of the road conservative who thankfully was born with a brain and the ability to reason based on good old common sense.

You will recall the recent issues in Asia with thousands of asylum seekers stranded on boats. A number of us were discussing the problem there, as well as the problems in Europe. I had made a number of comments about the size and the potential scale of the problem given there are over 50million displaced persons. And the the fact that many  of those people are escaping on boats heading for Europe. Hundreds had drowned. I also mentioned countries like Italy & Greece can not be expected to keep absorbing thousands of asylum seekers. And voiced my frustration over the fact that groups like the UN are quick to condemn receiving countries, but do little to address the issues in the asylum seekers own countries.

One of our  ‘conservative brethren’ posted  a comment “give them life jackets that way they won’t drown  can just freeze to death”. Now any reasonable person would consider that a dreadful thing to say (unless of course you have an irrational hatred of Muslims). As a reasonable person, I said as much. What followed, once again was bizarre.  Judge for yourself.

Poster: “Maybe we should give them Lifejackets, won’t drown just freeze to death ”

Me: “That’s a dreadful thing to say. Something has to be done to fix problems on their home soil so they don’t leave”

Poster: “Start with smugglers, but living in corrupt countries will never happen. Can’t solve the worlds problems”

Me: “Never say never, never say can’t. There are 50million plus wanting to escape doing nothing isn’t an option”

At this point someone else joined the discussion & asked what I thought needed to happen. My reply.

Me: “Apart from removing despotic leaders, educating people and stop funding terrorists, I have no idea”

My poster chimed in:

Poster:  “What are you doing for them apart from twitter”

Me: “Apart from sponsoring children nothing. What are you doing?”

Poster: Ignored question, but came back with “What leader would you have, you seem to have all the answers”

Me: I don’t have all the answers and I will admit my patience was waning. Hence reply “Don’t be so stupid” By this time I could almost sense where we were heading. I know the poster form.  

Poster: “You’re the one performing either do something or go away. I’m blinking you. I don’t tolerate idiots. I’m blocking you”

How is that for intolerance and a lack of reasoning ability? The person in question hates Muslims and thinks the answer is let asylum seekers freeze in the ocean and she labels me an idiot.

Conservatives, rightly or wrongly have considered themselves to be above liberal progressives. That was always a bit smug in my opinion, even though I’m a conservative and I do consider myself above the rabble. Conservatives are just as capable of being as intolerant and abusive as anyone else. They prove that over and over again and often over the most mundane issues as per my recent exchanges. If you dare to question, regardless of what you have stood up for, condemned and defended previously, you are automatically labelled; you are not one of us, you are one of them. One of the evil lot. Of course, that is merely a bullying  tactic to attack based on the attackers own bias. “If you don’t agree with me, you are a traitor”.

Equally idiotic are statements such as “All Leftist Are Scum”.. Well, they aren’t. “All Conservatives Are Nut Jobs”.. Wrong again. Granted, some people on both sides are indeed scum. We certainly have our fair share of nut jobs of all persuasions but to brand whole groups highlights once again the inability to reason. It saddens me, but all I can do is continue to call out the behaviour for what it is.

Bullying by people based on their prejudices toward opposing or differing views and their inability to reason based on sound judgement.  In its place we have the  “If you don’t agree with me, you are a traitor” mentality and the world is a less tolerant and intelligent place as a result.

Payments For People Smuggling Information

If you were a boat person, transporting illegal #asylumseekers to Australia, that was intercepted by an Australian patrol boat & paid by a security operative for information on the smuggling ring leaders, then you were turned around, sent back to Indonesia & arrested on arrival with a wad of cash, what would you say in your defense? Before you answer, remember, these smuggling ring leaders are brutal people & their web runs very deep in Indonesia.

Of course, you would say “I was paid by the Australian Navy to bring the illegals back to Indonesia.” You are not going to say I’m an informer because you have no idea if the person arresting you is part of the conspiracy. 

Then, because Indonesia  is full of corrupt officials who are up to their necks in any number of illegal activities you would agree to appear in pictures for a story that is published by our ABC (but with a balaclava covering your face hence identity) on the proviso that you are let off. 



It makes, sense and any person with a brain who knows what is going on in Indonesia and who understands the mission of the ABC would agree. That is why no questions were asked by the opposition in Parliamentary Question Time #qt on Tuesday this week. And, why Julie Bishop issued a stern warning to Bill Shorten. Of course the ABC & some of Labor's MP's show little regard for security issues and even less intelligence when it comes to putting the country before their own ambitions.

Seriously, anyone who thinks professional and highly experienced and trained Naval personnel and their on-board security team is that naive and incompetent as to give illegal boat crew money to turn a boat around, knowing the potential consequences, simply, has rocks in their head. If money changed hands and it's a big if, it was for information not to turn the boat around and head back to Indonesia.



Smart Leaders Don't Play The Misogynist Card

I know very few strong female leaders who haven’t faced some level of bullying in their career. I’ve certainly received my fair share. It often took the form of undermining, attempts to belittle, spreading untruths, and even being accused of bullying for simply standing my ground.  Most, find ways to overcome and often earn the respect of the ‘bully’ in doing so. In my case, two men who bullied me at one point ended up becoming two of my strongest allies and supporters. Few, use bullying as a tool to gain sympathy or gain. Whilst we have shared our experiences among ourselves and even used experiences and our solutions when teaching other woman how to deal with bullying, few make a big ‘song and dance’ about it.

With the above mind, it disappoints me (and to some degree surprises me) that Julia Gillard has once again chosen to accuse another man of bullying. This time, she has used the opportunity in a documentary airing on ABC. Julia has a history of accusing men of bullying her; Tony Abbott and now Kevin Rudd to name two. Julia always struck me as a strong and forthright woman. Strong and forthright women do not devalue themselves in admitting men bully them. You would never hear Margaret Thatcher or Angela Merkel do that.

Ms Gillard achieved the highest position in the land, that of Prime Minster. Whilst her ascension to the position was clouded with controversy, the fact that she was in a position to be considered and that she was eventually appointed by the Labor party speaks volumes.  It indicates she is as they say ‘no wilting flower’. So why is she constantly pushing the misogynist bullying line. To me, it indicates she only got the position playing the weak female. That may be unfair but I suspect I’m not the only one who thinks that.  Particularly those of us who have reached senior positions within big business and who have faced all sorts of barriers (including misogyny and bullying) but who have dealt with it quietly and not used it as a crutch.

I do not support Julia Gillard’s political party being an avowed middle of the road conservative. I also think she was a very poor Prime Minister which is a huge disappointment for many. Those two things aside, she had a superb opportunity to be a great role model for young women endeavouring to build their careers. I am always looking for inspirational women to use as examples to help motivate young women to be the very best they can. Unfortunately, those women who seek to play the misogyny card demotivate rather than motivate. Certainly, those women who play that card to excuse their failures are automatically dismissed. Sadly Julia is in that group. What an opportunity we have lost as a result.