I'm Not Prone To Alarmism, But

Think about this for a minute.

"A psychopathic media magnate or politician can have a damaging impact on the minds and lives of hundreds of millions of people. They may in the long run be more dangerous & destructive to society than low-achieving violent psychopaths." ~ Gao and Raine

Quote from Will Blacks superb book Psychopathic Cultures and Toxic Empires. If you haven't read it, I can recommend it. It opened my eyes.   

So what happens when you mix the two? Like Trump & the odious exBreitbart CEO and now Trump chief advisor and bizarrely Security Council Member, Steve Bannon? I believe we have cause for concern. This is why.

Think about the practice of branding any major news site that publishes personal or performance valuations about a leader as fake. Even facts are branded fake if they are unflattering. Yes, fake news is out there. I don't deny that. A lot of fake news comes from independent sites, many only recently launched. Don’t kid yourself only the so called left do it. All groups do. But how dangerous and I dare say naive to label every column that is critical (or unkind) as fake? That’s idiocy. But, if you play the fake card often enough, it sticks. We witness that today. Even when the story is true, the cries of FAKE from the adoring throng resound.

In recent days fake news has been labelled alternative news. There is no such thing as alternative news. There is truth, untruth and opinions. I felt compelled to challenge someone last week over a claim of fake news. A research company looked into click words and hashtags posted on Twitter. The key tags and click words being bigot, racist, dishonesty etc.  What they found overwhelmingly was, that Donald Trump attracted more bigot, racist hashtag responses than anyone. Clinton scored the highest on dishonesty. This was published in the Australian. Out came the fake news chanters. Everyone conveniently ignored the Clinton dishonest tag. So I assume from that, it was only the Trump data that was fake, in the minds of some. No one mentioned Clinton. As I pointed out in my comments to the column, it’s research data. Given the chatter that Trump evokes it’s easy to conceive he rates highly on bigot and, racist tags. Because Trump supporters wouldn't accept the output that labelled their man a bigot and racist they tried to delegitimise the story as fake. It's ludicrous behaviour.

People on mass have now lost trust in the media. In certain circumstances there is some justification. What we are seeing from Trump and co is different.  They are running a deliberate strategy to totally undermine the press. Why do people do that? It's to make sure they are not closely scrutinised. When media trust is destroyed, readers don't believe anything. Truth will simply be labelled rubbish. Fake. There is enough evidence in our history to prove this works.

Along with the fake news strategy people are told there is only person to be trusted. The one those awful media people are trying to hold to account. We are constantly bombarded with messages telling us the media just lies, lies, lies. They are so mean. But, don’t worry we have a saviour. He’ll take care of us. It will be beautiful. He promises. He never lies.

Someone actually said to me yesterday. “Donald Trump is the most honest politician I know. He never lies.” The person who said it, I've always considered intelligent and discerning. When I presented him with a string of examples he rubbished the source as dishonest, fake. It was a facts site with links. So, I presented him with a similar set of examples where the same source highlighted Obamas lies. Of course that was ignored. This is how things work now.

It doesn’t end there. The calls to close down the free MSM press grow by the day. I see this on social media. The comments section of MSM is full of these demands.

A journalist from the BBC asked Trump an uncomfortable (for him) question during his press conference with British PM May last week. It was a relevant and important question. The question was respectfully asked. Trump squirmed. Dozens and dozens of people then hit a British News Service calling for the White House to ban the BBC. People demanded the reporter be fired. They demanded the BBC be closed. I find that seriously scary behaviour as I value freedom of speech and a free press. These are some of the values our forebears fought for. They fought for us to have that right. Some even sacrificed their lives in battle. It appears it was for nothing. As we are so willing to give it away. Please don't come back with the BS that's what Trump is fighting for. No he isn't. If he was, he wouldn't be trying to close down anyone who disagrees with him.

If you were reading the above, without being appraised of the circumstances it reads like the outline for a cheap political novel based in the third world. But sadly, it isn't. This is happening now. In the free world.

Even Hitler said. “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough it will be believed.” He was right.

I understand there is a ground swell demanding revolution. Thankfully there is also a groundswell saying, not like this. As I'm not a fool, I also accept something needs to change. But, there are some very sinister tactics at play. I just hope people wise up soon. Because what we end up with, might just result in us being much worse of.  I fear this will be the case. I am not prone to alarmism. But, I readily admit my alarm metre has hit the red zone.

As a conservative I will always stand up for truth, our rights and our freedom. Our right to question and critique those in power is a fundamental right. Steve Bannon, sits at the right-hand of the so called leader of the free world Bannon told the media to keep their mouth shut. Spoken like a true 'Alt-Right Psychopath'. He even labelled them the opposition party. The only countries I see trying to silence the press are Turkey, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, China and now the US. That bothers me. Regardless of who people support politically, it should bother everyone.

We should be reminded of the words of Theodore Roosevelt when he said.

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

To my mind, anyone advocating for change and who seeks to do so at the cost of our liberty and our freedom to question, to judge and to criticise them, is not seeking change for us. Instead they are seeking to relegate us to the level servitude.  

“Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.”  ~  George Orwell, 1984

We live in troubling times. For the first time in my life, I am very, very worried for our collective future. What true centralist conservative can stand by in silence and watch this happen. I for one can't.

The Importance of First Principles; Human Dignity & Free Will

"Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will." ~  Jawaharlal Nehru

Much has been said about Meryl Streep's Golden Globe address. There are people who agree with her. There are those who are opposed. Suffice to say many of the opposition comments are spiteful and cruel. 

Despite the fact she has been dismissed as a leftie by many, as a conservative, I thought her address was brilliant. Voicing that earlier today attracted the usual shaming attempts. They failed. 

The point she made about a powerful and privileged person belittling a disabled man is 100% correct. It has nothing to do with politics per se. It was a comment on the lack of leadership integrity. 

Her key message was. When you do that you give others permission to behave in the same fashion. I have blogged about that on a number of occasions with respect to the President-elect. His personal and graceless attacks on others are legendary. The fact that he fails to recognise the message it sends, I believe highlights a deep flaw in his make-up.

If we care about salvaging and protecting our freedom and our humanity, we need to go back to first principles. The most important of those principles are human dignity and free will. We need to revisit those things that make us who we are. Hopefully responsible, caring and free-willed people. 

A large part of free will is our right to form our opinions. And, to voice those opinions politely and constructively. To do so without being judged, belittled, slandered or ridiculed. But sadly, we are losing this battle and it's time to take it back. 

Some will say that is exactly what Donald Trump is doing. Voicing his opinions. Exercising his free will. The missing element is voicing his opinions responsibly and constructively. He fails to do that time and again. That is not the sign of a good leader. As a leadership coach I'd be fired on the spot if I encouraged my young charges to behave like that. 

You can voice opinions extremely effectively without getting personal or indeed lowering yourself petty sniping. The iron fist in a velvet glove will win more battles. 

I hope someone can find a way to help Trump modify his communication. Ditch the nasty stuff. We need him to be successful and to be a POSITIVE role-model for others to follow. 

Don't Cut Aid to Palestine Mr Abbott - Cut Immigration

Tony Abbott is back in front of the media today sharing his opinion on cutting aid to Palestine. Mr Abbott is having a lot to say recently about things he wasn’t prepared to do when he was PM. Wise after the event it appears. But on this issue I disagree with him.

In the case of aid to Palestine we are talking under $50million. In the scheme of government spend not a huge amount.

Australia is a supporter of the two-state solution. To a layperson as I am, that seems to me to be a sensible solution to the Palestinian Israeli conflict. But I can’t see that ever happening whist Israel keeps stealing land. Whilst the population isn’t as large as it was it is not just Muslims who suffer as a result of Israeli insurgence and sanctions. Palestinian Christians suffer as well. 

The latest issue of aid is mired by the possibility that aid is funnelled to terrorists. Who would know? FM Julie Bishop has previously cut aid to World Vision due to accusations (strenuously denied by them and currently before the courts) that aid was ending up in the hands of terrorists. It will be interesting to hear the court ruling which if memory serves me correctly is due in February.

I don’t think we can ever guarantee that not a single dollar from foreign aid will end up in the hands of terrorists. The same applies to any other group intent on rorting our goodwill for that matter; foreign or local. So before we jump on the bandwagon consider this.

Spending money on foreign aid does actually have the potential to reduce our costs due to fewer refugees. If we provide aid and protection to displaced persons in their own or neighbouring countries it is far less costly than providing support here. In fact it makes sense to increase aid and cut all humanitarian immigration; at least for the time being. Aid, also has the potential to reduce the volume of illegal asylum seeker traffic intent on making it to Australia. Whist this is under control now it certainly won’t be if Labor were to win the next election.

My second point is possibly the more contentious of the two. If you drive a car, rely on public or commercial transport or use products that contain oil, then the chances are we too will have inadvertently funded terrorism. The world of Middle East oil trading is extremely shady. We know from reports that ISIS has sold stolen oil to Middle Eastern countries who on sell to the west. In addition to selling to those developing countries where a lot of foreign goods come from. We also know or suspect that some of the biggest traders also fund terrorists. I suspect that trade is far more lucrative for terrorists than our foreign aid to Palestine. Think about that next time you buy your new phone or laptop; and even your cosmetics.

In cutting aid, it might make some of us feel better but it is people, including many children who will suffer. As for those who say if we cut this aid we won’t have to slug pensioners. I think that is a bit short-sighted. The changes to pensioner entitlements aren’t just about cutting current costs. They are also setting the groundwork to reduce rapidly increasing future costs and breaking the middle class welfare mentality.

This piece about aid to Palestine comes directly from the government website.

"The PTs (consisting of the West Bank and Gaza Strip) is one of the poorest regions in the Middle East. The 2014 United Nations Human Development Index, measuring life expectancy, standard of living and education, rated the PTs 107 out of 187 countries. Some 22 per cent of the Territories’ people are food insecure, 26 per cent live in poverty and 25 per cent are unemployed. These figures have all deteriorated over the past 20 years, leading the United Nations to refer to the PTs as having undergone a process of 'de-development'. 

The PTs face formidable constraints to economic development including the physical separation of territory, a lack of control over territorial borders and key natural resources such as land and water, restrictions on movement of goods and people, and the ever present threat of violent conflict. The Gaza Strip experiences development constraints akin to the West Bank but is further challenged by extreme population density, heavier restrictions on the movement of people and goods and a tiny land mass."

I’ve also read to extremely confronting and enlightening pieces recently which have influenced my views.

Palestinian Christian: Western Christians Don't Understand Gaza/Israeli Conflict

Why I am anti-Zionist Jew

The people of Palestine are prisoners. Whilst I have the same concerns about terrorism as anyone else, I simply can’t condone cutting funding to these poor people. For those who suffer the most are the old and defenceless and the children. They deserve better.

So no Mr Abbott, we should not be cutting aid to Palestine. Perhaps we should be increasing our aid budget and stopping immigration. That would save us I suspect a lot more in the long run; economically and socially.