Is it a coincidence that the Governments rhetoric about stopping the boats has suddenly gone quiet? I mean, apart from Chris Bowen's solemn announcement that yet another detainee at Villawood had killed themselves, what does the Government have to gain by mentioning the phrase, "more boats" in media sound bites at the moment?
To talk about 'stopping the boats' at a phase in the media cycle when the contorted faces of 'asylum seekers' are being seen a little too clearly for anybody's liking, surely would not be politically astute. For while the very human faces of people with names, families, histories and horror stories, not only of their past, but their present abject situation, is so sharply in focus, how is it possible to spin the abstract fear of "more boats" being the real issue ordinary Australians are concerned about?
It simply wouldn't be a good idea. No. Far better to leave that one alone for now guys. Distance. Separation. The last thing we want is for the public perception to shift from abstract fears to raw, sticky, smelly compassion. Let it fade from consciousness a little. Let the awful humanity of the situation get dragged out to sea again first where it can titter on the horizon, as a barely recognizable threat. Let the suffering of real people seem a lot further away than it really is. Then we may regain some control over the issue.
3 comments:
why would you even want to be a politician... It seems that everything they do is laced with some ulterior motive. It seems so staged all the announcements. Is it to do with public opinion or what is just right?
as so many of them have blithely put it with a practiced smirk, "politics is a funny game."
Well said! Let our compassion be LOUD!!!!
Post a Comment