The emperor walked in the procession under his crimson canopy. And all the people of the town, who had lined the streets or were looking down from the windows, said that the emperor's new clothes were beautiful. "What a magnificent robe! And the train! How well the emperor's clothes suit him!"
None of them were willing to admit that they hadn't seen a thing; for if anyone did, then he was either stupid or unfit for the job he held. Never before had the emperor's clothes been such a success.
"But he doesn't have anything on!" cried a little child.--The Emperor's New Clothes, by Hans Christian Andersen
What sort of person would give their vote for Australia's best Prime Minister to the man who recently compounded his earlier lies in regard to "children overboard" by uttering these words: "they irresponsibly sank the damn boat, which put their children into the water".
Think of the thousands of wild-eyed supporters, right arms extended in adoration as they cheered Adolph Hitler's triumphant cavalcade down the festive avenues of another time.
On second thought, that's not a very good comparison. Nobody notices John Howard.
On the eve of his tenth year as virtual dictator, John Howard is exhibiting the hubris of a man who can no longer see beyond his own Pinocchio nose. As the AWB inquiry moves closer to the invisible lair wherein skulk he and his henchmen, Howard feels no threat from a public totally at ease with his corruption. They love him because their pocketbooks have been filled with the proceeds from the sale of shorn hair, extracted gold fillings and valuables stolen from the vulnerable among us whose basic social services have been gassed and dumped in the open graveyard of Australian avarice.
That's right, Howard lovers, you've turned a blind eye to massive cuts in health, education and welfare for ten shameful years, cuts that have been transformed into bribes to secure your vote at every election.
If that were not enough, you backed him to the hilt when he spent millions treating asylum-seekers like Hitler's Jews; you couldn't be bothered when he risked the safety of every Australian by becoming the junior partner in the Axis of Evil's invasion of Iraq, an invasion that has invigorated terrorism and brought it to everyone's doorstep; you did little more than grumble when he shafted your children's future by propping up his mates in the greenhouse gases business instead of signing on to Kyoto.
And you follow him like zombies every time he hops on your shoulder and whispers hate, hate, hate at anyone not conforming to your xenophobic lust for a return to White Australia. Except that the white in the White Australia you long for is the colour of bloodless and sightless insects living under rocks.
You are just like the German people who looked the other way during the years of Nazi terror. You are the self-centred, spineless demographic that brings nations to their knees.
Enjoy the prosperity this thieving regime has brought to you. But know that you are like Hitler's loyal citizens who, without remorse, moved into the stolen houses and apartments of forcibly vacated Jews being sent to concentration camps.
Enjoy your leader's tenth anniversary celebrations while you can. One day, in the not too distant future, when this nation recovers its ethics and dignity, your children will look upon the years of your self-serving, treasonous apathy with loathing.
(Note: Thanks to Maurie Gee for the "Howard in Hitler's Clothing" image. TGW)
Links:
George Megalogenis: Refugees 'sank the damn boat', says PM
The Australian Editorial: A self-serving story
Mrs Howard's hubby voted best PM
Mystery of how vessel was lost
Sieg heil Sieg heil Sieg heil !
We shall rejoice when the bombers come, for nothing will break our spirit, we shall rise to ultimate victory and rule the world.
Oops Howard is too mediocre to even want to rule the world, he just wants a cup of tea served by his aboriginal house girl and a comfortable chair built by the worthless slaves in his factories.
Posted by Doug Steley on March 1, 2006
The worst feature of the Howard Government is not its utter hypocrisy, nor its lies and swindles used to get and stay in power, nor even (as hard as this is to swallow) the same Nazi-ist justification of evil ends in terms of how great Australians (supposedly) are. It's the fact that it has bought the co-operation of the media, who happily act as government mouthpieces supporting and collaborating the fictions and abuses of power that this government is only too happy to perpetrate. The ABC, which used to be so good at true independence, has been hit with the Inquiry stick so often that it's quite happily playing the Howard tune. Everything you read and hear in the 'public press' is shaped by the propaganda.
And, as the Howard Government are happily proving with the AWB debacle, they're quite happy to manipulate what they're told so that they can only pass on good news. ASIO has been deliberately told by this government to only give them the news they want. Strange how they can provide such compelling evidence to go to war against Iraq and yet 'don't recall' anything about major corruption in their own monopoly industry body.
So if you've ever thought of 'the latte set' or 'the chattering classes' as 'one of them' and not 'one of us', you've been warped and twisted by the propaganda. When you realise that your own aspirations are to live like these mythical entities that you're told to despise, you will truly realise the ghastly truth - that Howard has done more to feed our base, self-serving natures than to promote community, trust and equality.
Posted by Paul Wayper on March 3, 2006