Pauline Hanson on autistic kids in school

[stui magpie]

^

She's not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

[Tannin]

[stui magpie]

^

Agree.

I just had a 10 minute conversation explaining Autism to the old girl. Got the Project on TV, up comes hanson and mum says she agrees with her. FMD.

So I tell her to watch the piece, then I explain. She's had no experience of autism, no understanding at all. She pretty much equated them with kids with Down Syndrome.

Daughters partner has a brother who's autistic. Told her to quiz him on Sunday when he comes over for dinner about the behavioural characteristics.

[watt price tully]

[Mugwump]

[stui magpie]

^

As a society, we have people who feel their own beliefs very strongly and personally and attack anyone who disagrees. They pick individuals who characterise what they hate and actively seek every opportunity to attack that person, with no actual consideration of what they do and say.

It's particularly obvious from some on the outer left fringes but applies across the spectrum.

I can see them, following hanson on twitter, waiting for the next mention in the media, so they can launch into their social media tirade then leaning back happily in their chair knowing in their heart that they just made the world a better place.

the sad thing is, if anyone does exactly what they do, to someone who's opinion they agree with, the trolling and insults fly. Talk about intolerance, we're living it.

I don't understand or relate to the mentality, but I see it every day.

[Pies4shaw]

[stui magpie]

^

and proving tannin's point.

[Mugwump]

The other nteresting thing about this little controversy is the role played by the media in policing the boundaries of speech. The media have relentlessly focused on the outrage and on people attacking her in highly emotional and sentimental terms, while providing no one at all to defend or discuss her point of view rationally.

Since she said something relatively debatable when taken in context, this is interesting. It creates the impression that she said something unconscionably wrong and even evil, when In fact she said something that should be assessed in the light of evidence. Thus are the limits of permissible speech enforced.

[Dave The Man]

[Pies4shaw]

[Skids]

Nah

[Skids]

[David]

[Tannin]

Nonsense. Hanson deserves to be laughed at and ridiculed. Ridicule is an essential part of democracy and no-one ix exempt from it. Especially not politicians. Especially especially ignorant bigoted ones.

There is a difference, however, between laughing at a stupid, dangerous, evil tool, and blanket rejection of any and every issue that person raises simply because of who raised it. This isn't a trivial or minor difference, it's the crucial difference between the normal and healthy rough and tumble of political life on the one hand, and mindless, bigoted group-think on the other. One preserves and is an essential part of democracy, the other is imperils the democratic process and is an essential part of hate speech and mob rule.

Is the difference clear? Let's use your example to make it so.

Hanson makes clumsily-worded statement about Halal.

(a) People ridicule Hanson as a stupid, obsessed bigot. Harsh? Yes. Unkind? Yes. Unfair? Of course. Harmful? No. It's just making a fool look like a fool, which is both a democratic right and a democratic duty. (Sometimes people use this same method to make a decent, intelligent person look bad. That's unfortunate, and I hate it, but it's the price we pay for free speech.)

(b) Mobs of people rush in to defend halal killing simply because Hanson criticised it and poison all debate or opinion on the matter (other than their own). They allow their (perfectly reasonable) contempt for Hanson the Bigot to trick them into a form of bigotry every bit as bad as and probably worse than hers. They are no longer criticising Hanson or disagreeing with her point, they are crucifying anyone (no matter how civilised and decent) who dares to question their one-eyed, polarised view and making the subject impossible to discuss in public

"Do not make any small criticism and do not ask questions" they are saying, "because if you do, we will nail you to the cross and paint "Hansonite" across your forehead".

This is not healthy democracy. This is shutting down the debate in a way which would have made Senator McCarthy proud and Stalin happy. Can you smell the pink triangle? The "Juden" tattoo? This is where it starts. Not with ridicule and humour at the expense of politicians (that's natural and healthy) but with the mob-rule crucifixion of ideas.