Apparently there is an election coming up.
To be honest I am somewhat proud to be aware of this. Grab any device you own with an internet connection and have a browse. More than likely you would see an insightful tidbit about the American election before you see anything about ours. Although this is totally justifiable, because American politics are pretty amazing.
For instance, and with no idea why, I know that a video exists of an American politician accidentally clocking his wife with a tribunal-worthy elbow to the face after an impassioned farewell speech ending his presidential candidacy. It must have been a huge moment for all involved and seen by millions of people. It is also unbelievably awkward but I can’t stop watching it. The spectacle of it all is hilarious and I wonder if he apologised afterwards.
Another video which was spread all over social media, heard on the radio, seen on the television and wherever else crazy things can appear was not the divine comedy of elbow to the face but an interview with Peter Dutton where he expresses hard facts about immigrants.
Did you know illiterate immigrants are coming to take our jobs? Terrifying stuff.
His statement was vilified by almost everyone but strangely no-one I know really gives two shits about it’s validity. It is all rhetoric used to evoke a strong reaction one way an another. But go ahead and say this in front of your boss. I am almost certain there would be an ensuing conversation with you about why you can’t talk this kind of shit at work.
The point of him saying this is that some people legitimately think this way. Whether he truly believes it or not is inconsequential, what should be important to everyone is the fact that there are people who do.
Why this is the case is truly beyond me.
Both of my parents were born in Europe and both came here by good-ole fashioned steam engine. My Mum arrived fifty years ago, lead by my grandparents, and with all six of her siblings. Now there are three generations.
But isn’t it like this for everyone? At some point in recent history, and for most of us it is verbal history, we all arrived here after leaving somewhere. For some perspective, Neptune was discovered before Australia.
What Peter Dutton said wouldn’t usually be worth any attention. The fact that no-one sensible really cares is a good indicator, to me at least. Until I learned that nearly one million of us aren’t enrolled to vote. This is a startlingly large number of people who aren’t having their voice heard.
And apparently illiterate immigrants are the problem.