Friday, August 23, 2019

Everyone liked Tim, except...

Tim Fischer was a genuinely likeable politician, as all the kind words from everyone following his death show.

I was amused to read at Catallaxy how the only regular left wing participant there, the Vietnamese war conscript veteran often referred to as "Numbers", noted how veterans suffered more blood cancer than  the rest of their population cohort, only to have others in thread pooh-pooh the suggestion.  Then on TV I saw that Tim himself said he had been told by a specialist that exposure to war time chemicals had probably stuffed up his immune system.   So much for the collective smarts of Catallaxy.

And I also was reminded, by clown rodeo leader Sinclair Davidson himself, that he considered Fischer an anti-Semite, no doubt for his criticisms of Israel's treatment of Palestine, and his general friendliness with Arab countries in the region.  

Just add that to the list of SD's views which are so eccentric that mainstream commentators just go "uhuh" and move on.  It probably doesn't top his all time "seriously?" comment re Adam Goodes:
But is it racist? Many individuals are having a go at me on twitter for questioning whether calling an Indigenous man an “ape” is actually racist and not just rude. For many people it seems self-evident that is is racist. But nobody can say how or why. The “best” story I’ve heard is that Social Darwinism ranks “people of colour” below animals.
but comes pretty close.

8 comments:

Not Trampis said...

on Tim Fischer I like hoe he changed on race. Om Mabo when they won in 1996 he appealed to the rednecks.
He unfortunately was Trade minister who eschewed multilateral deals which involve trade creation and went for bi-lateral deals which involved trade diversion.

On his kids who had autism I found it strange that he resigned from politics to have more time for them( as he could on the generous parliamentary pensions) and proceeded to get jobs in the private and public sectors.

Hate to agree with sinkers but as a young kiddie I heard the term ape a lot of time at thugby league matches and in fact it was directed at white players. for example it was directed at John O'Neil not John Sattler both of whom played for Souths.
Ape or monkey is a racist term used in India but rarely here.
It has been used against big boofy blokes. That is Goodes to a tee.
After all why was it not directed to Goodes's aboriginal team-mates or opponents?

Steve said...

Homer, the thing about Sinclairs comment quoted above is that it is literally asking how it could be racist. Not "I don't think it was intended by this girl to be racist" but "I don't understand how it could be racist". That is what people could not believe.

John said...

Conservatives with justification complain about the tendency of the Left to invoke racism etc. Anyone who criticizes Israel will be branded a anti-semite by conservatives. Pot .. Kettle.

Not Trampis said...

Well I have never considered the word ape racist in Australia as it has never been used that way anywhere I have been and in any of the sports I have watched.
It simply was used to describe big boofy blokes whom the spectators thought were not smart

Jason Soon said...

seriously being anti-Israel is to be anti-semitic now?
The right needs to give up its blind worship of that country.
Since I learned that Israel has been providing aid and comfort to Syrian Islamist rebels my position is that it can go eff itself.

John said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEep67akIn4

Steve said...

Jason, lately you always sound as if you've just eaten a handful of Mark Latham's angry pills.

Steve said...

To be clear on the Goodes matter: I have never had a problem with people saying that they doubted the girl meant it as a racist taunt. Of course "ape" can be used in a non racist way.

But that does not detract from the point I am making about the quote from SD.