The hypocrisy of keyboard warfare

WHAT happened to civility?

The treatment meted out to former prime minister Julia Gillard was abominable. Mostly genderbased, little related to policies or decisions.

Harping by her opponents, media and social media trolls was constant during her term. Nothing was off limits – her hair, dress, voice – and came to a head with her now famous misogyny speech in Parliament in 2012.

One hoped the electorate would mature in the aftermath, but the latest incident involving Jenny Morrison, wife of the current PM, shows some individuals have learnt nothing about respect and common decency. So the obscenities continue to spew from their keyboards.

Mrs Morrison was attacked and ridiculed for the simple reason she is the wife of the Prime Minister. Leading the pack were hard-core activists, who pilloried her for her appearance and conservatism and to hell with the fact she is a woman. Double standards? Absolutely.

Politics today is a grubby, vicious business. Confrontation and character assassination are worn like badges of honour and the three major parties – although it is a stretch giving the Greens that status – are guilty of participating.

Left-leaning commentators and columnists, too, seem to be thriving on a little head-kicking, with some so predictable their contributions risk becoming totally irrelevant.

But it is “the socials” that spawn the most vitriol and abuse.

PMs, premiers and opposition leaders have always been fair game, though the condemnation and malevolence directed at Scott Morrison have reached dizzying heights, Ms Gillard excepted. (Of course, the PM has been living a nightmare of crises, notably the toxic culture within parliamentary ranks, the treatment of women generally, the aged care disgrace and the delayed vaccine rollout, that has had his critics salivating.)

For most part, attacks both political and personal have been confined to the pollies, not their wives, husbands, partners or companions. But the rules have changed, judging by the abuse levelled at Jenny Morrison.

A photograph of Mrs Morrison watching the PM sign a condolence book for the late

Prince Philip had some activists in a lather. They condemned her for “looking like a housekeeping lady”, “a potato sack?” and worse. “I have never hated anyone as much as I hate Morrison … and his bloody wife!!!” one ranted.

But it was a text from Magda Szubanski that grabbed the headlines …. “I genuinely thought this was a photoshopped Handmaid’s Tale meme. But no. It’s 21st century Aussie life.”

For good measure, she retweeted the photo with a message from a left-wing Twitter account which stated: “Good morning to everyone else to whom this feels creepy, chilling, terrifying, ominous, enraging, despairing and utterly, completely f*cking depressing.”

Szubanski then attempted to backtrack by claiming she was not making a disparaging comment about the PM’s wife; she “genuinely thought” it was a meme.

Days later, she used

Christianity as the real motive for the attack, saying her intention was to draw attention to the growing influence of far-right Christians in politics: “I don’t like extremes of any kind, is my stance.” Obviously she believes Christians are a far greater threat than a bunch of activists/ extremists who insult and berate anyone who fails to share their politics and opinions.

Many Australians are now reluctant to express their views for fear of being branded racist, sexist, capitalist or anti-something or other. They are petrified of being swept up by cancel culture.

This was not a one-off by the comedian. Recently she mocked Liberal senator Amanda Stoker’s Christian beliefs and her elevation to assistant Minister for Women, tweeting: “This reshuffle has handed power to Amanda Stoker, another of the small but noisy ‘Christian Soldiers’ faction hijacking the national agenda.”

Any reasonable person would — or should — view the attack on Mrs Morrison as disgusting, sexist and the height of hypocrisy by people who claim they are fighting for women and women’s rights.

But this seems to be the brave, new nasty world in which we live.

It should not be so; decent people need to call out both instances that go beyond the pale and the individuals convinced they have a God-given right to pass judgment on anyone who does not conform to their bigoted thinking. Graeme Vincent is a former Geelong Advertiser editor

MANY AUSTRALIANS ARE NOW RELUCTANT TO EXPRESS THEIR VIEWS FOR FEAR OF BEING BRANDED RACIST, SEXIST, CAPITALIST OR ANTI-SOMETHING OR OTHER. THEY ARE PETRIFIED OF BEING SWEPT UP BY

CANCEL CULTURE.”