Jarrod Gilbert
Iwrite this one for all of the morons out there. The fools, the buffoons, the vapid oxygen thieves who are the enemies of reason, whose foolishness is only matched by their self-righteousness, whose understanding of key issues is inversely proportional to the loudness with which they speak. Gather around my enemies, I wish to have a word.
I need to talk about political tribalism, this phenomenon that so often mocks the principles that uphold our democracy while chipping away at its foundations.
Such an unwavering devotion to one political party means nothing done by that party can ever offend the diehard supporter. Any action that threatens to rattle a devotee’s true belief is responded to with the rationalisation that the sneaks on the other side would have done 10 times worse given the same circumstances.
When this happens objective notions of right and wrong vanish, and what is left is a sickening reverence.
These are the people who would have defended their king in feudal times and belittled folk talking up democracy. Or burnt the witches when the church told them to.
Before we examine the folly of our leaders, it’s useful to look overseas at a man who rather incredibly doesn’t rate even close as the worst US president of modern times.
In an effort at espionage, Richard Nixon orchestrated the illegal breakin of the democratic offices at the Watergate Hotel in June 1972. Later that year, he was re-elected in a landslide.
Evidence already existed linking the president to the criminal activity, including a $25,000 cheque from Nixon’s team that was banked by one of the burglars. Many supporters simply didn’t believe it could happen, while some couldn’t be bothered looking at the evidence or more