Fired-up ScoMo sidesteps scourge of climate change

Iwould start this piece by saying there is nothing more dangerous to human relations than sweeping generalisations, if didn’t think that was probably a sweeping generalisation in itself.

Besides which it would almost certainly be an exaggeration, though I do think the way generational generalisations are sometimes lobbed, grenade-like, between different groups is potentially hugely damaging.

There is plenty that should unite us inter-generationally at this juncture in our history.

The over-reaction – it went global – to Chlo¨ e Swarbrick’s completely throwaway comment of ‘‘OK, Boomer’’ to a heckling Opposition MP in Parliament just over a week ago, for which I believe the media is partly to blame, certainly did not need to reach the hysterical levels it has.

I imagine some readers are already bristling, bracing for an attack on Baby Boomers but that is not the point of this at all.

The point, really, is to see the fallout for what it is, a regrettable and, for some, convenient, distraction from talking about the important issues of the age, in this case the biggest one, climate change, and what we can collectively do about them.

It is hard to look at some of the protestations without genuinely wondering if they are just taking the proverbial.

A poll on Twitter this week framed it this way: ‘‘The term ‘Boomer’ is being used by Millennials and stupid little kids as an ageist slur against older, mature people. Considering this is an equivalent of the n-word, should it be banned on Facebook?’’

It is not so much asking a question – apart from the yes or no one – as making a ridiculous sweeping statement. ‘‘Considering this is an equivalent of the n-word ...’’ It reminds me of the English gentleman who came in twice soon after I joined The Timaru Herald in 2007 to complain about the use of the term Pom in the paper.

He claimed it too was on a par with the n-word.

It is not and neither is Boomer. Let’s not forget we are talking about a slur that has been a tool in the oppression of a huge portion of the world’s population over centuries. Please demonstrate, with working, how Boomer or Pom have been used to oppress vast numbers of people even over decades. You can’t. It is like calling me a Japie. If anything, I take it as a term of affection.

There are only a few equivalent slurs to the n-word I can think of.

One begins with a k and was wielded with hatred and venom in South Africa throughout much of the 20th century.

Others are also references to people that take aim at race, encouraging generalisations about people on that basis.

Iam not suggesting other labels can’t cause hurt or offence, or that we should not be particularly careful about any we use, and how. We should.

I am asking, as someone born only a couple of years outside the Boomer generation, and with Boomer siblings, for some genuine perspective and wisdom.

It would suit some narratives to suggest Chlo¨ e Swarbrick had used a slur equivalent to the n-word in Parliament. Those of people who would rather discuss anything other than climate change, for example. But she did not.

With a slight grin on her face, she threw it out without breaking stride and continued on. Watch the video. It takes James Shaw a couple of seconds to even recognise what she said.

She was not trying to slur anybody but, as she explained so eloquently in a piece for The Guardian last weekend, she was expressing the frustration of her generation. It was as though being heckled for saying her piece in the debate brought to mind how much this problem has grown in previous generations, starting even before the Baby Boomers, without its severity being recognised, and now her generation – my children’s – and those following stand to be most affected by it.

As she concludes she expresses a truth that, at times in our political history, has simply been glossed over. ‘‘If democracy is to work for all of us, it has to look like all of us.’’

Precisely. Politics is not just about dudes my age and older, in suits, deciding for everyone, as was once the case. Democracy is by definition representative, and her line was a young politician eloquently making that point to a member of the aforementioned club. She had the right to make her point without being shouted down.

In a sense her message was, simply: ‘‘Grow up’’.

I particularly like her explanation of why wisdom is not just about age. ‘‘Wisdom – that being the skillset of a critical mind and solid judgment – comes from consistently exposing oneself to new and novel situations, in turn developing greater understanding of the world, those in it and how to solve evolving problems.

‘‘When you close yourself off to new ways of looking at things ... you become intrinsically less likely to hold the requisite open, critical and creative ability to tackle unprecedented, evolving sociopolitical challenges.’’

There was a time in Western history when the old dudes in the suits were somehow revered as the authority on everything but the closer I get to joining their ranks – old, not in a suit – the more it dawns on me that age is not the key to wisdom.

I mean, those old dudes are Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Boris Johnson, Scott ‘‘stop politicising bushfires’’ Morrison, et al; men who seem to be actively trying to hold back growing understanding, because it is politically and financially inconvenient.

What we need right now is to be reaching across generations with open minds and finding solutions to our global challenges that work for all of us.

It’s 29 degrees already as Sydney prepares to bake under a dirty yellow-orange sky, and Chief Scott ‘‘ScoMo’’ Morrison is waking from a troubled sleep.

Ahead of him lies another long, exhausting day of firefights with journalists and the dampening down of public expectations.

The climate-change discussion season has come early to Australia this year, and Chief Morrison is prepared to do whatever it takes to stay off the subject.

6.27am

Chief Morrison meets with his senior team to finalise the day’s tactics for suppressing the climatechange concerns breaking out all over the eastern states.

The raging controversy is too big to control completely but Chief

8am

Morrison hopes by adopting a strategy of deflecting and minimising, his team can keep vital assets such as marginal electorates and their own political hides out of harm’s way.

An emergency plea comes in from local chief Barnaby Joyce. A risky backburn by Joyce in which he said two bushfire victims were ‘‘most likely people who voted for the Green party’’ has blown up in his face and is threatening the government’s credibility.

Chief Morrison orders Joyce to pull back from the frontline of public engagement and dispatches a tanker full of soothing words to douse the furore.

10.03am

A close call for Chief Morrison as his path is blocked by a journalist with an incendiary question about the government’s lack of leadership over climate change.

Morrison’s instincts kick in and he quickly seeks refuge on a patch of moral high ground, giving the journalist a spray with discussionretardant as he tells her ‘‘Now is not the time to talk about that’’.

A nimble sidestep and Morrison is out of the danger zone before the journalist can follow up by asking when would be a good time to talk about it, if not now.

1.08pm

Chief Morrison issues an interstate warning to all

2.30pm

government employees to follow the advice of their local PR teams, adding that anyone found to have a started a climate change discussion will be severely dealt with.

With reports of public dissatisfaction flaring on several fronts, Chief Morrison attempts to outflank the debate, noting that right now in Italy, Venice is experiencing record flooding so there’s obviously plenty of water to go round and we just have to get it to the right place.

However, he’s beaten back by a wall of laughter, and forced to make his retreat.

4.25pm

Kirribilli House, Sydney Harbour. The temperature has dipped as Chief Morrison sits on the verandah with a cold Australian approximation of beer, looking out at the red sails in the sunset.

It’s a brief respite. Well-meaning friends in the coal industry phone in with pledges of moral support and big fat cheques, but Morrison knows tomorrow he and his team must go it alone again.

Tonight he will dream of some political scandal that will break like a monsoon, raining on the Greens’ parade, raining on the Opposition’s parade, washing that climate change palaver off the front pages.

But when he wakes he’ll know that once again the heat is on.

8.38pm