He’s done it AGAIN! What does Abbott have to do to make people wake up to the fact this man is NOT Prime Ministerial material?
Bloody Hell!!
As if all the videos on YouTube of him avoiding journalists, or his terrible performance when Leigh Sales interviewed him, or his lack of knowledge of things he SHOULD know about such as President Obama’s State of the Union address isn’t enough, he has made two major gaffs in the last week alone.
First there was the “We will always speak with a strong Australian accent” rubbish. I don’t consider this at all racist as some people suggested. I believe his intention was to sound “Australian”. He didn’t. It was just a stupid thing to say when many of the Liberal Party’s own candidates don’t speak with an Australian accent. It implies to all Australians that don’t speak with an Australian accent (and there are many, many, many of those) that they are some how not quite Australian in Abbott’s eyes (or ears). Yet THIS man wants to be the leader of our nation? UnAustralian attitude!
I have been accused of spinning his words. I’m not. I am well aware of his intention, which is clearly reported in the article linked to above. The issue is many Australians would not hear his intention re inter-party tussles. What people hear is “Abbott does not see me as Australian”. That is why it is a stupid thing to say in THIS country! I do not believe the context of the quote is even remotely relevant and I do not believe I am being malicious, as I have been charged. I firmly believe it was a stupid thing to say no matter what the cause or intent. It was a statement that can be and will be misconstrued and therefore drags down not only the Liberal Party but also Australia.
A mere five days later he made matters even worse!
“I think it would be impossible to have a good general education without at least some serious familiarity with the Bible and with the teachings of Christianity.”
Now, this question of religion in schools has had considerable coverage lately. The article I like the best out of all the ones I read last week is the one by Chrys Stevenson, “Q&A: Plibersek strangely unconvinced about creationism in the classroom“. The article is a wonderful summation of the situation. Do yourself a favour and go read it!
Last night, when I heard of this nonsense I tweeted my horror, as you can see above. The responses clearly indicated I was far from the only one reeling in horror at this nonsense. @TaodeHaas tweeted, “OMG I’m suffering from motion sickness right now I am feeling as if I am being hurdled (sic) back hundreds of years, UNBELIEVABLE!“
There are far better options for the curriculum.
- Replace religion with Ethics and Cultural Intelligence classes. These classes should be compulsory in private religious schools as well.
- Teach ALL religions as part of the Social Sciences or literature to enhance cultural intelligence.
I was shocked to learn some religious group had weaselled their way into schools under the guise of teaching grooming and deportment.
Australia is a secular country. We have many religions here other than Christianity, including a fair number of atheists (myself included). Abbott’s attitude is UnAustralian! While I am happy to have children taught the CONCEPTS of ALL religions, I am NOT happy to have schools trying to convert kids. Religion is a private matter. My taxes are NOT to go to brainwash 5 year-olds into believing in a mythical creature used to subjugate innocent people for centuries. If you dislike my use of the term “brainwash” I suggest you watch Dave Allen (link below) and watch out for the burnt finger bit.
Open your eyes, Australia. Open your eyes Liberal Party members. This man will be a very dangerous Prime Minister for Australia. For goodness sake, find a new leader NOW!
Abbott doesn’t even understand the basic Liberal Party principles!
In short, we simply believe in individual freedom and free enterprise; and if you share this belief, then ours is the Party for you.
Don’t tell me you believe in individual freedom, but want to force our kids to receive Bible lessons! Contradiction!
My biggest problem personally? I am left with no party I can vote for in all good conscience. The Labour Party trampled on my civil rights while in government, yet I KNOW if the Liberal Party had been in power they would have buried my civil rights, despite the principles above!
So who the hell do I vote for in the coming election?
Related:
- Dave Allen on Religion
- Where are the REAL Liberals?
- I will not be renewing my Liberal Party membership
- What is it with religion and women?
- Sexism, misogyny and gender equality
Random Observations of Life 
[…] temper my concerns but it has been difficult. Abbott’s declaration that all children should read the bible, his attitude to women as the little woman in her place in life doing the ironing and his attitude […]
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[…] Abbott’s previous statements that all Australian children should read the Bible before they leave school and Mr Wilson’s desire that we have freedom to worship (but no […]
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[…] Abbott the UnAustralian […]
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[…] Abbott has said every child should read the Bible before leaving school. Show me where in the Bible the “joke” of this menu is good Christian […]
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I’ve studied drama, and once you get to medieval drama, it’s literally impossible to understand it if you don’t have a good enough knowledge of the Bible and the Christianity (and some history and so on and so forth). My country used to be a communist one, and while my generation did have some knowledge of the Bible, in several generations before mine they knew next to nothing, and the professors had great trouble trying to explain at least some basic concepts (which also meant they spent less time talking about the primary subject, drama).
Even if we live in secular countries (you do, and I do too, and so does the majority of the planet), various religions did have a huge impact on our cultures, so knowledge about major religions (not just Christianity) does seem to be a must for a good general education.
Please note I said “knowledge about”, not actually believing and/or practicing, and certainly not converting 5-year-olds against the wishes of their parents. 🙂
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Angel, is this because medieval drama is based almost entirely around Christianity and the Bible? I’ve never studied it, so I would be unable to assess.
I agree that knowledge ABOUT religion can be important – for cultural understanding if nothing else. With an ever increasingly mobile global population, really we need to ramp up our cultural intelligence training everywhere.
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In medieval times (talking about Europe here, obviously) they were Christians, it was a part of their culture and of their everyday life that was not questioned, they just followed the rules. Their society structure was based on it, pretty much everything was based on it. The medieval drama reflects it. It never questions Christianity or the Bible, it takes it for granted.
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I have been saying it and saying it. Pell has more influence on Abbott than any other human being. Just 2 points to support my contention, there are many others.
1) Think back to the announcement by the Govt re sexual and other abuse by Religious organisations members etc.
Apart from one short sentence Abbott has said nothing, absolutely nothing. He has been damn vocal on the Slipper and Thomson accusations but on sexual abuse of children Zip. Coincidence Pell is in the firing line as boss of the Catholic Church? Too close to Pell? Know too much? Afraid of Pell? As usual with Abbott more questions than answers
2) Abbott is a dedicated practising Catholic and Pell is his personal confessor and they meet regularly to discuss…..well we don’t know what they discuss but you can bet your bottom dollar its not the weather or whats for dinner. Abbott has said he speaks to Pell at least once a week. That there is a strong reliance on Pells counsel and given Abbotts personal dedication to the Catholic faith, it must be seen as very undesirable for a potential leader of the Country to be so close to the leader of a Church with such strong views unchanged for centuries.
When Abott said “I think it would be impossible to have a good general education without at least some serious familiarity with the Bible and with the teachings of Christianity.”
Who was really saying it?
I agree 100% Robyn. This man will be very dangerous for Australia as Prime Minister, I don’t dare to think how dangerous.
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Thank you David. I really appreciate you sharing your insights.
I shuddered when he got the LOTO position, but thought he wouldn’t see six months, I thought the party as a whole had more brains!
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Robyn, I hear desperation in your voice.
I was once told quite a few years ago, that all you have to do is to use a ledger approach to making important decisions.
All anyone has to do is to put a line down the middle of a piece of paper, put the pros on one side and the cons on the other. It really works in all walks of life and will work when trying to decide who to vote for. You might actually need two pieces of paper. One for the Gov. and one for the Opposition.
You just have to head each side with The Pros vs The Cons
It works well for all decisions that are important in our lives.
If the Pros column is in the plus, you go with an informed decision.
So folks, one piece of paper for ALP and one for LNP its as easy as that.
My take has been that the gov. has had many more plus’s so far. The opposition and in particular has only come up with ‘we will dismantle all good things that gov. has done’.
Still waiting to hear some actual policies from the opposition.
Don’t like the idea of religion directing government policies. As you say, we are a secular society here in Australia.
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Sadly, Sandra, you are damn close to the mark! 🙂
I also saw a tweet last night from Swanny, announcing a POST election audit of costings. Lost of good that does the voters – should be an audit PRE election!
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