I consider some of Australia’s politicians to have been, or to currently be, if they are still alive, evil. Those include Joh Bjelke-Peterson (aka “the Flying Peanut”, who did quite a bit of good when he first got in), John Howard (although he did a great act of good in introducing gun control laws – that have subsequently been watered down), and former Senator Fraser Anning.
In my opinion, Scott Morrison was egregiously corrupt and harmful, Pauline Hanson has done nearly as much harm to the fabric of Australian society as John Howard, and Peter Dutton is a reactionary conservative with outdated values who is now committing great harm to Australia and the Indigenous people of this land. As with the first two, Dutton may or may not be evil as a person, be is actively and, in my opinion, knowingly/deliberately doing the work of evil - making him a dupe or a willing dupe of evil.
That doesn’t show him - or his ultra-conservative right wing party - in any great light. That also bodes ill for them at the next election, which I am pleased about, but in the meantime he will have created yet more destruction to be made good - see the warning by key Indigenous leaders in this.
The acts of evil being done need to be countered - first and foremost for calling their acts out for what it is: evil, or at the very least, “egregiously wrong” (see this).
On such acts of evil or, again - for those uncomfortable with that word, “egregious wrongdoing”, the arrogant acts of subterfuge and brazenry in this YouTube video by the Legal Eagle channel are staggering.
In all seriousness, what is needed to call such acts out?
Better protection against legal action? More courage? The power of noticing?
I'm not sure, but I’ll add that to my List of Things to Contemplate, Ponder, and Meditate Upon After Which I Act Upon.
PS - I have been doing said Contemplating, Pondering, and Meditating, and have reached conclusions about Morrison, Dutton, and Hanson.
Firstly, the key aspects of my definition of evil are:
- “whatever harms or hinders spiritual growth / evolution / development”, including:
- “If people are showing hostility or lack of acceptance to people who are different but not doing any harm (for instance, members of other races or religions, or LGBTIQ people, or various forms of consensual sex, or people who vote differently, etc, etc, etc), the hostile / unaccepting people are acting in a way that is evil, and are showing a complete failure to come to grips with the fundamental spiritual reason that physical reality came into existence - which I discuss in my post "The Origin of Evil" (see http://gnwmythr.blogspot.com/2012/01/origin-of-evil.html)”;
- “harm to the human rights, dignity, or wellbeing of others caused through lack of humanity or lack of empathy, compassion, as was discussed by Hannah Arendt after observing the trial of eichmann, and made apparent also in the famous Nuremberg trials after World War (part) Two”.
All three have shown LGBTIQA+phobia - Morrison in particular has been egregiously transphobic, Hanson is notorious for her racism, and Dutton’s actions against the Voice to Parliament are destructive, and certainly appear racist, even if they weren’t intended to be, and are having a racist impact.
The suffering caused by Morrison with RoboDebt, which is widely accepted to have caused suicides, Hanson with her xenophobic racism, and Dutton with 1990s white, cisgender, heteronormative police views, have created a society where basic survival is a struggle, society is more inequitous, and DEI is being actively reversed - thus making devoting time or energy to spiritual betterment impossible.
They all meet my definition of evil - which is not everyone’s definition. Notwithstanding other people’s definitions, I am satisfied that they are, by my definition, evil.
So ... what to do? Well, hold Morrison to account for his lies and apparent abuses/misuses of power, try to get the mainstream media to get an ethical backbone and do some I.F. Stone style journalism, and urge MPs to challenge and flat out contradict Dutton’s falsehoods and misrepresentations with regard to the Voice.
PPS I thought overnight about whether I needed to tweak my definition of evil to exclude everyday LGBTIQA+ hate, but those everyday forms of hate - such as debating whether being LGBTIQA+ is this or that, as well as countless microaggressions - are also evil, just as happens with the treatment of many other minorities.
Possible flaws
Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:
- there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”;
- I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
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Finally, remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing.
