Post No. 3,242 - Some thoughts on political messaging

 

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash  
(microphones and headsets on an empty wooden table and a vacant office chair in the foreground, with desks and monitors visible through a glass wall in the background)

 

I just posted about our PM’s political incompetence in echoing Tr_ mp’s “bothsidesism”, and thought I’d follow that up with a few comments about political parties and messaging in Australia. 

I have written elsewhere that I consider the neoliberals are - largely through their anti-science climate denialism amathia, but also their lack of connection to the social inclusivity of most modern Australians outside their tiny elitist social bubble (the age of their membership & particularly their most influential senior people) is also a major factor - heading for irrelevance, and possibly dissolving as an organisation, probably within a few electoral cycles. 

The only thing that could breathe new life into them, given their re-commitment to their dinosaur values, would be an external one - and the PM’s comments are exactly the sort of thing I would include in that category. 

But those remarks are damaging not only for the boost it gives neoliberals, but also for the damage caused to the ALP’s membership base. 

ALP members have been trying for at least 18 months to get the leadership of the ALP to wake up to what Israel has been doing in Gaza (see this legal assessment of the right to defence vs other legal obligations) - and other groups within the ALP have been trying for years to get the ALP to change on some matters (with, IMO, notable success by the women’s group, but the recent determined efforts by the Friends of Palestine have also, IMO, had a significant impact). The delay in the ALP taking action on Gaza at a national level has been damaging to its standing - especially amongst young and future voters, who will determine the future of any party - and its the neoliberals complete disconnection with the overwhelming majority of young and future voters is why they doomed themselves to political oblivion. 

The ALP is a bit of a mixture. I have read a fair few opinions complaining of state capture of the ALP by corporations, and I consider there is good reason for that. On the other hand, the PM has shown support for the everyday living struggles of most people (although his purchase of rich housing raises concerns about whether and how much he might be losing his touch with the common people) - and that actually reflects the dogma of the PM’s religion, who - oddly - have managed to combine support for poor and working place with industrial scale misogyny, racism-white supremacism-xenophobia, institutionalised abuse, and hate and incitement of hate and violence towards LGBTQIASB+ people. 

Despite its problems, the ALP won the last election in a landslide through a combination of anti-neoliberal sentiment, reasonable (not outstanding, given the message sent by voters in 2019) policies, and disciplined political messaging driven by the ALP’s national secretary. 

The power of political messaging can also be shown by the times it has gone wrong, and the Greens attempt to influence votes in Queensland (especially Dutton’s electorate) the previous national election is one such example.  

The Greens managed to leave too much of Queensland with the impression that they were arrogant, out-of-touch with local issues, and virtually foreigners trying to impose their will on Queensland. 

It was a disaster. 

Now, over the last decade or so, everyone I know who was a member of the Greens has left, largely because of a perceived shift towards a toxic macho culture - whether that is actually true or not with regard to their internal culture, I don’t know, but from an outsider’s point of view, they certainly have been more forceful, and at times have seemed aggressive ... and there is what I have heard from the now former members that I mentioned. 

The fact that other parties also exhibit such behaviour is an irrelevant bothsidesism (consider the PM’s recent, troubling remarks!) - particularly so, as the Greens were founded to be try to be better than everyone else.  

They have, so far, failed at that - and their attempt to influence what happened in Queensland is a clear example of that. 

Personally, I consider the problems started when the Greens decided to go from being an influential minor party to trying to seek to form a national government. 

My opinion, based on voting trends, is that the Greens are likely at least 20 years away from winning enough other voters over for that to happen - 20 years which are going to be crucial for the world with regard to the climate crisis, 20 years when their focus should, IMO, be on accomplishing whatever change they can. 

And it is their political messaging that is a key part of the problem. 

The Greens seem, to me, to be messaging to their members - playing to their own choir, as the expression puts it. 

Consider if they had gone to the Queensland electorate two election ago with something based on the following:  

• Queensland’s main economic activities are (from here) are mining, tourism, agriculture, and financial services; 

• the decline in coal production (which, from a climate crisis point of view, was good) of around one third from the floods in 2010 was an example of how climate affected mining is; 

• other floods and storm events (particularly in 2006) have shown how agriculture and tourism are vulnerable to weather; 

• the increasing difficulty getting house insurance shows that the climate crisis is real, and influencing decision making;  

• experts have estimated that the cost of natural disasters in Australia will increase to between $39 billion per year by 2050 (at least) and $73-94 billion per year by 2060, with total costs over the next 40 years in Queensland being at least $466 billion; 

• taking strong action to manage climate change is the best way to protect Queensland’s jobs, economy, and lifestyles - especially for future generations. 

For that matter, consider if anybody had tried that sort of messaging ...  

And the PM’s messaging yesterday, it has to be admitted, was an absolute disaster - for the ALP in particular, but also for all of Australia, given the legitimacy just given to hate and fascism. 

I fear what this could lead to is      a progressive movement that is disunited by shared internecine hatreds   being outdone by      the far right, extremist, ultra-fringe, splinter parties who will pick up those thrown adrift when the neoliberals disappear being drawn together by their shared hate into a cohesive, effective united front.  

PM: grow up politically and do better. 

Progressives: grow up politically and recognise that uniting to defeat the climate-change-denying, hateful, anti-inclusivity, anti-all-other-progressivism, democracy-destroying fascists in Australia MUST supercede all fighting between us, lest we wind up destroyed from within as the USA has been. 

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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Remember: we generally need to be more human being rather than human doing, to mind our Mӕgan, and to acknowledge that all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering” (just as binary gendered [men’s and women’s] sporting teams are either both given the gender descriptor, or neither).

#PsychicABetterWorld   and  

Note that I am cutting back on aspects of my posts - see here, and Gnwmythr is pronounced new-MYTH-ear  

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