In response to the rape and murder of Eurydice Dixon, MP Jeffrey Bourman, of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, is trying to push through a motion in Parliament to allow the carrying and use of pepper spray and tasers for self-defence. He believes that women should be allowed these items to protect themselves from “stronger and potentially more experienced” attackers.
“I advise parents to go out and do their own research with regards to this. No one is going to care any more about the child than the parents themselves. Make an informed decision. What I don’t like about it is the blackmailing that’s happening with the government. Don’t do that to people. That’s a dictatorship.”
-Senator Pauline Hanson.
Senator Hanson has urged parents to do their research regarding childhood immunisation and referred to the No Jab, No Pay policy as blackmail and the hallmark of a dictatorship. She’s also previously linked vaccination as a cause of autism and cancer, so I decided it was time to do a little “research“, just as Pauline suggests. I’m sharing it here so that other parents can make an informed decision about whether or not they’ll take the Senator’s advice on health issues, as well.
In a world gone somewhat mad, I’m seeing a lot of people imploring each other to respect the opinions of others, even when they don’t agree. To respect other people, even though they have a (sometimes wildly) different point of view on some really important, world-changing issues. Play the ball, as it were. Hold a different point of view, by all means, but remember that opinions are (apparently) sacrosanct.
“We are all different, after all, right? That’s what makes life interesting! It’s not right to disrespect someone because they voted differently to how you did or would.”
What I’m taking away from this is that it’s basically acceptable to criticise an idea or an opinion. But apparently, we must do so without criticising the person that holds it. Maybe this is true when the opinion is a minor one; a matter of personal taste that effects no one else. What about when it’s bigger than that?
We have a census coming up. Time to freak out. Some people have concerns over their privacy and information security, others are worried that they haven’t received their login details or forms yet, but let’s get on to the bigger issue, here.
According to some bloke on Facebook that I’ve never heard of, we should all identify as Christian in the religion section of the national questionnaire. Why? Because if we don’t, all the Muslim people will identify as Muslim. (Spoiler alert: Muslim people will most likely identify as Muslim in the census, regardless of what you or I identify as. Muslims aren’t actually identifying as Muslims to spite people that aren’t Muslims. I have this information on good authority. Who knew?)