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exit stage always right

exit stage always right
Written by Cathoel Jorss,

Is Tony Abbott ‘a good man’ as Finance Minister Mathias Corban has it? Yes, if you perceive society as a fragile glass ball owned by the educated, which needs to be stringently protected from destruction by the uneducated and poor

Does Abbott deserve to be given ‘a break’? Don’t we all? But what lucky break has this man not already had and exploited? A good education. Raised male, English-speaking, and white. A supportive marriage, healthy children. Meanwhile he has spent much of his career depriving other people of such boons. I’d like to see the lucky breaks more evenly distributed.

To those who mourn his political passing, I’d say: I think it’s possible to support women leaving violent husbands, to support Indigenous self-determination and the arts, to build renewable energy sources whose economic demand is climbing and to fairly tax miners and manufacturers, without ruining the world as we know it. I’d say more moral generosity is what this world needs right now. And to those who feel they hate the man, I’d say: you can’t beat them by joining them. Hate is the refuge of those who have forgotten or are hiding their kinship with this real fellow human. Us and them thinking leads to dehumanisation of asylum seekers, neglect of homeless children, deaths in custody, rapes. I’d say more moral generosity is what this world needs right now. We can all contribute that.

17 comments on “exit stage always right

  1. Cathoel Jorss says:

    Yes, that’s very true. These are good points, Valli, and I agree. But the minute we start to say He Deserves to Be Shot (etc) we are no different to him who says, They Don’t Deserve to Live.

    Moral generosity has boundaries. But I feel like we’re all well within them.

  2. Cathoel Jorss says:

    Abbott may not have made very gracious use of the educational resources he’s had lavished on him, but he’s still had the benefit of more education than most people get. So have I. Privilege confers responsibility.

  3. Cathoel Jorss says:

    I agree, Peter, and I’m sure Turnbull will present the same policies, only far more plausibly.

  4. Russell says:

    He’s gone, he’s history. Let him not be forgotten.

  5. Reverend Hellfire says:

    Oh Cathoel, you’re so kind and compassionate. You can even forgive that twisted little thug Abbott! True he is a pathetic specimen and I’m not the only person whose worked in the psychiatric profession to be concerned about his mental condition. But I find it hard to feel sorry for him. Frankly (like much of the rest of Australia)I’ve been indulging in some much overdue Shaden freude, breaking into song and dance, greedily watching TV hoping for a glimpse of the Beast as it slinks out of office back into the weeds so I can have a good gloat at his humiliation.
    Generally speaking hatred is not a nice feeling to have. Too much of it poisons the soul, and that is exactly what Abbott has been doing these last few years; Oozing hatred into our Society like a cane toad poisoning the water supply and we haven been drinking his toxic effluent for years now. We are all sickened from this poison and now it is being vomited back at him.
    But some times you HAVE to hate. Sometimes it is good to hate, it is human to hate. If you don’t hate Injustice, for example, why would you fight it?
    So I hate Tony Abbott, I hate his beliefs, actions, religion and philosophy. I hate his smarmy, evil, sweaty fucking face. And that’s OK! This is part of the purging. the detoxification, and when it’s over we will forget him and it will be as though he never was. I look forward to that day.

  6. Melissa Lucashenko says:

    I din’t hate him, exactly. I hope his chooks turn into emus and kick his dunny down. And crap on his face.

  7. Cathoel Jorss says:

    I think I gotcha. So long as random feathered creatures are willing to take out the hating, for you… Maybe chickens are exempt from the wheels of karma.

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