Hands of Time

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AFL Is A Team Game Not An Individual Pursuit

AFL commentator David King blows hard over the stars of the game. King rhapsodises about these star factor players in his puff pieces masquerading as expert punditry. It is akin to the lead singer of a pop band getting all the acclaim, as the media ignores the rest of the musical group. Of course, without the bass and drums there is no band. Likewise, without the other footballers in the team there is no winning combination. Focusing on individuals is what PR machines and the media always do, it is the easy option when telling stories. It is not the real story though. It is one of the reasons why America is in the shit right now, with a lying, cheating king called Trump running the show. AFL is a team game not an individual pursuit.

AFL Stars Don’t Shine Without Their Team Mates

I turn to the example of the Sydney Swans AFL team. Here is a side with some serious cream sitting at the top of its list. Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Errol Gulden, Brodie Grundy, Nick Blakey and co are terrifically talented AFL players. What happens, however, when a team is built around such high end star factor and that quality gets injured or goes out of form? What if too many of the lesser lights, the role players, aren’t up to it? You end up with players losing contests to their opposition and being uncompetitive when it matters. 23 players now fill the game day roster; and the real deal sides that go all the way are those with enough buy in and talent to fill all the seats on the train. Coaching great Paul Roos used to talk about the bottom 6 players on your playing roster deciding who wins grand finals. Footy is a team game and David King would be well advised to remember that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu852BXQc5Y AFL Teams Relying On Stars Are Vulnerable To Counter Measures

If you are an AFL side relying on your high end talent to get the job done every week, you are vulnerable on this basis. Hard taggers doing shutdown roles on your Heeney and Warner can block that advantage. Injuries, fair or otherwise in origin, can likewise reduce that advantage further. If your team has grown used to being lifted over the line by the star factor, then it builds weakness in the other members of the side. Bad habits emerge, like relying on the superstars to make things happen. The Sydney Swans are looking, very much, like an AFL side in this invidious position currently.

It is like technology, bloody marvellous when it’s working. Not so great when it doesn’t!

A Champion Team Beats A Side With A Few Stars

AFL is a team game not an individual pursuit. The PR machines, sponsors, advertisers, betting companies and the media wont to emphasise the stars. They are invested in them. The collective will ultimately win out over individual brilliance. David King gets paid by those invested in telling a different story. ‘A champion team will defeat a team of champions’, so the old saying goes. If you want to pick a premiership winner identify those sides with that approach and makeup. Brisbane, obviously, have a coach who builds that team confidence over everything else. Hawthorn looks to be the collective with the best team credentials to challenge. These sides have stars, obviously, but the full 23 bleed to win and have that belief on the day.

Tell Us Something We Don’t Already Know & Can See

Every AFL side drafts and recruits to get the best players it can. A Buddy Franklin puts bums on seats in the grandstands at the ground. We all like to watch the very best go about their work on the field. The clubs themselves and the AFL are the firmament in which these stars can shine. Without it they have no arena to do battle. LIV Golf bought the stars of golf and overpaid a thousand fold to do so. This damaged the game itself and probably wrecked the careers of golfers like Cam Smith and others in the process. They might be rich but have lost something else along the way. Now, LIV Golf has choked on its own hubris and collapsed in ignominy. No individual player is bigger than his club or the AFL. David King in his loud ‘mansplaining’  way would do well to remember that. Banging on about the stars of the game is lazy journalism. It is PR masquerading as punditry. He is not alone in this, as other voices in the media follow his lead. The stars can tell their own story on the field and we have eyes to see their wondrous exploits.

We do not need the Greek chorus to endlessly repeat their feats in an echo chamber on radio and TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=527zR-G-6Zo Hitler’s Little Dick

“Scientists have revealed the genome of Adolf Hitler, the most reviled man in modern history. Hitler is likely to have had Kallmann syndrome, which points to a micro-penis in his pants. It begs the question did Hitler’s small penis cost millions of lives? How so? The association between physical deformities and killers is well established in criminology studies. The burden of not measuring up in that most sensitive of areas would, in all likelihood, spur a lifetime of resentment. All that angry oration, Hitler was famous for, speaks of overcompensation.”

- (https://www.midasword.com.au/did-hitlers-small-penis-cost-millions-of-lives/)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©MidasWord

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Sydney Swan’s Defence Is A Leaky Boat

The Sydney Swan’s defence is a leaky boat. These defenders just don’t defend enough when it matters. Tom McCartin standing off when his player is free, resulting in goals to Adelaide. Too many Sydney defenders guarding space when they need to be on a man. AFL has forgotten what a defence is really about, as there are too many attacking players who just cannot defend. Riley Bice has zero defensive skills and he is not alone in this regard back there. The only man on man defender in the Swans backline is Will Edwards and he is a rookie. Will Edwards struggles to take a mark when it really matters. You are not going to win a premiership with this leaky boat and winning finals look beyond this team right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjBd5XAKqH4

Swan’s Lack Of Grit Sinks Hopes Of Victory

Sydney lack gritty players. The transfer of Luke Parker to North Melbourne has seen the demise of this type of player at the Swans. Have a look at the body types prevalent throughout this AFL side. They all look like long distance runners. The sports science department has taken over the game of AFL. Apart from Isaac Heeney and James Rowbottom there are no hard stocky body types in the squad, it seems. Angus Sheldrick is a nuggety type but he did not measure up against the Crows in this fight on this night. Adelaide outmuscled and outperformed Sydney all night. They won contest after contest. Sydney players were second to the ball all evening. Too many downhill skiers like Jake Lloyd, Matt Rosas and others who cannot handle the heat.

“ADELAIDE has stunned Sydney on a soggy Friday night at the SCG, fending off a late fightback to win by 16 points and shatter the Swans' unbeaten home streak. The Swans reeled back in the Crows’ game-high 27-point lead in the second term but were unable to run over the visitor as they took a 10.11 (71) to 13.9 (87) victory.”

- (https://www.afl.com.au/news/1561993/match-report-sydney-swans-v-adelaide-crows) Highlights In Hairdos But Few On The Field For Sydney

Some of the Swan’s boys visited the Paddington hair salons and let loose on the peroxide bottle. New hairdos are exciting; but I wish they had the same fervour for winning games of football by putting everything on the line. The whole team needs to develop  a bit of mongrel about them. The Swans lack true grit big time. You cannot trust this group when the pressure is on them. Dean Cox must wonder about the character of some of these guys. Errol Gulden had his worst outing since coming back from a long layoff. Heeney cannot carry this side on his lonesome. Charlie Curnow had a shocker. Ineffective tackling plagues the Swans like a virus. Broken tackles mount up in numbers like infected folk in a pandemic. Hayden McLean has not taken a contested mark for a fortnight and tackles like a man half his size, if at all. Are the pressures of a modern metrosexual world undermining these once suburban and country lads now living in a big city? The Adelaide Crows were harder at it for longer and wanted it more.

The Good Among The 23 On The Night At The SCG

The really good players on the night were Chad Warner and Braeden Campbell in his return game in 2026. Both Swans’ were exciting and broke the lines frequently. Tom Papley was brilliant up forward kicking four goals. Paps was the fire starter even on this wet night of football at the SCG. Nick Blakey was great off half back, as per his usual high standards. Jai Serong and Brodie Grundy tried hard all night but were not quite at their best. Matt Roberts was pretty darn good for four quarters too. James Rowbottom was huge in the second half kicking goals and tackling like a machine. I wonder why other Sydney players cannot apply themselves defensively like Rowbottom? Are they too afraid of getting their hands dirty?

Signs Indicate Swans Down On Confidence

You know when the Swans team are down on confidence, because they cannot take marks under pressure. Brodie Grundy needs to take more marks around the ground. A lack of aerial presence and missed shots at goals tell us, psychologically, that these players lack belief! Curnow missed repeatedly and failed to kick a goal all night. McDonald missed his first opportunity in front of the big sticks. ADELAIDE, IN CONTRAST, KICKED THEM EASILY! Especially, in that opening quarter, where it seemed apparent that the home team were still thinking about their hairdos rather than the defending. It was a f****** disgrace! Getting absolutely belted by the Dockers in that second half has left a few scars, obviously. The Sydney Swan’s defence is a leaky boat and few players can swim by the looks of things. Will this be yet another wasted season, where the red and whites cannot fulfill their destiny? Talent of the few cannot defeat the belief of an entire committed team. This was apparent against Adelaide on a wet SCG night.

Lightweight Running Defenders Cannot Get The Job Done For Sydney

Why is the Sydney Swan’s defence a leaky boat? There are too many attacking players down there and too few real defenders. Nick Blakey is a star and a great attacking half back. Riley Bice is a similar style of player but without the defensive skills or inclination. Tom McCartin is a wonderful footballer but plays both roles in defence and, therefore, gets caught out too often. Dane Rampe is getting long in the tooth and cannot handle the lockdown roles he used to. Callum Mills is not big enough to take on the big dogs. Will Edwards is a rookie. Harry Cunningham is another getting on in years and copped a swinging arm from Fogarty to go down with concussion. The Sydney defender body types back there are too lightweight. Riley Thilthorpe and Fogarty were too big and strong for the Swan’s defence on the night. The Dockers made mincemeat of them the week before. I cannot see Sydney winning finals with the current lineup and defensive mindset. Mark McVeigh is the current defensive line coach at the Swans.

https://www.sydneyswans.com.au/afl/coaches

Downhill Skiers??????

“The accusations are coming quick and hot – ‘they can’t win the premiership!’ ‘Swans just not good enough!’ The Sydney Swans’ downhill skiers. Too many players running ahead looking for the easy option rather than winning contests. For the first 7 games of the 2026 season Sydney had this aggressive forward handpassing, which was tearing opposition sides apart. Now, according to the loud mouthed ‘so-called’ experts, those opposing teams have worked out how to stop the juggernaut. The Sydney Swans have struggled to beat ordinary AFL sides of late and are losing to the real contenders, Hawthorn, Geelong and Brisbane.”

- (https://www.golfdom.com.au/the-sydney-swans-downhill-skiers/)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©GolfDom

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Understanding The Rise Of Hitler

Whilst watching a documentary about Adolf Hitler it was startling to hear that he seized upon the example of cheer leaders in American sport to be incorporated into his own political rallies. A close friend of Hitlers had attended college at Harvard and was sharing the cheer leading song and explaining the phenomenon to him. Thus, the whole Seig Heil and Nazi salute is important to understanding the rise of Hitler. The crowd reactions to their Fuhrer were no accident or natural occurrence, as it was a devised and scripted propagandistic technique. Manipulating crowds at rallies became a powerful tool in the Nazi arsenal. It is shocking how quickly human beings display their herd mentality when exposed to it at events like these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH5HSU1YsyQ

Was Trump Inspired By Hitler’s Rallies?

I am reminded of the Donald Trump rallies in more recent times in the United States. The MAGA crowd with their flags, hats, badges and uniform merchandise flocking to their strongman leader. The two leaders have other salient things in common in their political kitbags. Pointing the finger at ‘the other’ and demonising that ‘other’ as someone to hate. For Trump the white supremacist it is immigrants of the wrong colour. Whilst for Hitler it was the Jews. Both established bodies of storm troopers to round up the unwanted aliens and dump them in concentration camps. Again both regimes profited from this mass practice via the deals done in incarcerating these undesirables. The Nazis would go on to steal the gold teeth out of the mouths of their murdered corpses and bank those gold bars with the Swiss.

Flying Around Adolf & Pauline To Rally Support

10 million German’s joined the Nazi party during Hitler’s time. So, don’t buy into this narrative about the local population not knowing what was going on. The Nazi party was born out of a period of economic uncertainty and insecurity for many Germans post WW1. Understanding the rise of Hitler begins with this comprehension of the economic situation. It is startling to observe how quickly people will seize upon blaming others for their troubles at such times. Right now in Australia, we are seeing One Nation, a far Right political party, enjoying unprecedented support. Pauline Hanson its leader is a virulent xenophobe and white supremacist. Australia is a wealthy nation but much of its wealth is in the hands of a few. American multinational corporations, Big Tech, rule the world economically and they don’t pay their fair share of taxes anywhere. Rather than take on the big end of town, the One Nation supporters would rather blame their perceived woes on immigrants, refugees and anyone different from themselves who reside at the bottom of the food chain. Punching down is a favourite Aussie sport. Adolf Hitler in that documentary I was watching had an aeroplane flying him around Germany to rally support. Pauline Hanson has been gifted aeroplanes by wealthy billionaire supporters like Gina Rinehart, so that she can spread her hate filled messages and the politics of grievance across the continent.

Adolf Hitler & His Choreographed Mass Events

Returning to those scenes of thousands of Germans waving their swastikas and watching the cavalcade containing Hitler go driving by. All of these things were choreographed by Goebbels and co. Women used to scream in excitement at these events, like we later witnessed around The Beatles in that pop phenomenon. Processions and mass events are hypnotic. Hitler’s oratorial skills were similarly orchestrated to provoke unified responses from the crowd. Adolf Hitler would throw flowers to parts of the crowd as his limousine made its way along the plotted route. Remember the Harvard cheer leaders and Hitler’s response to first being exposed to their song and a description of their choreographed dance movements? Everything was devised and modified to coerce such crowd behaviours at these Nazi mass events.

My Personal Experience Of Such Things

Personally, I remember lining the streets of Rajneeshpuram for hours awaiting the Rolls Royce of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Osho, to go past. Meanwhile, an aeroplane above dropped millions of rose petals upon our heads. It was a hot day and I was parched but I stayed the course, like the hundreds around me. I know what these mass processional events are like and how they are crafted to stimulate herd mentality responses. We were in the dusty realms of Oregon, USA; and tens of thousands of ‘orange people’, Sannyasins, were in town to celebrate another world festival of Rajneeshism.  Adorned in our uniform colours of pink, red, orange and all the shades of the sun rise. Each of us with a beaded necklace around our necks, which boasted a disc with a photo of the Master – Osho Rajneesh. “I go to the feet of the….”

Rallying Fanatical Extremes

People love to go to rallies and mass events for the excitement of them. Germans crowded into fields to see and hear the Fuhrer. Americans did likewise for candidate Trump. Sannyasins for Osho. Christians did it for Billy Graham, back in the day. Rallies create rusted on supporters whatever the cause. The heart takes over the head at such stirring mass rallies. People focus on the camaraderie, the sisterhood and brotherhood of such events. Unfortunately, lots of details escape their notice at such times too. Most of us get lost in the music, the smiling faces, the calls to come together, the feelings of unity and communion. Such events can be employed by evil folk, as often as good folk. People can find themselves bonded together with brethren intent on harming others. Righteousness is no excuse; and fanatics involved in ‘so-called’ holy wars are equally dangerous at either extremes of the ideological spectrum. Understanding the rise of Hitler involves coming to terms with such stuff.

Politics & Its Carnival Quality

Politics should be a calm and considered business. It is not of course, quite the reverse. The Americans foster that carnival atmosphere at their election times. Voting is not compulsory in the United States, therefore they create a big hullabaloo about it to attract the attention of the citizenry. Selecting the policies you support should be done quietly, like adding up columns of figures for your tax return. Political parties do their level best to provoke the opposite kind of response among citizens. They want things to be emotive and passionate, as it serves the interests of the two party system. If you can hook a voter on something that upsets them or outrages them about the opposing political party they will likely miss noticing all the things that don’t serve their interests in their own party platform. It is a shell game really, with ordinary folk invariably losing out economically to the rich. Bands are playing, flags are waving, the sausages sizzle and folk get caught up in the carnival atmosphere, often, to their own detriment.

Let’s Remove Power Seekers From Politics

It would be better if voting was done in a quiet room and it took several hours for each citizen to view the policies of the parties. All campaigning was banned and made illegal. Voting might take 4 weeks instead of a day, but it is important. Voting would be compulsory for all citizens. There would be no personalities involved, with the roles of government made anonymous. Indeed, the selection of candidates could be made after the votes had been counted. This would remove the cult of personality from the process. No more demagogues. In a real democracy, the ancient Greek version of it, leadership roles were defined by lottery. This would remove power seekers from the process. Power is a corrupting influence, as we all know from history. It would, also, stop the citizenry from projecting their animus upon the leadership. This leads to protest votes and the nation going from out of the frying pan and into the fire. Trump 2.0!

Our Illusory Democracies

Democracy is an illusion in the USA and Australia. Wealthy powerful people and companies have the ear of politicians, whilst the rest of us can go jump. Power corrupts and if you hang out all day with billionaires and CEOs you become their servant. Policies in America are devised by the rich and powerful, often, to the detriment of the greater public. They have the razzamatazz of the presidential election with its colourful spectacle and then 4 years of corrupt lobbying and congressional behaviour. Trump 2.0 has smashed through the glass ceiling of previous levels of corruption and malfeasance. The lies are so thick in the air that all this rubbish about living in a post-truth world almost make sense.

Beware The Protest Vote Con

“We are seeing the very real dangers of the populist protest vote in Trump’s America and Reform in the UK. Basically, crooks cashing in on an electorate’s frustration with an economy cooked by oligarchs and billionaires. It has taken many Americans out of the frying pan into the fire with President Donald Trump’s campaign promises on affordability and no more forever-wars not worth the hot air they were expended with. Right wing parties offering simplistic solutions to complex problems they never intended to solve in the first place. Blame it on the immigrant and refugee is an old populist saw. The root cause of unaffordability and housing shortages is not immigration levels.”

- (https://www.housetherapy.com.au/out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire/)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©HouseTherapy

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Top Of The Table Clash

A brave effort on the night, which could not be sustained. This sums up the Swans defeat at the hands of a rampant last quarter Dockers at the cauldron that is Optus stadium in Perth. Near on 56, 000 fans filled the stadium for this top of the table clash. Fremantle were goalless for a half and still won handsomely in the end. At the start of the second half Fremantle took control of the centre and won the ball out of there, repeatedly going forward. Too many avenues to goal meant they outscored Sydney in the third quarter, despite the heroics of Charlie Curnow at the other end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbEKx48Q9Ik

Fremantle Slam Swans In Top Contest

One could point to the failures of Sydney’s defenders in that second half but that would only be half of the story. Yes, Tom McCartin was well beaten by the power Docker forwards. Dane Rampe looked too old, too slow and outmuscled. Callum Mills never stopped trying but was outpaced in too many contests in the end. Nick Blakey went missing in that second half for what reason I do not know. Josh Treacy was enormous and unstoppable in that second half. Jye Amiss was too big and fast for Rampe. The flood of ball going down there from the centre was the real culprit, however.

Sydney Defeated In Top Two Clash At Optus

Sydney have too many rookies losing contests and senior players unwilling to tackle properly when it matters most. Hayden McLean was underwhelming in this regard for most of the night, especially for a big man. Jake Lloyd is an ineffective tackler. Isaac Heeney was not his usual presence on the night. Chad Warner was huge again but missed too many targets going forward, including goals he could have kicked. Errol Gulden is improving but remains a long way off his best – he has missed a lot of footy. James Rowbottom was tireless but lacked finishing skills. One sensed that the Swans would not be able to sustain  the incredible pressure they put the Dockers under in the first half for the entire match. This proved to be very true in the washup of this top of the table clash.

Freo Give Swans Heave Ho

The Fremantle team had too many in-form senior players all over the ground. Too much quality for the Swans side to cope with in the end. Sydney were valiant but it was not enough. Players like Frederick, Johnson, Clarke, and the usual suspects Jackson, Serong, Bolton and many more were overwhelming. The battle between Brodie Grundy and Luke Jackson was a beauty, with Grundy taking the early honours and Jackson the latter. It was the midfield which let the Swans down in the second half for whatever reason. The Dockers got well on top and ran away with it.

Too much ball flooding into the Fremantle forward line put Sydney to the sword in the second half.

Too Many Rookies In Sydney Side

Sydney’s Harry Kyle had some good moments in the first half but his lack of experience told in the second half. Caiden Cleary and Tom Hannily tried hard but were out classed when the game was in the balance. Tom Papley did some good things, kicked a couple of goals but needed the run and petered out. Sydney missed their absent forwards McDonald and Amartey, with Curnow the only viable option to score goals. It was a realistic lesson ultimately re-their lack of top quality cattle on the park. Missing Justin McInerney in particular and Sam Wicks down back. Braeden Campbell’s return to the Swan’s AFL side will be pretty useful too in the coming weeks.

Do The Swans Lack That Missing Ingredient?

The Swans have now been beaten by Hawthorn, Geelong, Brisbane and Fremantle, which tells a story. That is probably not great to hear if you are an AFL Sydney Swan’s supporter. This 2026 team is currently not good enough to win finals against the very best at the pointy end of the season. They lack enough contest winners in the 23 they field against the real contenders in the AFL. The question to be asked is has their game style and application really improved since 2024? The Swans finished top of the ladder in that season and yet were belted in the GF by Brisbane. Strangely, this was an eerily familiar result to the 2022 GF thrashing by Geelong. Is it, perhaps, this crop of players defining their fate? Very talented but unable or unwilling to lay everything on the line to win the ultimate victory. They appear to be unable or unwilling to apply real pressure for 4 quarters of AFL footy.  We will have to wait and see if history repeats itself again in this regard.

Recent Brisbane Drubbing Of Swans

“Half the Swan’s team needs to learn how to tackle. Pissweak broken tackles and giving away countless free kicks to the opposition was the result on the night. You have to go hard and low, not high and soft. I wonder about the coaches at the Swans. Good people, but are they hard enough? Simon Goodwin talks too much about love for me, I mean WTF? This is a football team not the love boat. Where is the mongrel factor? Where is playing on the edge? Hawthorn, Geelong and now, Brisbane have brushed the Swans aside when it mattered.”

- (https://wordsforweb.com.au/sydney-swans-flop-off-the-bye-at-the-gabba/)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©WordsForWeb

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Caveman Sports Have No Place In A Healthy Life

Contact sports, in the guise of AFL or rugby, are coming under increasing scrutiny in regard to head knocks to players. The truth is that modern human beings are not designed to crash and bash into each other at speed. We have, obviously, evolved away from the need to do so in the natural world. Survival does not call for such behaviour these days and that has long been the case. It is, rather, recreational pursuits in the form of team contact sports which have become the unhealthy danger in recent years. The professionalism and commercialism within these sports have motivated players to become bigger, stronger and faster in pursuit of material rewards. The resultant clashes between these modern day gladiators are fuelling an increasing amount of brain injury diseases showing up in past and present players. Is it a situation where caveman sports have no place in a healthy life?

The Dangers Of Contact Sport For Modern Humans

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) can only be determined post-mortem via examination of brain slivers under the microscope. A recent 4 Corners program on the ABC has revealed some 33 past AFL players have been confirmed as suffering from CTE. 14 of these past players took their own lives in reaction to their undiagnosed CTE symptoms. These include depression, migraines, severe mood swings and volatile behaviour issues in their lives.

“Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease that has been linked to repeated head injuries. Repeated head injuries may take the form of concussion (mild traumatic brain injury) and/or hits to the head that do not result in concussion symptoms, called subconcussive hits. Individuals with CTE can experience a range of changes in their mood, behaviour, and thinking skills that can interfere with their normal or working life.”

- (https://www.connectivity.org.au/symptoms-and-care/chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy-or-cte/) Will Parents Allow Their Kids To Play Caveman Sports?

You can imagine mums and dads seriously reviewing their kid’s participation in these contact sports. This despite the positive associations long held around children playing team sports in Australia and globally. The demands now put upon those playing these sports, like AFL, NRL and rugby union, are flagrantly intense, especially as the kids get older. It is the commercialism underpinning these sports driving the increased physical and athletic demands placed upon those involved in playing these games. It is often hard to remember that these are recreational games. Too much emphasis has been put upon these contact sporting contests via sponsorship and the behemoth that is sports gambling in the 21C.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHShkmUdx4E The History Of Team Sports

Team sports are not something that have been around forever. In actual fact, they are a fairly recent thing, which was concocted in the 19C at public schools in Britain, the leading one of which was called Rugby. To cut a longish story short, these elite schools for the wealthy formed competitive teams and played each other for cups and pennants on a regular basis. Eventually, these games filtered down to working men, who did not have the means to remain amateurs and thus professionalism entered these sports like football (soccer), rugby (union became league) and new sports like AFL (Aussie Rules) emerged in places. On the back of this, businesses entered the fray, often, to pay the wages of the professional sportsmen. Sponsorships were born and this has led to a flood of money commercialising every aspect of these lucrative sports. It is the tribal support of the fans and members for these sporting clubs which differentiates them from many less well-endowed sports. Football teams inspire the passions of supporters like few other recreational pastimes in the modern world. It was the American NFL teams that brought in nick name identities for their teams based on pre-modern inspirations like fierce animals and savages. Tigers, lions, redskins, and the like, with team mascots dressed up to incite the home fans. These soon spread to places like Australia and elsewhere.

Professional Football Contains Real Risks For Player Brain Health

Sport and athletic prowess are at their core about glory. Young men and women seek to perform at their physical best to win plaudits from those around them. Despite all of humanity’s intellectual and technological advancements over millennia it is these actions of our animal bodies which capture the glorious appreciation of billions of fans. The World Cup for soccer is on at the moment and its inspiration for billions is there for all to see. Running fast, coordinating rapid movements and scoring goals thrills fans to an amazing degree. The glorious game is a description long applied to football. Although not really a contact sport in the full application of that defining adjective, soccer still falls foul of brain injury problems in its call for ‘heading’ the ball. This action has been shown to result in conditions like CTE, especially after a lengthy career of practising such skills. Professionalism demands full time coaching of players in all the necessary skills demanded by the game. Parents and young players themselves will now have to weigh up the odds of the likelihood of developing a deadly brain disease as a result of their football careers or stints of playing these contact sports.

What Are The Odds Of Getting CTE?

If 33 cases of CTE have been found so far, it is highly likely that the actual figure is far higher. How much higher? Ten times that? I mean, hundreds of thousands of young men have played football over recent decades. And now, young women are playing the football codes as well. Even if we are talking about hundreds of players having developed CTE it is still a small percentage in comparison to the popularity of these games at amateur and professional levels. Of course, that is no relief for those who have developed the condition and their families and friends. The AFL has spent the last decade or so banning football acts causing head knocks during games. Bumps, tackles and rough play causing head knocks and concussion are now penalised via suspensions. Unfortunately, in a contact sport like AFL it is almost impossible to outlaw these instances out of the game. Accidents do happen in a sport which thrives on collisions. An example of this is that it is still legal for a player to knee an opposing player in the back of the head in a marking contest. Indeed, the high marking feat is an admired icon of the game of AFL. Fans of the sport would spit the dummy if this too was banned by the officials running the game. You can see the conundrum that a contact sport finds itself in when attempting to solve this brain health crisis facing its much beloved game. The reality is that caveman sports have no place in a healthy life.

To Play Or Not Play, That Is The Question

So, young people and their parents are going to have to weigh up the odds, as to whether the risk is worth it. The chance of a glorious life endowed with riches versus a debilitating and deadly brain condition. Do you feel lucky, punk? Unfortunately, as with most things in life there are no guarantees either way. I will mention that I personally used to play footy as a junior, as I am sure many did. At one point in time, I remember playing for 3 different sides, which meant training and playing every day of the week for a couple of hours – I loved it. I was a solid lad and, therefore, played for an adult amateur team in addition to a couple of junior sides in different competitions.

My admission here is about conveying that I know what it is like to love playing footy and how making a potentially more healthy choice to opt out completely would be a tough one to make.

The Death Knell For Caveman Sports

Can the game of AFL be sanitised enough to make it safe from developing CTE or some other form of brain disease? In my view it seems unlikely. A contact sport is all about that physical contact. I suppose turning the game into touch footy, where tackles are a thing of the past, may be the fate of AFL but that will be a huge shift to make. If caveman sports have no place in a healthy life this may well be the only future for contact sports. Perhaps, this falls into the same category of other unhealthy pastimes and habits like smoking and boozing. Do we let each individual make their own call on such lifestyle choices or do we outlaw them on their behalf in their best interests? The former position is only tenable if each individual truly understands the health risks they face via their behaviour. Addiction rears its ugly head here and we all know how addictive nicotine and alcohol are. Playing footy can be pretty addictive too in the way it makes you feel. The intensity of crashing and bashing about at high speeds is exhilarating on the footy field. Perhaps, it can be tempered by modified rules, as the AFL is attempting to do right now? It will be interesting to see what emerges in the long run.

Soft Swans Fail In Contact Sport Contest

“The Swans are soft. You cannot rely on them to turn up when the going gets tough. Jake Lloyd was brushed aside by Cam Rayner so often he must have thought that he had died and come back as a  curtain. Harry Cunningham was so busy trying to body Charlie Cameron he forgot to go for the ball. If he didn’t hate John Denver before, he sure does now. The Sydney defence was never up with their opposing forwards and paid the price on the score board.”

- (https://wordsforweb.com.au/sydney-swans-flop-off-the-bye-at-the-gabba/)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©WordsForWeb

[sublimeobservationarcade]

The Sydney Swans’ Downhill Skiers

The accusations are coming quick and hot – ‘they can’t win the premiership!’ ‘Swans just not good enough!’ The Sydney Swans’ downhill skiers. Too many players running ahead looking for the easy option rather than winning contests. For the first 7 games of the 2026 season Sydney had this aggressive forward handpassing, which was tearing opposition sides apart. Now, according to the loud mouthed ‘so-called’ experts, those opposing teams have worked out how to stop the juggernaut. The Sydney Swans have struggled to beat ordinary AFL sides of late and are losing to the real contenders, Hawthorn, Geelong and Brisbane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=006RymnwLI8

What Is A Downhill Skier In AFL Terms?

A player who feasts on the outside opportunities when the offensive plays are happening but shirks the defensive contest. Sydney are the hunted and they need to become the hunters, if they are going to get back in this thing for real. The entire team needs to rediscover what applying physical pressure to the opposition really means. Winning the ball in disputed contests all over the ground. Running in packs and hunting down the oppo. Not looking for the easy ball all the time. The Sydney Swans’ downhill skiers need to put away the poles and get back to basics. Two way running until you bust a gut and win the contest.

https://www.sydneyswans.com.au/news/2050478/the-2026-season-so-far

Sydney Swans Must Hunt The Oppo

It all starts in the middle. The centre ball up and the ruck/midfield. I have observed that good, hard teams like Hawthorn and Geelong disrupt their oppo midfielders at ball ups. They put hands in to disrupt handpasses to spoil chains of attack. Continually you see this disruption breaking midfield possession around the ground. How many times have I seen the Swan’s handpass game get destroyed by this from Geelong, Brisbane and Hawthorn? Too many. Physical pressure piles up on the Swans’ players and they cough it up. Sydney must fight and scrap, again and again, as repeated efforts are required to get the job done. Rowbottom, Sheldrick, Heeney and Warner have to grind away and disrupt. The hunted must become the hunters!

https://afltables.com/afl/stats/teams/swans/2026_gbg.html

Downhill Skiing Won’t Win Premierships

You are not going to win a premiership via downhill skiing. Pretty chains of handball are not going to get it done against the best. Back in the Paul Roos era, it was said that the Swans had a blue collar midfield. What did the pundits mean by this? That we had grinders, blokes not afraid to roll up their sleeves and dig deep to get the job done. What was the job? Winning the bloody contest. These days, the Swans have vastly more talented players wearing the red and white but they lack a bit of heart. We had an Ablett back then, not the most talented in that family but a blue collar guy tough as nails. Josh Kennedy was in there and grinding away. Kieran Jack and Brett Kirk too – enough said about hard men toiling away. That 2005 premiership against West Coast pitted this mob against a much more skilled side but blue collar grunt prevailed. 2012 was a similar story against a more fancied Hawthorn team, that would go on to win 3 flags in a row. We are missing that stuff from the current lot.

https://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/L/Luke_Ablett.html

Ineffective Tackles Too Often From Sydney’s Downhill Skiers

Broken tackles brushed aside by tackling players like Jake Lloyd, Riley Bice, Caiden Cleary and half the bloody side. Poor tackling technique has plagued this team for too long. Hard and low, not high and armsy. It speaks of a lack of commitment. Too soft. Sydney must become the hunters, right now they are the hunted. How many free kicks did Swans players give away to Brisbane because of poor tackling technique? Too many.

https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_player_rankings?year=1979&rt=LT&st=TA

Reviewing The Swans AFL Players

I will start with the captain, Callum Mills, in my opinion he isn’t playing good enough football. His disposal is too often ordinary and he aint winning enough contests. Leading the side is more than talking the talk. We need more from this fella. Tackling Efficiency (TE) rating 6.

Joel Amartey (TE5) and Logan McDonald (TE5) are too unreliable as forwards. Neither of them win enough genuine contests. Amartey is injured again and out for another long block of games – this must be tough for him. However, it is time for them to grow up and pull their weight every bloody week when they are fit enough to play.

Chad Warner has found some form at last and looks in scintillating shape right now. He needs more support from his team mates. TE7 https://www.afl.com.au/stats/compare?playerOneId=CD_I1012014&playerTwoId=CD_I1023261

Charlie Curnow is looking real good too, after taking some time to find his feet. Go Charlie! TE6

Isaac Heeney is rolled gold, star material and hard as nails with it. He cannot do it alone and is getting sat on most weeks now, because oppos have worked out that if you stop Heeney you go a long way to beating Sydney. TE9

Brodie Grundy has been enormous for a couple of seasons now. I hope the big fella can keep it up. He is the champion ruckman the Swans have wanted and required for years. More power to the number 4. He needs to take more marks around the ground, however, Swans are ranked last for marks in the competition. TE8

James Jordan has been a wonderful addition to Sydney and I hope he can re-find his very best form going forward. TE8

Nick Blakey is up there with the absolute best players in this highly talented team. The Lizard is another that oppos try to stop. I hope he can get back to the scintillating form of a few weeks ago. TE6

James Rowbottom is the tackling machine and heart and soul player of the Swans. We need more like him. Grunt and blue collar in a 21C way. TE9

Errol Gulden has been missing for much of two seasons and that is no accident. The very best cop the most attention, whether that be fair or not. The team needs to look after this talented gut runner and playmaker. Make it their responsibility not to let him get smashed again. The Swans must become the hunters! TE5

Justin McInerney is injured and out for a number of weeks, alas. His best season so far and we will miss his corridor possessions and goals. TE5

Tom McCartin is our most talented defender but due to concussion proneness he has the equivalent of a glass jaw in boxing terms. What to say? We all wish him well but he is a vulnerability in hard AFL contests. TE7

Will Edwards has played a handful of games but looks like our next big man defender. Can we build a defence around him? He looks the goods, but is he ready for finals this season? TE6

Lewis Melican is injury prone and a B+ AFL player. But good teams need good B graders too. TE5

Jai Serong has been a great addition to the ranks this year. Playing wing and half back he has added an aerial prowess sorely missing at the Swans. TE6

Harry Cunningham has been a good servant of the club for many years. Getting to the end now. TE6

Jake Lloyd has rung every bit of AFL talent out of his slight form over many seasons. Time waits for no man, however. TE4

Tom Papley has been a fire starter for the Sydney Swans over the journey. Great goal sneak and burst player in the middle. Tom is injured once more and we miss his presence. TE6

Malcolm Rosas a good first half of the season, but has gone ice cold of late. We need him to fire up again in his debut year.  TE5

Riley Bice is patchy and inconsistent. Lacks defensive skills and/or application. Can be damaging offensively but a worry as a defender. TE3

Hayden McClean, the big man will get his chance now that Amartey has gone down with an Achilles injury.  Seize it son and make us proud! TE6

Matt Roberts needs to rediscover his best form from earlier in the season. Winning contests is vital. Become the hunter! TE6

Angus Sheldrick is coming on and is tough too. Keep it up Gus! TE7

Braeden Campbell we miss you! Get well real soon and I look forward to seeing you out there. TE5

Dane Rampe has been out injured for some time and is reaching the end of his great footy career. He will be hard to replace. TE6

There are plenty of fringe players who have made cameo appearances this year. Bits of great play mixed in with mediocrity. Young players, obviously, have to find their feet. All of them could be better if they play like their lives depend upon it. Winning big games comes from team effort. Winning contests and supporting your team mates out there. Don’t play scared and tackle like you mean it. Disrupt the oppo by getting a hand in legally. Knocking the ball out when you tackle is a good technique to master. Become the hunter and stop being the hunted. The Sydney Swans’ downhill skiers no more, please. Premierships are not handed out, you have to knock the other bloke down and take it. It takes blue collar grit and guts. Do you have it? Do you? What about you son?

Will Sydney Become The Hunters in the 2nd Half of Season 2026?

Can Dean Cox get his team to go after their opposition and dominate contests once more? Or are there just too many downhill skiers in this Sydney side? We will all have to stay tuned to find out.

Getting Lectured To By AFL ‘Experts’

“It is pretty tough watching football in the age of armchair experts. There are so many paid pundits commentating during AFL matches broadcast on Fox Footy that judgements fly faster than the Sherrin. Back in the day, commentators actually used to call the game. These days, critical analysis fill the watcher’s cup to overflowing. Ex-players paid to blow their trumpeted expert opinions fill the air waves. To be honest, this type of commentary sucks the joy out of footy. I don’t want to hear why every player and team are not playing perfect footy. I want to feel the excitement of the game.”

- (https://www.golfdom.com.au/watching-the-football-in-the-age-of-armchair-experts/)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©GolfDom

[sublimeobservationarcade]

Sydney Swans Flop Off The Bye At The Gabba

The Sydney Swans flop off the bye at the Gabba under fierce Lion’s pressure. Personally, I hate the bye and always have as a Swan’s fan. Too many times the team fails to fire after a week off. The Swans looked soft on this Thursday night featured contest with last year’s premiers. Brody Grundy gifted Brisbane goal scoring opportunities out of the centre 4 times on the night. These free kicks for crossing the line at the ball up are huge penalties to pay for this indiscretion, especially when advantage is taken and opposing players steal out the front of the centre square toward their goal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=006RymnwLI8

AFL Sydney Swan’s Dive Against Brisbane

Grundy was not alone in gifting goals to the opposition. Riley Bice twice kicked short straight to a Brisbane Lion directly in front of their goal and they did the right thing by Riley by kicking truly. These indiscretions alone cost some 6 goals, when all was said and done. These couple of Swans were not on their lonesome when it came to being mentally unprepared for the intensity of the contest. Caiden Cleary was out of his depth and rarely won a contested ball. Why he was playing and Matt Roberts was omitted, I don’t know. Tom McCartin was off the pace in the first half and copped another head knock in the second half.

“CHRIS Fagan said Brisbane had prioritised defence over its mid-season break and the two-time premiers put it on full display in a statement 43-point win over Sydney at the Gabba on Thursday night.”

- (https://www.afl.com.au/news/1547178/resurgent-brisbane-lions-run-riot-against-pacesetting-sydney-swans) Gabba No Contest From Weak Swans

Time after time during the match the Swans would gift the ball to the opposition seemingly unable to cope with the physical pressure of the Lions. Let me tell you, watching this mismatch was no fun for a Sydney supporter. Chains of Swan’s possession would culminate in handpasses to no one and Brisbane would regain the pill and go down the other end and score. Defensive pressure is useless if your players are all several steps off the pace. Most of the team seemed to be still on holiday. Grundy was half the player he had been earlier in the season. Heeney was trying but fairly ineffective by his high standards. Rowbottom was hard at it but there were not enough of him. The Sydney Swans flop off the bye at the Gabba under fierce pressure from Brisbane.

Chad Warner Lone Light On Tough Night

Chad Warner was the standout Swan doing uplifting things and kicking goals. Charlie Curnow was Sydney’s best player in the first half and tried hard all night. Jai Serong was off the boil compared to his previous efforts in 2026. Logan McDonald and Joel Amartey were woeful up forward. I worry about these guys and wonder when they are going to grow up and become reliable players every week.

Ruck & Midfield Capitulation By Swans To Lions

It was around the ball and out of the centre that the Swans were destroyed by Brisbane all night. Our rucks were ineffective and well beaten and our midfield piss ordinary. Did they think that the return of Errol Gulden was going to magically lift them over the line? Errol played like someone who hadn’t played for 14 weeks. He is not the messiah, just a talented footballer who has missed a lot of football. Angus Sheldrick tried hard all night and never gave up. Chad Warner was our best in the centre but played a lone hand in winning contests. If 16 out of your 23 are getting beaten it is tough on the handful left. It was a very poor effort up against a side that got better and better as the evening progressed.

Swans Are Soft

The Swans are soft. You cannot rely on them to turn up when the going gets tough. Jake Lloyd was brushed aside by Cam Rainer so often he must have thought that he had died and come back as a  curtain. Harry Cunningham was so busy trying to body Charlie Cameron he forgot to go for the ball.

If he didn’t hate John Denver before, he sure does now.

The Sydney defence was never up with their opposing forwards and paid the price on the score board.

Sydney Crap At Tackling

Half the Swan’s team needs to learn how to tackle. Pissweak broken tackles and giving away countless free kicks to the opposition was the result on the night. You have to go hard and low, not high and soft. I wonder about the coaches at the Swans. Good people, but are they hard enough? Simon Goodwin talks too much about love for me, I mean WTF? This is a football team not the love boat. Where is the mongrel factor? Where is playing on the edge? Hawthorn, Geelong and now, Brisbane have brushed the Swans aside when it mattered.

The Mysterious Art Of Coaching

“In contravention of the AFL media’s obsession with star players, the art of coaching demands so much more than a roster of stars. Indeed, the mysteries of coaching AFL are on display for all to see throughout the season. Why is one team so good and another side so bad? The talking heads would like to make it all about the talent of the players in each squad but that is decidedly not the exclusive reason for success. In truth, the athletes playing AFL at this level are all very good, which is why they ended up on a playing list at an AFL club. Most of these young men have been playing footy for much of their short lives. They are remarkably talented with ball skills and have honed their physical endurance in readiness for the big leap to AFL standard.”

- (https://wordsforweb.com.au/the-mysteries-of-coaching-afl/)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©WordsForWeb

[sublimeobservationarcade]

Start Asking Some Hard Questions

You know there are a lot of people who just use technology without questioning its provenance. The smart phone and those apps become their new normal. Well, ‘stupid is as stupid does’, to quote a great philosopher. Big Tech is American, social media is an American invention and American billionaires own it and control it. AI, those chat bots, are not neutral machines but have settings defined by their controllers. The information you are getting is formulated via these powers that be. You really need to ask yourself what kind of human being are you? Are you some dumb pack animal doing what you are told or are you a man or a woman? It is time to get out of your economic lane and start asking some hard questions.

Questioning America

Most folk know that the world, as we knew it, is changing. America elected for the second time a president, hardly worthy of the title. Trump is a crook, a misogynist, a racist, and incompetent at most things apart from bullying and ripping people off. The leader of the so-called ‘free world’ is a runaway train heading for destruction and he will take plenty of us with him. Perhaps, you are a fan of the manosphere and see Trump as your UFC loving champion. Well, I hope you hold tight and go down with his ship to the very bottom of the sea. The rest of us need to start asking some hard questions.

Asking Are You Australian Or American?

Returning to the realm of that small screen you spend ten hours or more a day staring into. Most of the content you watch is American. Doom scrolling is an American term. The world is infected with a nihilistic culture, which has its roots in slavery, segregation and apartheid. For decades, the global population has been fed American celebrity culture, which is like lipstick on a pig. Gloss and glamour painted over greed, inequality and shallow materialism. Now, we have the Elon Musk’s, the Zuckerberg’s and Bezos’ drip feeding the planet every minute with subscription based deals for more sick product.

American Billionaires Messing With Us All

Many around the world think that they are American, despite not geographically living anywhere near the place. They drink its sweetly sick bourbon and coke, watch its sport and entertainment and doom scroll down into its imagined dystopian future. American billionaires mess with their minds on social media and meddle in their politics via their riches. Stoking anti-immigration fervour, as they have done within their own borders. Funding racists and neo-Nazi groups around the globe to stir up trouble and fuck with social cohesion. Fascist technolords like Musk and Peter Thiel plot the death of democracy, whilst weak governments look on. We need to start asking some hard questions.

One Nation Fakery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVaRyKhKesE

In Australia, we are discovering that the sudden popularity of One Nation is not some weird organic thing but rather has been force fed via a funded avalanche of AI fake news crafted in Vietnam. Some billionaires fingerprints will be on this digital tranche of lies about Pauline Hanson filtering into Facebook feeds. Hundreds of positive fake news stories as ringing endorsement of the xenophobic, red headed One Nation leader have made their way into the lives of ordinary Australians. Plenty of people dumb enough to gobble this stuff up unquestioningly, it seems. In an environment, where many already think themselves American the whole anti-immigration hate wave will raise them up. Weak individuals like to stand on the backs of beaten down others. Punching down is a favourite sport among the too pissed to think properly. Digital manipulation is no longer reserved for Photoshop, not in the age of AI. The scams are not all about money online, they can defraud your point of view too. If you believe everything you see on your screens you are a bigger fool than I thought.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c5E5UKBYHg

“They’re part of a trove of Facebook posts created by overseas-based accounts that ABC NEWS Verify has examined in detail.

The posts use a mix of AI-generated and genuine images combined with compelling but completely fake stories.

They’ve attracted hundreds of thousands of likes, comments and shares — many from very real Australian voters who appear to believe the fake news they are being served.”

- (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-11/foreign-fake-news-pauline-hanson-one-nation/106436702) Time To Move Beyond The Pub Test

In Australia, we have this expression about things not passing the pub test. Well, it is a pretty low bar when those judging are pissed at the pub. It says a lot about these Australians and how stupid they are. Jumping on the One Nation bandwagon, a convoy of racists, white supremacists and whinging losers. Blaming others for your problems is not a trait I endorse or want to join any group who hold that up as their reason for existing. Go and live in Trumpland and leave the rest of us to enjoy Australia. The rest of us need to start asking some hard questions.

Billionaires Directing Populism Via Their Money

“Populism of the Far Right variety is not some natural occurrence or trend happening at the moment. It is an artificially fed and funded campaign coming from the United States and billionaire money. Reform in the UK and its various eco system components like GB News have received around 200 million pounds over the last 5 years from US and overseas sources. Billionaires funding the Far Right. The social media echo chamber with hugely popular accounts on X and Facebook promoting these populist themes are not UK based accounts but can be traced back to America. Mining the politics of grievance is being done with a military like precision and strategy.”

- (https://www.golfdom.com.au/billionaires-funding-the-far-right/)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©GolfDom

[sublimeobservationarcade]

The Idealisation Of The Past Is A Never Land

You know a lot of the apparent support for One Nation comes from older white Australians. Pauline Hanson and her campaign machine promote the idea that things were better back in the day. This right wing idealisation of the past, of there being some sort of golden age, is nothing new. Fascists in Hitler’s era promoted the concept of the pure German who lived during a bucolic time of yesteryear. Romanticising the past appeals to older folk especially. Contrasting it with the present and focusing on negative stuff like urban crime and demonising special interest groups plays well with this audience. Hitler and the Nazis attacked the immorality of the Weimar Republic, which won them electoral support from conservate Germans. Pauline Hanson attacks Muslims, refugees and immigrants, as all things bad for Australia. The idealisation of the past is a never land, in that it never really existed the way they say it did.

One Nation & Its Idealised Monoculture

Hanson’s call for a return to a monoculture, as some sort of remediation for multiculturalism, is extraordinary in itself. The One Nation leader has been decrying the dangers of the wrong sort of immigration into Australia for 30 years. First, it was all Asians and, more recently, it is all Muslims. In truth, a hegemonic monoculture has always existed downunder. The Anglo roots of colonialist Australia have long been favoured culturally in a hierarchical sense. Pauline Hanson has spent decades claiming victimhood status for herself and those she supposedly represents. In actual fact, Hanson is now worth millions and boasts backing from billionaires and oligarchs. Her claim to represent the little Aussie battler is a sham, as it is the bosses rather than Australian workers who have benefitted from her parliamentary voting record over the duration. The proof is in the pudding and Pauline’s is a rich one.

White Supremacy & An Idealised Past

I meet quite a few of Ms Hanson’s supporters in my day to day existence. Living in Queensland, in a semi-regional area, this is par for the course. In discussion with a few of them, I invariably here the opening refrain, “I’m not a racist” before they go on to say something like, “why can’t we herd them all (refugees) into the desert?” Or some other racist remark. A lot of Australians really have no idea what racism is! One Nation’s support is strongest in regional areas where very few immigrants actually live. It is easier to believe bad stuff about those you have no real experience of. Thus, the far right demonising of ‘others’ is effective. Blame your woes on foreigners. Blame your troubles on the LGBTQI community. Blame stuff on lazy Indigenous folk. Blame it on the dole bludger, which led to the Robodebt betrayal of 500, 000 Australians by the Coalition federal government. Division and disunity is the name of the game for these right wing hate campaigns.

Aussies Scammed Online

Older Australians are vulnerable to online campaigns as well. Most folk have no real conception of how the internet works, they just use it and consume stuff from it. Too many have a few drinks and go online, this is a very bad idea. Aussies have lost tens of billions to scammers online in the last decade alone. It is not just money, however, being scammed. Social media is an American invention and is largely controlled by US billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Musk and his ilk are busy promoting and funding far right groups around the globe. Uneducated Aussies getting their news from Facebook, X and the like are ripe for disinformation and misinformation. Far right extremists have infected us with Sovereign Citizen bullshit, which has cost the lives of police officers in Victoria. American Chistian cults have likewise poisoned the minds of Australians resulting in more cop killing in Queensland. We do not hear Pauline Hanson referring to these acts of terrorism.  The spread of lies and extremist BS via the internet is as a result of the absence of regulation in the US covering digital media. Trump continues this right wing support for further deregulation, so that billionaires can make even more money unhampered by any guardrails. Pauline Hanson has expressed her enthusiastic support of Donald Trump. Indeed, she is modelling her campaign on the Trump way of doing things. Abusing and insulting female journalists, as if she has some right to avoid scrutiny. Hanson and One Nation receive lots of public money and are accountable on that basis alone. Politicians are required to answer questions about their policies and how they go about their business.

Far Right Never Land News

Fox News and Sky News Australia are both Murdoch platforms feeding the far right. Objective news is rarer than Tasmanian tigers in this News Corp realm. Commentators on these platforms frequently attack the ABC for bias. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. The ABC is a paragon of objectivity in comparison to what passes for news in this right wing echo chamber. Interestingly, this is another Trump technique, which is to accuse your opposite of the very things you are doing yourself. Wife beaters often do this in domestic violence relationships. Donald Trump never admits failure or responsibility, never apologises, and is always on the attack, accusing the other of his own crimes. The right wing audience for these platforms eats up this unbalanced fare like Maccas home delivered. They are continuously blaming the other for everything and taking no responsibility for where they find themselves. This is the One Nation paradigm. The shame is that in regard to the ABC, the national broadcaster is always trying to educate its audience, whereas this right wing distortion of the news is not. We have seen a dumbing down of the world via the extreme polarisation of the news as entertainment. The news used to be boring but at least it had a basis of factuality – not anymore on Fox.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMHm9EzrobY

The idealisation of the past is a never land, in that it never really existed the way they say it did. You can never go back in time. Albert Einstein told us that. Imaginings of the past are just that, imaginings. Do you really want to go back to a time when you couldn’t get a decent cup of coffee in most places around Australia? Back to a white bread Australia? Hey, just come to Queensland. Pauline Hanson told us, in her speech at the National Press Club, that we live in a multiracial society. That 51.5% of us were either born somewhere else or our parents were. However, despite this, according to her, we must be a monoculture downunder. WTF? Now, Pauline is not the smartest of us, I mean, she struggles with the English language at the best of times. Does she want Australia to be filled with people like her or who have to act like her? Is mediocrity the new black? Is whinging about foreigners the defining element of this monoculture? Bagging stuff we don’t understand? Is that the solution for a better Australia? Mmm, I don’t know, it sounds suspicious to me.

One Nation Means Assimilation

“Whilst watching a documentary about Nazism and fascism in America back in the 1930s, my ears were pricked by the repeated expressions ‘ make America great’ and ‘one nation’! The modern day use of these terms as names and tag lines are by no means accidental. The white supremacist beliefs and racism, which lie at the base of MAGA and One Nation, in the US and Australia respectively, are the foundation of these movements and political parties. If you have read DH Lawrence’s book Kangaroo or seen the movie based upon it, you will know that Australia was not immune from the rise of fascism post WW1.”

- (https://wordsforweb.com.au/white-supremacist-beliefs-racism/)

“On 31 August 2025 members of the National Socialist Network and various white supremacy groups participated in March for Australia anti-immigration rallies in Australian capital cities. National Socialist Network leader and known Neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell, along with various other far-right figures addressed protestors in all major cities calling for an end to immigration in the country. “

- (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-right_politics_in_Australia)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©WordsForWeb

[sublimeobservationarcade]

Pauline Hanson

These are the things that Pauline Hanson said at her National Press Club speech recently.

Australian workers are lazy! Always on their phones rather than working. No more pay rises for them under One Nation. No paid parental leave for any workers, either.

51.5% of the Australian population were either not born here or their parents weren’t. Despite this, Pauline Hanson wants an end to multiculturalism and a return to a white, Anglo-monoculture. Talk about pipe dreams in a population of 28 million Australians. This is neither feasible or realistic. In line with this, Hanson wants an end to SBS and the ABC, as government funded entities. The white supremacist racist wants to cancel any media in opposition to her reactionary agenda. A vote for One Nation means her way or the highway.

“She almost exclusively used trusted outlets – trusted not to be hostile – such as Sky News programs, particularly those on “Sky After Dark” . Through them, and fellow travellers in newspapers, she spread the “I’ve Had A Gutful” message and demanded a homogenised Australia.”

- (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2026/jun/20/pauline-hanson-one-nation-media-attacks-press-control-ntwnfb)

The Puppeteer Pulling Pauline Hanson’s Strings

Pauline Hanson and her party are being funded by the wealthy, Gina Rinehart and the billionaire oligarchy. She does not represent workers but the bosses. Her sketchy policies, she has no tax policy at this juncture, are those approved by the rich donors backing her. The gas policy outlined by Pauline would favour Gina Rinehart whose companies have plans to extract gas in the near future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psRYiz1U0kc Populism & Pauline Hanson

Why is Pauline Hanson and her One Nation suddenly so popular? Donald Trump is the answer. Trump has upset the world order and this has caused anxiety in many Australians. Pauline Hanson in her strident politics of grievance appears to be a strong leader with simple solutions. Adolf Hitler in pre-war Germany became popular on the same basis, attacking migrants, communists and Jews. In Pauline’s case it is Muslims. Hanson has said there are no good Muslims. Authoritarian leaders like Trump and Hanson appeal to frightened little people who want to lash out and blame others for their predicament. Blame it on the refugee and immigrant. Blame it on the LGBTQI community. Blame it on greenies. Blame it on women. Blame it on the Indigenous. All of these groups cop it from far right politicians like Pauline Hanson. Populist racism is on the rise downunder. Nazis are booing at ANZAC Day ceremonies. Flag waving One Nation types are marching against diversity and multiculturalism.

The Protest Vote & Pauline’s One Nation

People are looking to make a protest vote to hopefully pull down the institutional edifice they have lost confidence in. However, as we have seen in Trumpland, all you are doing is exchanging a worse bunch of crooks in the swamp. Right wing types are more extreme in every sense, including their criminality. Why do you think Hanson has banned the ABC from her press conferences. Like Donald Trump she wants no challenging questions from investigative journalists. Authoritarians hate to be questioned about their activities. Pauline Hanson loves Trump and is following his playbook for power. The Donald Trump experiment in America has put clowns and crooks in charge of that superpower. The resulting wars, tariffs, extreme deportation immigration policy and media censorship have made the US a danger to itself and others. The dumbest move that Australia could make would be to follow suit by backing Pauline Hanson into power.

Trump Has Damaged Things

The presence of Donald Trump in the halls of power has lowered the bar in terms of standards. Trump is a grifter, a conman, someone who fakes confidence to give the impression he knows what he is doing. The US economy and where it is heading tells a different story. Inflation rising and affordability issues for the average American are a real challenge. The blatant corruption being undertaken by the Trump family and his associates is gobsmacking. Australians are paying more for their petrol and diesel because of Trump’s foolish war with Iran. Tariffs are being imposed upon Australia despite our balance of trade being favourable to the US. Putting Pauline Hanson, who knows nothing about governing or macroeconomics, in charge of the country would be a disaster. Compounding the uncertainty and chaos we see occurring in Trumpland and its effects upon the global economy.  We do not want stupid and nasty people running the nation.

Far Right News Distorting Facts

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation is popular with older white Australians living in regional and outer suburban areas. Many of these voters are retirees or on the cusp of that transition. Many of them did not finish secondary school or attend university. They probably watch Fox News or Sky News Australia, the virulently biased Murdoch platforms, which distort everything to the far right. They have been conditioned to switch off the ABC and accuse it of bias, when in fact the ABC is the only objective news platform in the country. The right wing media promotes an anti-woke agenda by frequently exaggerating instances of perceived political correctness. Beat up stories about gender reassignment are favourites to outrage viewers. The truth is that these occurrences are less than a handful out of a population of 28 million Australians. The News Corp motto is don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story. Social media is, of course, an American invention and controlled by the billionaire oligarchy over there. Elon Musk and X, formerly known as Twitter. Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook and Instagram. Now, Tik Tok has been taken over by the oligarchy in America as well. Big Tech backs Trump, as we have all seen in recent times. Controlling the media is part of the authoritarian push in the US. The online support for Reform in the UK and One Nation downunder are not accidental things but orchestrated campaigns by right wing concerns funded by billionaires. This whole protest vote movement thing is another beat up. Uneducated folk are vulnerable to this stuff because they have no idea how the internet actually works - they just use it and consume stuff on it.

If I asked the average person how the web and search engines function they would be hard pressed to provide cogent answers to my questions, especially anyone over the age of 50.

Summing Up

Pauline Hanson makes a speech to the National Press Club and accuses Australian workers of being lazy and underserving of any pay rise or parental leave. This in an economic time of rising inflation, thanks to Trump. She proclaims her desire to turn Australia into a monoculture of people like herself. This despite 51.5% of the nation’s population being migrants or the children of migrants. What does that mean? She and Barnaby Joyce are against multiculturalism. Australia is often held up as a multicultural success story. Politicians promoting the politics of grievance always talk their country down. They exaggerate issues to help themselves get elected. Trump did it all the time. Pauline Hanson hates the ABC and SBS, apparently. Hanson wants them defunded and has banned the ABC from her press conferences. In actual fact, the ABC is one of best things about Australia and we are lucky to have such an objective news platform, when the opposite flourishes elsewhere. Investigative journalism only really exists in places like the ABC, where private ownership does not impinge upon journalistic integrity. America does not have a well-funded public broadcaster and Trump is defunding PBS as we speak.

Hanson is a Trump supporter and will follow his playbook.

Fiction Fuels American Politics

“OK, then, returning to the here and now. Many of us around the place are watching screens for more than 10 hours per day. Much of the material on display is fictional. Is it any wonder that a good number of folk do not know the difference between fact and fiction. Indeed, what they have been served up by their leaders as fact has often been lies or fictions. President Trump was a celebrity TV star who played a fictional billionaire. He, then, took that persona or character to the polls and won the presidency back in 2016. America is a nation where everything important is classified top secret and the populace is kept out of the loop. Hundreds of millions of Americans get their understanding via the alternative universe of popular culture – streaming services, cable TV and the internet. A sizable chunk of the population believe in aliens, UFOs and conspiracy theories about everything under the sun. Voting is not compulsory in the United States, therefore, only two thirds of the adult population votes. This speaks of voter disengagement on political matters. A showman like Trump garners more attention than serious types, especially as Trump lies about most everything. Americans not really tuned in may well accept at face value what President Trump or candidate Trump tells them. Humanity is not primarily interested in truth or factuality. Most people prefer a good story.”

- (https://www.midasword.com.au/humanity-is-not-primarily-interested-in-truth-or-factuality/)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©MidasWord

[sublimeobservationarcade]

Trump’s Reflecting Pool Reality As Metaphor

It is hard to imagine a better symbol or analogy for Trump’s presidency than the mess with the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in Washington DC. Trump’s reflecting pool reality as metaphor captures the crud and corruption at bottom of his presidency. Immorality and base greed stink like the sludge in this body of water, which is supposed to be pristine. Criminals cannot create anything pure enough to reflect back at them anything other than their own dirty concerns. Crooks trying to pretend to be statesmen. Grifters claiming to be those who can walk on water. Trump 2.0 is sinking into another ripe mess, just like his first attempt at the presidency. Donald Trump has built a swamp in the Capital.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLGxbjFlMbo

Donald Trump & His Dirty Reflective Pool

“ Donald Trump’s $14.2m attempt to turn the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool from what the US president described as a “filthy” and “dirty” site into a “beautiful” monument has encountered a hitch.

The water is green again.”

- (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/16/algae-trump-lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool)

Abraham Lincoln and Donald Trump are poles apart on any criterion you can think about. Perhaps, the ghost of Lincoln does not want such a crook to mess about with the symbol allocated to possibly America’s greatest president. Integrity versus criminality. Real versus reality TV. The union’s hero versus the biggest liar the top job has ever seen. More than 600, 000 Americans lost their lives in the Civil War. It is hard to even imagine someone of the piss poor calibre of Trump being in that position.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5ZvsQMQJ_c Green Reflecting Pool Reflective Of Trump’s Envy

Trump is probably green with envy of real statesmen like Lincoln and Obama. Thus, the reflecting pool water has turned green. Trump’s reflecting pool reality as metaphor captures the actual nature of these times. No mere algae but envy writ large upon the waters.

“Patrick Hicks, a Florida resident who visited the pool on Monday, told the Associated Press he was relieved to find it green.

"I think it's an impossible task, having a pool myself," he said. "I know what it takes and what an environmental wreck it is to keep dumping those chemicals in the water to keep it blue."

The Reflecting Pool measures about 600 metres in length and 50 metres in width. 

"Honestly, I don't think you can fight Mother Nature," Mr Hicks said. "Anytime you have an environment that big, it's like cleaning a lake." “

- (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-16/washington-reflecting-pool-green-after-costly-renovation/106803796)

Faking stuff is the Trump way. Lying about everything and accusing others of fake news is the poisonous methodology of Donald Trump. I have long said that if you cannot trust your leader, as a nation, you are f*****!

America’s Fondness For Liars

“Americans prefer lies to the truth. How do I know this? They elected President Donald Trump. A greater exponent of the lie cannot be found. A bigger liar I do not know. Trump lies as often as he breathes, it seems. Imagine being Donald Trump’s parents. Sorry, I know that is a horrifying thought. But bear with me for a moment. Have a think about what it must have been like to have a son who constantly told mistruths. Of course, he later became a celebrity pay TV star, who lied about being a billionaire. His whole life has been one great big lie, underscored by millions of little lies.”

- (https://www.housetherapy.com.au/americans-prefer-lies-to-the-truth/)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©HouseTherapy

[sublimeobservationarcade]

White Supremacist Beliefs & Racism

Whilst watching a documentary about Nazism and fascism in America back in the 1930s, my ears were pricked by the repeated expressions ‘ make America great’ and ‘one nation’! The modern day use of these terms as names and tag lines are by no means accidental. The white supremacist beliefs and racism, which lie at the base of MAGA and One Nation, in the US and Australia respectively, are the foundation of these movements and political parties. If you have read DH Lawrence’s book Kangaroo or seen the movie based upon it, you will know that Australia was not immune from the rise of fascism post WW1.

“The book will disturb some readers for good reasons. The description of racism, antisemitism, the whitewash on Aboriginal histories, the overblown masculinity matched with the sympathetic-but-disempowered feminism, the strange conflations of Nietzsche, Freud, and Jung, in British Christian thought, all is there in the now-lost landscape of 1920s Australia, or at least 1920s Central-South region of New South Wales. The book is disturbing for those who know the history, as much as for those who do not”

- (https://drnevillebuch.com/blog/d-h-lawrences-kangaroo-1923-one-hundred-years-on-questioning-social-philosophy-and-policy-for-today/)

The Anglo-settler colonialism, which founded Australia and many parts of the United States, contained fierce xenophobic tendencies and these have been handed down through the generations, as traditions often are. Eugenics attempted to paint these racist views with pseudo-scientific credibility in the 20C. Hitler’s Nazis looked to the United States for ideas about eugenics and apartheid in the 1920s and 30s.

“Xenophobia (from Ancient Greek ξένος (xénos) 'strange, foreign, or alien' and φόβος (phóbos) 'fear') is the fear or dislike of people who are perceived as being foreign or strange.”

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophobia)

One Nation & Its White Supremacist Foundational Beliefs

The rise of One Nation downunder is filling the vacuum left by the demise of the Liberal Party as an electable right wing political party. Having moved from centre Right to far Right, the Liberals have lost their metropolitan seats to the Teals. One Nation and its leader, Pauline Hanson, is primarily an anti-immigration political force. Demonising foreigners plays the blame game in the politics of grievance and captures the protest vote effectively. We have seen candidate Donald Trump exploit this in the US successfully via his MAGA faithful to become President Trump for the second time. Pauline Hanson has visited Trump at Mara Lago and sung his praises. Trump is the right wing inspiration for extremist groups in this space. One Nation is driven by white supremacist beliefs and racism.

White Supremacy In Trumpland

Those tuned into what is happening in ‘Trumpland’ will be aware of the cruel and brutal activities of ICE. US citizens have been shot and killed by ICE agents. Women and nurses protesting the violent invasion of their cities by heavily armed storm troopers have been murdered in cold blood. Brown skinned Americans have been targeted, beaten, detained and locked up in concentration camps around America. The rule of law has been repeatedly ignored and transgressed by ICE. This is where anti-immigration forces can lead when driven by white supremacists, such as Stephen Miller in the Trump cabinet. We have seen it before during the rise of fascism around the world prior to the outbreak of WW2. We are now seeing it in America, the nation that long held itself up as the beacon of democracy and equality globally.

Trumpland is no longer the United States we once knew; it is in the grip of white supremacist beliefs and racism.

Flag Waving Racists Downunder

Human beings are prone to find strange comfort and purpose in xenophobia and hate speech. Blaming someone else for your perceived troubles, a group identified as distinctly different, is a favourite populist pastime. Flag waving right wing activists will seize upon the actions of a lone Islamicist to justify attacks upon an entire community. The mathematics might be one bad actor out of a population of around 800, 000 Muslims living in Australia, but that is enough for the Pauline Hanson’s of the world to condemn them all. This is racism and xenophobia writ large. There has been an evolving or devolving trend happening on the Right over the last decade and a half. Right wing political parties stopped emphasising their economic credentials in favour of populist culture war talking points. Anti-woke became a smokescreen for anti-women and anti-black campaigns in reaction to the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements. Those on the Right proudly and wildly exaggerated instances of political correctness and DEI to their predominantly manosphere audience. Fox News and Sky News Australia amplified these factually incorrect illustrations of perceived bias. Trump, the great liar, repeated these falsehoods and disinformation again and again. Disengaged voters who only ever listen with half an ear to political speak happily ate up stuff, which reinforced their own biases and prejudices. Donald Trump was perceived as the champion of saying what no other politician had the guts to voice publicly. Trump was their guy and MAGA loved him, despite his criminality and penchant for telling lies. Hanson, the racist politician, performed the same role downunder.

A Thief Thinks Everybody Steals

The mob, the dominant cohort, white men and their families had a hero, not with feet of clay but orange clay through and through. Trump made a virtue of his immorality. Americans secretly love a bad ass over what they have endured in Washington for decades. The insincerity so prevalent in the American elite had poisoned the well. The Epstein class rules them all. Now, however, they are reaping what they have sown. Trump corruption on steroids, a failing economy, another war in the Middle East this time with Iran and an international reputation in the toilet. MAGA is waking up to the Trump con. The protest vote has ushered in billionaire kleptocracy never before seen at this level. When Trump points the bone it is deflection from his own criminality in that exact space. A thief thinks everybody steals. Talk of draining the swamp really means that he and his family are taking over that corrupt role in Washington. Accusing the other side of election fraud tells us that Trump is busy in this space himself. Slashing government departments and social welfare spending is really about opening up that sector for exploitation by private interests. Elon Musk illegally thieving the millions of private records held by the department of social security via his DOGE takeover.

Trump is the swamp meister!

Remigration Or Forced Deportation

Accusing brown skinned people of crimes is another smokescreen for white supremacist criminals. Whilst there are thieves and scumbags present in every race and ethnic community, demonising darkies has long been a favourite pastime of xenophobes and racists. The readiness to denigrate others based on their skin colour and ethnicity remains a worrying predilection for humanity. You would think we would have outgrown this crap after so long. In reality, power seekers use the xenophobia of some of us to get to the top of the heap by promising them salves to ease their grievances. Anti-immigration policies like remigration, which is the forced deportation of immigrants and refugees, is what many of these white supremacists want. One Nation and Trump’s ICE are at the extreme end of the anti-immigration agenda. Putting them in power will not be good for anyone, as we are seeing in the US right now. If Pauline Hanson admires President Donald Trump, then remigration is likely on the cards if her party achieves power. Multicultural Australia watch out? White supremacist beliefs and racism will only end one way if One Nation are given their head. Remember the very name One Nation comes from fascism and assimilation. You will find it in the speeches of despots and authoritarian leaders. You have been warned.

From Centre Right To Far Right

“The Liberal Party is badly named in light of what it has turned into of late. There being few liberal minded people left in the party. Newly elected president, former PM Tony Abbott, is Pauline Hanson’s leading cheer leader. Abbot was also the bloke that sold the Port of Darwin to the Chinese. Abbot and his Sky News Australia former chief of staff, Peta Credlin, have taken the Liberal Party from centre Right to far Right downunder, via their influence, in recent times. The un-electability of the Liberal Party, on the basis of this move to the fringe, has cleared the way for One Nation to fill a vacuum. Right wing Aussies require a political vehicle for their zero sum game way of looking at the world. A world of winners and losers, rather than the progressive conception of us all being in this together.”

- (https://wordsforweb.com.au/from-centre-right-to-far-right-downunder/)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©WordsForWeb

[sublimeobservationarcade]

White Supremacist Beliefs & Racism

Whilst watching a documentary about Nazism and fascism in America back in the 1930s, my ears were pricked by the repeated expressions ‘ make America great’ and ‘one nation’! The modern day use of these terms as names and tag lines are by no means accidental. The white supremacist beliefs and racism, which lie at the base of MAGA and One Nation, in the US and Australia respectively, are the foundation of these movements and political parties. If you have read DH Lawrence’s book Kangaroo or seen the movie based upon it, you will know that Australia was not immune from the rise of fascism post WW1.

“The book will disturb some readers for good reasons. The description of racism, antisemitism, the whitewash on Aboriginal histories, the overblown masculinity matched with the sympathetic-but-disempowered feminism, the strange conflations of Nietzsche, Freud, and Jung, in British Christian thought, all is there in the now-lost landscape of 1920s Australia, or at least 1920s Central-South region of New South Wales. The book is disturbing for those who know the history, as much as for those who do not”

- (https://drnevillebuch.com/blog/d-h-lawrences-kangaroo-1923-one-hundred-years-on-questioning-social-philosophy-and-policy-for-today/)

The Anglo-settler colonialism, which founded Australia and many parts of the United States, contained fierce xenophobic tendencies and these have been handed down through the generations, as traditions often are. Eugenics attempted to paint these racist views with pseudo-scientific credibility in the 20C. Hitler’s Nazis looked to the United States for ideas about eugenics and apartheid in the 1920s and 30s.

“Xenophobia (from Ancient Greek ξένος (xénos) 'strange, foreign, or alien' and φόβος (phóbos) 'fear') is the fear or dislike of people who are perceived as being foreign or strange.”

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophobia)

One Nation & Its White Supremacist Foundational Beliefs

The rise of One Nation downunder is filling the vacuum left by the demise of the Liberal Party as an electable right wing political party. Having moved from centre Right to far Right, the Liberals have lost their metropolitan seats to the Teals. One Nation and its leader, Pauline Hanson, is primarily an anti-immigration political force. Demonising foreigners plays the blame game in the politics of grievance and captures the protest vote effectively. We have seen candidate Donald Trump exploit this in the US successfully via his MAGA faithful to become President Trump for the second time. Pauline Hanson has visited Trump at Mara Lago and sung his praises. Trump is the right wing inspiration for extremist groups in this space. One Nation is driven by white supremacist beliefs and racism.

White Supremacy In Trumpland

Those tuned into what is happening in ‘Trumpland’ will be aware of the cruel and brutal activities of ICE. US citizens have been shot and killed by ICE agents. Women and nurses protesting the violent invasion of their cities by heavily armed storm troopers have been murdered in cold blood. Brown skinned Americans have been targeted, beaten, detained and locked up in concentration camps around America. The rule of law has been repeatedly ignored and transgressed by ICE. This is where anti-immigration forces can lead when driven by white supremacists, such as Stephen Miller in the Trump cabinet. We have seen it before during the rise of fascism around the world prior to the outbreak of WW2. We are now seeing it in America, the nation that long held itself up as the beacon of democracy and equality globally.

Trumpland is no longer the United States we once knew; it is in the grip of white supremacist beliefs and racism.

Flag Waving Racists Downunder

Human beings are prone to find strange comfort and purpose in xenophobia and hate speech. Blaming someone else for your perceived troubles, a group identified as distinctly different, is a favourite populist pastime. Flag waving right wing activists will seize upon the actions of a lone Islamicist to justify attacks upon an entire community. The mathematics might be one bad actor out of a population of around 800, 000 Muslims living in Australia, but that is enough for the Pauline Hanson’s of the world to condemn them all. This is racism and xenophobia writ large. There has been an evolving or devolving trend happening on the Right over the last decade and a half. Right wing political parties stopped emphasising their economic credentials in favour of populist culture war talking points. Anti-woke became a smokescreen for anti-women and anti-black campaigns in reaction to the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements. Those on the Right proudly and wildly exaggerated instances of political correctness and DEI to their predominantly manosphere audience. Fox News and Sky News Australia amplified these factually incorrect illustrations of perceived bias. Trump, the great liar, repeated these falsehoods and disinformation again and again. Disengaged voters who only ever listen with half an ear to political speak happily ate up stuff, which reinforced their own biases and prejudices. Donald Trump was perceived as the champion of saying what no other politician had the guts to voice publicly. Trump was their guy and MAGA loved him, despite his criminality and penchant for telling lies. Hanson, the racist politician, performed the same role downunder.

A Thief Thinks Everybody Steals

The mob, the dominant cohort, white men and their families had a hero, not with feet of clay but orange clay through and through. Trump made a virtue of his immorality. Americans secretly love a bad ass over what they have endured in Washington for decades. The insincerity so prevalent in the American elite had poisoned the well. The Epstein class rules them all. Now, however, they are reaping what they have sown. Trump corruption on steroids, a failing economy, another war in the Middle East this time with Iran and an international reputation in the toilet. MAGA is waking up to the Trump con. The protest vote has ushered in billionaire kleptocracy never before seen at this level. When Trump points the bone it is deflection from his own criminality in that exact space. A thief thinks everybody steals. Talk of draining the swamp really means that he and his family are taking over that corrupt role in Washington. Accusing the other side of election fraud tells us that Trump is busy in this space himself. Slashing government departments and social welfare spending is really about opening up that sector for exploitation by private interests. Elon Musk illegally thieving the millions of private records held by the department of social security via his DOGE takeover.

Trump is the swamp meister!

Remigration Or Forced Deportation

Accusing brown skinned people of crimes is another smokescreen for white supremacist criminals. Whilst there are thieves and scumbags present in every race and ethnic community, demonising darkies has long been a favourite pastime of xenophobes and racists. The readiness to denigrate others based on their skin colour and ethnicity remains a worrying predilection for humanity. You would think we would have outgrown this crap after so long. In reality, power seekers use the xenophobia of some of us to get to the top of the heap by promising them salves to ease their grievances. Anti-immigration policies like remigration, which is the forced deportation of immigrants and refugees, is what many of these white supremacists want. One Nation and Trump’s ICE are at the extreme end of the anti-immigration agenda. Putting them in power will not be good for anyone, as we are seeing in the US right now. If Pauline Hanson admires President Donald Trump, then remigration is likely on the cards if her party achieves power. Multicultural Australia watch out? White supremacist beliefs and racism will only end one way if One Nation are given their head. Remember the very name One Nation comes from fascism and assimilation. You will find it in the speeches of despots and authoritarian leaders. You have been warned.

From Centre Right To Far Right

“The Liberal Party is badly named in light of what it has turned into of late. There being few liberal minded people left in the party. Newly elected president, former PM Tony Abbott, is Pauline Hanson’s leading cheer leader. Abbot was also the bloke that sold the Port of Darwin to the Chinese. Abbot and his Sky News Australia former chief of staff, Peta Credlin, have taken the Liberal Party from centre Right to far Right downunder, via their influence, in recent times. The un-electability of the Liberal Party, on the basis of this move to the fringe, has cleared the way for One Nation to fill a vacuum. Right wing Aussies require a political vehicle for their zero sum game way of looking at the world. A world of winners and losers, rather than the progressive conception of us all being in this together.”

- (https://wordsforweb.com.au/from-centre-right-to-far-right-downunder/)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©WordsForWeb

[sublimeobservationarcade]

From Centre Right To Far Right Downunder

The Liberal Party is badly named in light of what it has turned into of late. There being few liberal minded people left in the party. Newly elected president, former PM Tony Abbott, is Pauline Hanson’s leading cheer leader. Abbot was also the bloke that sold the Port of Darwin to the Chinese. Abbot and his Sky News Australia former chief of staff, Peta Credlin, have taken the Liberal Party from centre Right to far Right downunder, via their influence, in recent times. The un-electability of the Liberal Party, on the basis of this move to the fringe, has cleared the way for One Nation to fill a vacuum. Right wing Aussies require a political vehicle for their zero sum game way of looking at the world. A world of winners and losers, rather than the progressive conception of us all being in this together.

Far Right Racism Rises In Australia

What drives folk to fall for the old saw of blaming the immigrant for their woes? Blame it on foreigners has been around since time began. One Nation has only ever really had one iron in the fire – fuelled by Anglo white supremacy. To demonise everybody else as unAustralian and make the problems of the world the fault of the foreigner or those that look or act different. It is childish and stupid really, but lots of folk fall for it out of expediency and gutlessness. These racists are too scared to take on the big end of town, where the real power resides. The oligarchs and billionaires running the show. The Gina Rinehart’s, the mining companies, the multinationals and the gas cartel. The lack of competition in the marketplace, where oligopolies and monopolies have neutered consumer buying power and wage growth.

Far Right Racism Does Not Stay In Its Lane

In the UK, we are witnessing a billionaire funded anti-immigration campaign. Reform and the fascist nationalist groups are being funded by oligarchs intent on undermining the centre, via protests and violent mass eruptions directed online from social media accounts based in America. Elon Musk’s X has been waging a constant barrage of support for far right positions for many months. Musk has more than 200 million followers online. Most recently, in Belfast militant far right activists have been burning cars and homes in reaction to a stabbing by a dark skinned refugee or immigrant. Whatever the crime there is no excuse for then going around burning the homes and vehicles of innocent folk in some sort of broad spectrum payback campaign of terror. This is the thing about racism and white supremacy it never stays in its lane for long. Those Aussies flirting with One Nation as a protest vote would be well advised to heed this warning. Racism is a crime and should be prosecuted.

One Nation Feeds On Hate Speech

This whole anachronistic belief that white people have more right to respect and human decency is crap. Parties like One Nation feed on the wrong headed prejudices of parts of the community. We fought wars to stop Nazism and fascism but it is back in Trump’s America and Pauline Hanson loves Donald Trump. The dog eat dog, zero sum game politics of Trump is bad for everybody. He will get his comeuppance sooner than these folk realise.  One Nation gets most of its support in regional and outer suburban areas, where there are fewer migrants living. Funny that. A lack of real experience fosters room for fear campaigns demonising foreigners. This kind of backward thinking shit has been going on for years. An old lady like Pauline Hanson should know better. Grifting off the poison of hate speech is a nasty way to make a living. Drumming up anxiety on the back of statistically miniscule amounts of crime committed by refugees and immigrants and exaggerating it is their modus operandi. Don’t fall for the hype.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7N5Ar0EVWU Hey Australia Grow Up & Don’t Follow America

The move from centre Right to far Right is a degeneration for Australia and those pandering to this trend. Tony Abbott is an odious person who was booted out of office and his electorate by the voters. Pauline Hanson is a nasty piece of work, now being used by Gina Rinehart, who lives in the US, to undermine the sensible nature of Australians. Going down the rabbit hole of extremist American hate is not going to be good for Australia. That these far right activists wrap themselves in the Aussie flag is a disgrace. What have they ever done for the country? Spreading poisonous hate is no civil service for the nation.

One Nation Who Is Pulling The Strings?

“Trump and Hanson have to pay back their billionaire backers and, therefore, it is the oligarchs calling the shots and not the people. Populist politicians campaign upon culture war issues to get their votes at the ballot box. Anti-wokeness plays well to dyed in the wool folk who fear change. This stuff is only window dressing for politicians like Hanson and Trump. The real deals are with their wealthy backers and what they want. Support for One Nation is a protest vote in many instances and these voters would do well to dig a little deeper. Do your research to find out who pays the piper in the end. Millions of Americans regret their votes for Donald Trump, as the US economy descends into the doghouse. Populists rarely deliver what they promise and that is what we are seeing in the US.”

- (https://wordsforweb.com.au/support-for-one-nation/)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©WordsForWeb

[sublimeobservationarcade]

Billionaires Have Never Been Less Popular

Did you know that in the ancient world there were regular examples of public debt forgiveness? Yes, even in those more brutal times elites recognised the dangers of social discordance. The masses were more likely to rise up if they were burdened with lifetime unforgiving debt. Have we reached that nadir with Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, going on stage with a chainsaw to represent the slashing of social security for tens of millions of the poorest Americans? Meanwhile, the wealth of the top 1% has skyrocketed under President Donald Trump’s billionaire friendly tax bills. Billionaires have never been less popular in the United States and globally.

“Research suggests that societies in ancient Mesopotamia used cycles of debt forgiveness to escape the debt trap. For example, this was a practice in ancient Sumer in the 3rd millennium BC, and in the old Babylonian Empire and its neighbours in the 2nd millennium BC.”

- (https://medium.com/illumination-curated/why-are-economists-studying-the-bible-to-learn-about-debt-5709d7a16990)

Billionaires & The Oligarchy

I divide the Right and the Left into two camps based on their economic and social beliefs. The Right believe in a zero sum game of winners and losers. The Left believe we are all in this together and should be governed  on this basis of fairness, wherever possible. Neoliberalism has driven governments over the last 50 years, since Reagan and Thatcher. The tenets of neoliberalism are small government getting out of the way of market forces or, indeed, facilitating the interests of oligarchs and their corporate interests. The notorious ‘trickledown effect’ was promised for the hoi poloi, when it came to any sharing of that wealth. The figures show that the top 1% have become extraordinarily wealthy and the rest of us have gone nowhere in terms of economic growth. Inflation has seen prices go up, wages have not kept pace and only those with assets have kept them from the taxman’s take. CEOs now earn something like 1700 times what their workers do, whereas it was only around 45 times about 50 years ago. Stock buybacks have created the billionaire factory for these executives. Meanwhile, workers are less well off than their parent’s generation were.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHmiaRj_voY Social Discord & The Rise Of The Billionaire Class

This is what you get when the political system has been captured by the wealthy and powerful to the detriment of the many ordinary folk. There are still those on the Right voting for the oligarchs in the hope that they will be on the winning side of the ledger. This is why many Americans voted for Donald Trump, both times. Trump 2.0 has a number of them regretting their choice at the last presidential election. The Democrats under President Joe Biden attempted to instigate student loan debt forgiveness but this was undone by the Republican dominated Supreme Court. It seems that wealthy Republicans are not in favour of taking the foot off the throat when it comes to such things as public debt forgiveness. It will be interesting to see what the upshot of this will be down the track. Social cohesion and the economic burden foisted upon future generations is not their concern, apparently.

Democratic Power Devolving Into Oligarchy

Oligarchies believe that if you look after the wealthy and powerful, everyone else, the lesser folk, will fall into line behind them. Screwing the working poor economically is their modus operandi. Anyone with a basic understanding of mathematics would know that for every billionaire you have to have a lot of losers or worse off folk. Equality and social equity does not work when a few have ownership of a third of the total pie! The pieces left over for the many are miniscule.

“Since 1989, the share of America’s wealth held by the nation’s wealthiest has risen steadily. Federal Reserve data shows that the richest 10 percent of American households now own over two-thirds of the nation’s total wealth. The top 1 percent holds 31.0 percent of total wealth – just slightly less than the entire bottom 90 percent of U.S. households. Another indicator of wealth concentration: the richest 1 percent own 50 percent of U.S. stock and mutual funds, up from 40 percent in 2002, according to Federal Reserve data.”

- (https://inequality.org/facts/wealth-inequality/)

It is strange that every night on the news, that we all used to watch, the stock market is featured in a regular spot. Whereas the labour market and wage data is hardly ever featured. What does this tell you about who is considered important and who is not? The wealthy versus the rest of us.

Social Discordance Leads To Upheaval

Every social revolution and overthrow of the elite in history has been preceded by extreme inequality and social division. Eat the rich will soon be no laughing matter, I predict. The reckless and brutal display of authoritarianism by the Trump regime will not pass unheeded by the many. As the unaffordability of the Trump economy increases and his profligate spending on ballrooms and arches continues something will break. The people will rise up and civil war will break out. You can only push folk so far, especially in a place like America. The world looks on in horror at the nastiness and dumb brutality of the Trump regime via ICE and Trump’s retribution tour. The rule of law has ben corrupted and distorted with the DOJ now, in effect, Trump’s personal attack dog.  Ugliness and aggression is everywhere you look when it comes to the United States.

America Helped Created The Russian Oligarchy

You may not know this but it was the US administration that helped create the Russian oligarchic system following the fall of the USSR. The George HW Bush government sent in economic advisors to assist with what was happening in Russia and they recommended the establishment of oligarchs as an accelerated way to transform the economy. Billionaires put in place as key hierarchical pieces within a newly established Russian economy. Inequality and unfairness was baked in right at the start. You can see from this that American democracy has always been window dressing over an oligarchy driving the bus at its core. Wealthy dynasties run the economic show in the USA. Institutions like the Bohemian Club are where old money interests gather to direct the path of the economy and the nation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Club

Billionaires have never been less popular worldwide, as they are right now. People are waking up to the rigged game run by Big Tech, where you own nothing and pay for the privilege. Endless fees and subscription charges plague working families and individuals. Inflation is rising again under Trump with his foolish tariffs and Iran war for Zionist Israeli interests. Energy costs and housing costs are bleeding average folk dry. Rents and home loan repayments are way too high. The cost of living is severely exploitative under the oligarchy. It is predicated upon the super-rich sucking the modest wealth from the middle class and working families. Something must give or break!

Populist Politics & The Billionaires Backing It

“Populism of the Far Right variety is not some natural occurrence or trend happening at the moment. It is an artificially fed and funded campaign coming from the United States and billionaire money. Reform in the UK and its various eco system components like GB News have received around 200 million pounds over the last 5 years from US and overseas sources. Billionaires funding the Far Right. The social media echo chamber with hugely popular accounts on X and Facebook promoting these populist themes are not UK based accounts but can be traced back to America. Mining the politics of grievance is being done with a military like precision and strategy.”

- (https://www.golfdom.com.au/billionaires-funding-the-far-right/)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©GolfDom

[sublimeobservationarcade]

Living a Lie In The Manosphere

Have you seen those ads for big Utes on the telly? You know the ones where these pretty massive vehicles are encountering rugged terrain? Complete with mega sized grills, tyres and tough looking blokes at the wheel. Talk about pumping up the tyres of would-be-buyers. Pissing in the pockets of wannabe big men. Living a lie in the manosphere. Soundtrack thumping in the background and plenty of filmed stunts. I wonder if some guys are masturbating to this stuff on screen. I think back to the days of the real hard men of yesteryear, they wouldn’t be glorifying their lives like this, cause they lived them and they didn’t need to. This fantasy adventure crap is akin to dangerous wild beasts locked up in zoo cages. The closest any of these guys are gonna get to anything real.

Selling The Big Man Fantasy

The people marketing these vehicles are selling a fantasy, a masculine wet dream about lives that no longer exist. It is all bullshit. In reality, most guys are sheltered inside a push button, touch screen world. The only time they are going to meet rugged terrain is on some recreational getaway. The inference in the ads is painting a picture of a hard man lifestyle. The swagger is an act, a put on. It reminds me of that gay troupe from the 1980s the Village People. You had these pretend male archetypes – the construction worker, the cop and the cowboy. Talk about living a lie in the manosphere.

Does my little dick look bigger in this pick-up truck?

Manosphere Bullshit On Steroids

So, where does all this BS hail from? America, of course, the home of the lying, crooked president. The bourbon and coke, pickup truck persona. Red neck culture sold to the world, where pretend tough guys get to strut their stuff. UFC on the White House lawn. Where dumb is celebrated big time!  MAGA madness on steroids. Downunder apes this Americanised identity. I mean everything they watch on TV is American. Social media is an American invention. Half of these folk reckon they are American, living in the 51st state. One Nation is funded by a billionaire, now living in the US. One Nation wants to be the Aussie version of MAGA. They have their red headed terror shooting off at the mouth about banning foreigners and halting immigration into the country. Blame it on the foreigner is an oldie but a goody in the political stakes. Demonise different looking and sounding folk. Drongos can get on-board with that.

Passing The Pub Test

I was speaking with a young bloke who works in a big liquor barn, next to a pub in a northern Brisbane locale. He tells me about these guys who spend all day drinking at the pub. They come into the liquor store to purchase roadies to go home with, as the drinking day comes to a close at the pub. He wonders how they can afford to drink all day and never seem to work. Their vociferousness is often centred around foreigners ripping off the country. Indians and Arabs milking the NDIS. It struck him as ironic that these perennial no-hopers stand in judgement on the high moral ground. Personally, I always thought that the expression about something ‘passing the pub test’ was based on a pretty dumb idea. I mean pissed people are a pretty low standard to be holding up as the threshold of public acceptability.

A lot of those tough-guy-Utes are made in China. The giant grills are stick-on cosmetics. The hard man persona is like women dressing up with mascara and high heels – it is all an act. Many of these blokes driving these 4x4 Utes work in offices and shops and the nearest they ever get to rugged terrain is inside their heads. These are the muscle cars of their generation. Parading around the streets taking up unnecessary space to flaunt their delicate egos in big Utes. I suppose it’s a fashion statement like body shirts were back in the day or flares, maybe? Real and authentic are not concepts that fit with these pretend men. Living a lie in the manosphere.

Populist Protest Voters Beware

“We are seeing the very real dangers of the populist protest vote in Trump’s America and Reform in the UK. Basically, crooks cashing in on an electorate’s frustration with an economy cooked by oligarchs and billionaires. It has taken many Americans out of the frying pan into the fire with President Donald Trump’s campaign promises on affordability and no more forever-wars not worth the hot air they were expended with. “

- (https://www.housetherapy.com.au/out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire/)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©HouseTherapy

[sublimeobservationarcade]

What Is Right Vs Left?

If you want to know the fundamental difference between those on the Right vs those on the Left, conservative vs progressive, it is a belief in a zero sum game vs the idea that we are all in this together. What is Right vs Left? The Trump led Republicans reckon that some of us are more deserving than others. Those that can afford to pay for special treatment (rich folk), white folk, men, straight people and Christian Nationalists all appear to be favoured. Indeed, around the world far right groups are campaigning on anti-immigration and refugee issues. Flag waving right wing types are marching on these national exclusivity activist grounds. It comes down to this underpinning belief that there are winners and losers in life depending upon where you were born. ICE has detained Americans and set up concentration camps to house these detainees in brutal fashion.

Right Wing Folk Reckon Some Are More Deserving

If we turn to AI, artificial intelligence, again we see a Big Tech sector ruled by an oligarchy. This billionaire class of oligarchs are firmly on the Right, some would say far right. Again, this techlord led sector, which is the beloved of the stock market on the back of huge wealth growth, is about winners and losers. AI will likely cost hundreds of millions of jobs globally. It will be the first time a new technological invention will produce less jobs than it creates. Those on the Right are OK with this, as they are happy to reap the rewards whilst hundreds of millions suffer loss of income and massive disruption to their lives. The extreme inequality, which exists in America, has prepared these Trump voters for further inequity and debasement of the losers. Segregation already exists around the US, this is a society at home with racial inequality. Remember that the stronghold of the GOP is in the South, the former slave states. This divisiveness is nothing new but a return to something that many already hold dear. White supremacists, the KKK and other militias have never really gone away in the USA.

The Right To Rip Off The Weak

American capitalism promoted by Republicans has long stressed that people deserve what they get in life. Trump represents the fact that wealth by hook or by crook is deserving of power. Dirty deeds are whitewashed and he who holds the whip hand gets the respect. Social Darwinism is another way of looking at what Trump’s MAGA coalition represents. The strong survive and thrive at the expense of the vulnerable and weak. President Donald Trump is backed by the billionaire Epstein class. Many of these wealthy men were happy to buy the sexual favours of very young girls for chump change. Where you found yourself on the food chain was tough luck in the minds of the billionaire class. If you are weak enough they will fuck you one way or another.  

One Nation Is Aussie MAGA

What is Right vs Left? In Australia, a small political party led by Pauline Hanson and backed by a billionaire oligarch, Gina Rinehart, is making waves in the right wing press. The media downunder is controlled by News Corp, an American corporation under the Murdoch thumb. Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire behind Fox News, is a rabid right wing figure. The influence of the Right over the Australian media is disproportionate to the actual numbers in the extreme. Watch Sky News Australia and you will see what I mean, this is no objective or unbiased news outlet. One Nation is equivalent to MAGA, being largely supported by white, working class folk living in regional and outer suburban areas. Their platform has been anti-immigration for a long time. Pauline Hanson has been attacking Muslims for donkey years. One Nation represents Australians who want the country to be reserved for Anglo types of Aussies. The multiculturalism flourishing in our cities frightens them. The number of times I hear paranoid comments about ‘Indians or Asians taking over’ and other siege mentality views expressed by ignorant racists is worrying. Social media and its enraging algorithms have fed folk these rabbit hole extremist views to the detriment of social cohesion. Then, you look over at Trump’s America and you see the madmen are running the asylum. Pauline Hanson loves Donald Trump and his extremist agenda. The exploitation of the protest vote is something that they share. He is the master and she the acolyte.

Racism Remains A Factor

What is Right vs Left when you boil it all down to the essentials? People who believe they are better than others vs those who respect that we are all in this together. The greed of capitalism is motivated by this desire to have more than others. Money equals power in a materialist world. Wanting to send your kids to a private school to give them an advantage over other less well off families. Wanting to ensure that no dark skinned folk live in your neighbourhood. Wanting the streets you walk to be free of Asians and Arabs. People who truly believe that they are better than others on the basis of the colour of their skin and where they were born. This is the One Nation/MAGA worldview.

Identity Politics Downunder

The Labor federal government tried to facilitate Indigenous Australians getting a Voice to parliament. A referendum was held and those on the Right campaigned against it. A lot of misinformation and disinformation was thrown up, as to the nature of this empowerment of Aboriginal folk. White Australians voted it down. ‘If you don’t know, vote NO.’ This was the bumper sticker for the Right, where ignorance becomes a virtue to be trumpeted. One Nation campaigned strongly to defeat the Voice. They have this narrow concept of what being an Australian is. Their identity politics is white, none too bright, and has no room for any deeper cultural ties beyond the colonialism of Australia.

It may come as a surprise to them to learn that some people have deeper ties to more than ANZAC day, worshipping sport, beer, BBQs and making money. Respecting diversity is not high on the One Nation agenda.

Intolerance vs Acceptance

What is Right vs Left? On one side you have an intolerance for those not subscribing to their cultural perspective. On the other side a broader church respecting a wider phalanx of views. The Right regularly attack those on the Left on the basis of supporting LGBTQI folk. This lifestyle choice is beyond the pale for many on the Right. Frequently, in campaigns they wildly exaggerate stuff about gender identity issues to make out that taxpayer dollars are being profligately spent on these things. If you dig down into the facts this is nearly always a minuscule amount happening in a handful cases. Negative attack politics never lets the truth get in the way of telling an outrageous story. Most voters are disengaged from the political sphere for most of the time until elections come about. Shock tactics are designed to get their attention. Truth is most often a victim in electoral periods. Yes, you can say both sides engage in this kind of stuff during the high time of campaigning. Unfortunately, quietly sticking to the facts throughout does not win contests in the main.

Rich vs Poor

The Right has somehow made a virtue of discrimination by appealing to the underlying racist views of the dominant cohort within a populace. They have sold the idea that if the Left represents the concerns of minority groups they are not looking out for the majority. This is not true but plays well to the MAGA/One Nation faithful. The Right is now anti-science, especially since COVID. Trump disparages climate science and leads the way for global warming deniers globally. Unpalatable truths are simply ignored or challenged. Living in a fool’s paradise will cost future generations but the MAGA faithful don’t care. Saying NO to stuff revs them up, it seems. Looking at the world right now, two years into Trump 2.0, you could say the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Inflation is back thanks to Trump’s tariffs and Iran war. Affordability plagues many Americans and people around the globe. The bond market is flashing increasingly dangerous warning signs. Concentration camps have been set up all over America to hold detained dark skinned Americans. Brutality is the order of the day, as might lords it over the rule of law. Trump and Putin and Netanyahu behave like warlords rather than statesmen. Meanwhile President Donald Trump is obsessed with gilt edged trimmings in the Oval office, a ballroom for the White House and an Arch to celebrate 250 years of modern America.

Who Is Supporting One Nation?

“Here is an interesting fact. Support for One Nation is highest in areas where there are relatively few migrants living. Regional areas and outer suburban electorates, where the vast majority of populations are white bread. Why then do they go on about the issue of high levels of immigration in Australia? It is not actual lived experience. Could it be because they watch Sky News Australia and listen to reactionary shock jocks on the radio? Blaming immigrants, refugees and foreigners, more generally, is a right wing populist saw. Combine this with a general underlying racism inherited down through generations and you probably get what is really going on here. Pauline Hanson has been banging on about her white supremacist views for decades and now has Gina Rinehart to bankroll her hate speech infected perspective downunder.”

- (https://wordsforweb.com.au/support-for-one-nation/)

Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK

©WordsForWeb