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- Hope in a hopeless week
It’s been a horrible week in the news: The Daily Telegraph tried to manufacture hate between Jewish and Arab people in Sydney. The government knew about a technical glitch that incorrectly stopped people’s welfare payments but ignored it, killing at least 10 people. The US government has begun retaliating against journalists and news outlets. Peter Dutton is calling increasing powers to revoke citizenship from Australians and deport immigrants. We’ve seen the ugly details of how Israeli lobbyists successfully corrupted ABC management. This group continues to target critics of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, this week bullying Creative Australia into dumping an Australian-Lebanese artist and pressured Education Minister Jason Clare into interfering with grants awarded to Australian academics. Trump’s decision to cut US foreign aid has put Australian climate, poverty and health initiatives in the Pacific at risk of shutting down. Labor and the Coalition worked together to pass political donations laws that disadvantage independent candidates and work heavily in the favour of the two major parties.
Just a terrible, no good week. And to cap it off, there are rumours that a federal election date will be announced this weekend. Maybe by the time you’re reading this, the date will already be out there (although I really hope not)? There is understandably a lot of fear for many of you about the outcome of an election in a landscape that’s so bogged down in that big ass paragraph above.
But I’ve noticed a definite shift in energy in the past few weeks that might restore a little bit of hope and energy if you’re feeling the despair creep in. Most of the beautiful people who read Zee Feed are young women, so I’ll let you in on what another group of people are feeling:
A few weeks ago, I attended the campaign launch of an independent Tasmanian candidate, Peter George, as part of some coverage on key election issues I’m doing for Crikey. In the article I wrote that the event was attended by “around a hundred cool, woke grandparents, ready to mobilise in an uprising — for the state, for the nation, and for their grandkids.” It annoyed a few Crikey subscribers (who mostly much older men and did not like that I used the word ’woke’), but I stand by it! The overwhelming feeling in the room was that none of these people were there for themselves, per se. The most passionate cheers came from parts in the various speeches that referenced making changes for the benefit of their grandchildren and the concept of being environmental protectors for future generations that none of them would ever meet (climate aside, two of the biggest environmental issues down here are logging forests and the damage caused by salmon farms).
Something particularly interesting: George is in his 70s, and said that he ultimately decided to run because he had nothing to lose. He doesn’t have to take time away from a career or raising children like a younger candidate might have to, and because he is retired he feels less scared of reputational damage. There is no professional future to threaten, which is an important consideration for younger progressive would-be candidates. In his view, he is doing this on behalf of younger progressives, because in a lot of ways it’s easier for him to do so, and his supporters intend to vote with a similar mindset. It’s not for them, it's for you.
It goes against the stereotype of white Australian Boomers and their political mindset, especially when you start factoring in the complex socioeconomic factors that come into play in Tasmania (I’m not going to get into all that today). The deranged comment sections under Facebook posts of Herald Sun and News[.]com[.]au articles are not the best temperature check of what they really think.
As a journalist I get to people pretty direct questions that you’d normally never ask a stranger. I’m seeing real disillusionment and anger across a wide range of demographics… and for the most part, it’s paired with a desire to drag politics to the left, to protect freedoms, to help make things easier for people without sacrificing other vulnerable groups. So far, I’m actually hearing older people express more anger about all this than younger people, which is not totally surprising.
But here’s the catch: you won’t see much of this shared ‘online’ (as in, on social media). It’s happening offline, in person, in small groups that grow or one-on-one conversations that spread across different social networks. Just as older demographics don’t necessarily know the details of the political conversations young people are having on, for example, TikTok, we don’t necessarily know the details of the political conversations they are having.
As someone who’s been fortunate to hear some of those conversations lately, it only felt right to let you know: there’s more in common than you might think.
Smart stuff on the Internet 💭
All the stuff I found on the web that made me think, smile, or have an ‘aha!’ moment. Spend your Sunday reading them – you'll be better off for it:
Meet the Redditors Who Spend Hours Snarking on Influencers on The Cut
Ok first, reading the very eye-opening and slightly scary article about why these people enjoy snarking (a classic wtf read, The Cut is sooo good at these), and then go ahead to read the beef that it opened up between the NYC Influencer Snark and Conneticut Influencer Snark subreddits here!
The subversive genius of Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance on Andscape
“And when Lamar and his dancers formed a human American flag on the field during his smash hit “Humble,” it was clear there was going to be a larger statement about the country when it needs a mirror the most. The question then became how far Lamar would go.”
Peggy Sue, who? While the focus is on young men’s politics, here’s what young women are up to on Crikey
I wrote about the Peggy Sue comments directed at Peter Dutton in the past couple of weeks, compared it to the Engadine Maccas meme that plagued Scott Morrison for years, and used it to talk about why everyone seems to be ignoring young women’s voting intentions (so far) for the federal election.