Nobody wins a poo-throwing fight (part 2)

For my non-Aussie readers, here's some context: Our government announced its budget plans about a week ago and nearly everyone I know has been flipping tables ever since.

And a context update on my perspective on politics.

Me, I'm a big bucket of unease over the whole thing.

See, I prefer to think my way through things slowly and methodically, and I prefer to read the source text of a document rather than image macros vitriolically thrown about on the internet.

But I haven't yet read the budget. I have had little time for the reading of complex documents, but I intend to read it, and then form an opinion, and then write some letters to people about it.

And in the meantime I'm just working off what other people are saying, which is kind of hinting that a lot of things are going to be removed from the social security side of things. I'm a bucket of unease about this, specifically, because while I have a job, it's not enough for me to get by without the assistance of the social security.

I don't like the situation. I don't like being in this part of the system - if you handed me a full-time job tomorrow, jumping off the welfare would be the first thing I'd do.
But the situation I'm in is particularly difficult for a stack of reasons. And the fact that everyone expects you to not be poor once you're out of uni makes it more of a challenge. (Like, 'you're not studying, so therefore you're working, and you're working full time, in a job that pays enough'. This is not the case for me.)

I'm not entirely sure, but I suspect that I'm poorer now than I was when I was a student. I can get by, but it's also taken me three months to save for car registration, and if you're in this kind of situation and someone walks up to you and says you have to cut down on 'luxurious spending', it's going to cop a raised eyebrow.

This is not a fun situation.

The prospect of having the only thing ensuring I don't starve removed has me uneasy.

The prospect of having my debt from study turned into a small mortgage has me uneasy.

The prospect of my siblings being in a worse place than I in terms of both these things has me really uneasy.

...


Despite all this, I have not yet read the budget. But I plan to. I plan to read the source text, draw some conclusions, and then write a courteous but direct letter to my local MPs, the head of the Opposition, and possibly the Prime Minister as well. Once I'm informed.

I disagree with a lot of what I am hearing, but I don't want this to turn into a poo-throwing fight. I don't plan on slandering people, and I don't plan on having that backfire.

I do plan on having an opinion, but it's possible to have one without smearing everyone and everything else.
This can't be about the people, it's about the policies. We're still a democracy. I want to treat it like it is one.

And as challenging as it is to think through, we're told as Christians to respect those we have put in power over us. I believe that it's possible to respect and still disagree, or to ask some important questions about things and do it in a mature and well thought-out way, and I want to work with this for as long as I can. I still plan on having an opinion, but I'm gonna do it respectfully, not through a load of internet-hate.

I'm trying really, really hard to be grown up about this.

Expect an update once I've read the budget. And finished my job search for the week. We'll see how long the logic stays in place for.

Nobody wins a poo-throwing fight

This is a phrase that I thought up at the start of the year, and now it's three days out from the Federal Election in Australia.

I thought now might be the best time to talk about it.

But, I kind of want to preface this blog post with something that my international readers probably need to know:

1. Australians don't often talk about politics
2. Australians are pretty good at slagging off at each other (badmouthing, talking down, slandering etc)
3. Did I mention that we don't talk about politics? At least, not in a coherent or polite way to people of the opposition. <sarcasm> No friendly discussions here! </sarcasm>

I have a few problems with politics in general, which is at least in part because one half of my family is staunch supporters for one political party, and the other half supports the other major party.

A couple years back, we had everyone at out house for Christmas lunch. The talk swung to politics for about 30 seconds before Dad vetoed it. Nice Christmas lunch doesn't need people arguing or getting sour about stuff.

I guess one of my problems is basically to do with Australian culture. We're pretty good at mouthing off to people, and we don't have a lot of respect for authority. I'm not necessarily talking about toeing the line there. I'm talking about actually respecting the political members responsible for looking after the country.

Yes, let's keep up to date on the election by playing a smartphone app that allows us to hit our politicians. Smooth.

Case in point.

And that kind of has its own type of reasoning: Australians live in a place that famously spends a lot of time trying to kill its visitors, or makes little sense. We don't trust a lot of promises made by the higher-ups because they frequently fall through.

But that's not the point of my argument. That's just giving us some context to work off, and therefore makes sense why the parodied Australia in Terry Pratchett's Diskworld series elects their Prime Minister and then immediately throws him in gaol.

My problem stemmed from heated discussion between the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader a while back, but it can very easily apply to a lot of things.

This is, that nobody wins a poo-throwing fight.

You can throw as much poo as you like, but the fact of the matter is that in order to throw it, you've still got to touch it.

So, dear political parties, when you want to pitch your spiel to me, don't start by telling me how much the other guy sucks.

In a group environment, anyone can suggest an idea. And then everyone else can contribute to that idea. Any third-rate can say that every idea sucks. If you want to move forward with the idea though, you have to have feedback. Constructive stuff is better.

The opposing sides of Parliament are designed to keep the other in check, but they could make each other better. At the moment everyone's looking like complete noobs.

And see? There's me, one of the mudders, with no interest in respecting anybody in power.

But I digress.

If you have an idea, or a political party has an idea, it should be able to stand on its own two feet without having to slag off the opposition. Otherwise it's like kicking in everyone else's sandcastle so yours looks the best. In that case, there is no longer a 'best sandcastle'. There is just a lot of kicked-in ones and a kicker-of-sandcastles.

Or a thrower-of-poo.

Slander on others does in fact reflect back on the type of person that the giver-of-slander is. And with all of the campaigns at the moment dissing everyone else, it's making me feel like I'm going to have to pick the least worst to vote for, as opposed to the best.

And I really wish I didn't have to do that.

But anyway. Please keep it in mind. Group projects, planning for the weekend with friends, having a fight, whatever. The moment someone sinks to slander, they might have successfully scored a hit on the opposition, but they've also sunk down to do that.

Rise above, my friends.

Rise above, my political leaders.

Because at the end of the poo-fight, someone has to clean up.

And it's not going to be me.