Respect the Prime Minister? Perhaps Not

14/02/2020

I saw a comment earlier today on a Greens related social media page that said, “if you have so little respect for the office of Prime Minster, you certainly never deserve to occupy the position”. Someone responded by saying the office is fine, but that Morrison himself was worthy of the insults he gets. This may come as a shock, but I say to hell with both.

I owe absolutely no loyalty to any leader, political or otherwise, and if I do respect them (beyond general common courtesy should I see them in person) it’s because I view them as the person they are, not the position they hold. When such a position of power is abused to the detriment of the people they are supposedly “serving”, then that opens up numerous questions about the limitations we should be imposing on our so-called leaders, a concept that really isn’t that radical when you consider the whole point of “representational politics” is representation.

In the case of Scott Morrison now, the “disrespect” being called out was a reference to the firefighter from Nelligan who told the Prime Minister to “get fucked” – a video that went viral online and garnered much praise from those horrified with our government’s devastating (read non-existent) action and reaction to the bushfires. What makes it so ironic is that those defending the Prime Minister from that sort of (well-deserved) “vitriol” would probably be the first to claim to “support the firies”.

Seems that supporting those fighting the fires is only relevant when you have a political or moral point to make whilst reality reveals your total apathy towards the crisis, with support withdrawn when noise is made against your venomous faction. Look at the abuse the fire chiefs all copped when they dared to suggest warnings about climate change had been circulating for years – really rooting for those on the front lines there, hey?

So no, I will not respect a role of authority, and I certainly won’t respect the bastards that claim that authority and imitate Nero of all people.

“They’ll find our city’s ashes beneath the rising sea
And one day they’ll look back and wonder how it came to be” – Sin Shake Sin,

Idiocracy.

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