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There is a frustrating arrogance in this piece from someone who is a part of the generation who has wrecked so much for their own benefit. Young people are so

There is a frustrating arrogance in this piece from someone who is a part of the generation who has wrecked so much for their own benefit. Young people are so critical because you are doing something they no longer consider acceptable, but there just aren't enough of them to make a difference against to an enormous generation of voting baby boomers. This weekend there was an election in my country where, once again, a primarily baby boomer voter demogaphic returned a party to power whose only policies are built on appealing to immediate self interest to the detriment of everyone who will come after them.

cyphar 7y ago
Ah, a fellow Aussie. I would contend that it's far more than just "baby boomers vote Liberal". The core issue is that all of the mainstream media is corporate-aligned and constantly bashing Labor and unions, with only milk-toast "criticisms" of the Liberal Government to maintain "neutrality". There's also a massive amount of scare campaigns targeted at immigrants that "Labor will cancel your visas!" (which is what the Liberal government is doing right now and are just projecting). It's a modern form of propaganda, and it's ludicrously effective. Combine that with an overwhelming amount of political apathy (ordinary people don't feel politicians represent them anymore) and the result is obvious. Let's not forget that those same baby boomers voted in Whitlam, Hawke, and Keating.
chillfox 7y ago
Yeah, that was a sad result. At this point, we can only hope that there is something left to save when the balance eventually tips.
x0x0 7y ago
Not to mention, the wanker Bret Stephens picks a twitter user with under 70 followers (at the time Stephens wrote the article [1]) and who also clearly doesn't live in the United States and appoints him or her as somehow representative of a generation of people. People in America. Also, perhaps more amazingly, there does not appear to be an age on the account. So, you know, quite possibly also not a millenial. You can find a rando on twitter saying virtually anything you want. [1] https://twitter.com/Anarchopriapism/status/1129809037602770947 https://twitter.com/Anarchopriapism/status/11298090376027709...
empressplay 7y ago
I predicted the Coalition would be returned the moment the writ was dropped. People haven't forgotten that Bill Shorten played a large part in knifing Kevin Rudd, and that he's a union guy. Also the franking credits should have been grandfathered – that just came across as mean-spirited. If people were sick of the Coalition Labor might have been able to overcome those issues but Morrison is not unlikeable and a bunch of the old guard quit. The point is, Labor ran a bad campaign and the Coalition ran a good one – while I agree somewhat with your complaint that people vote in their own self-interest it's the job of political parties to convince them that it's in their self-interest to vote for them, and Labor failed at doing that. I hope they do better next time.
- chillfox 7y ago
  Morrison's greatest trick was probably making the rest of his ministers shut up the last few weeks. Labor's strategy could best be described as expecting destiny to take care of it.

cyphar 7y ago

Ah, a fellow Aussie. I would contend that it's far more than just "baby boomers vote Liberal". The core issue is that all of the mainstream media is corporate-aligned and constantly bashing Labor and unions, with only milk-toast "criticisms" of the Liberal Government to maintain "neutrality". There's also a massive amount of scare campaigns targeted at immigrants that "Labor will cancel your visas!" (which is what the Liberal government is doing right now and are just projecting). It's a modern form of propaganda, and it's ludicrously effective. Combine that with an overwhelming amount of political apathy (ordinary people don't feel politicians represent them anymore) and the result is obvious. Let's not forget that those same baby boomers voted in Whitlam, Hawke, and Keating.

chillfox 7y ago

Yeah, that was a sad result. At this point, we can only hope that there is something left to save when the balance eventually tips.

x0x0 7y ago

Not to mention, the wanker Bret Stephens picks a twitter user with under 70 followers (at the time Stephens wrote the article [1]) and who also clearly doesn't live in the United States and appoints him or her as somehow representative of a generation of people. People in America. Also, perhaps more amazingly, there does not appear to be an age on the account. So, you know, quite possibly also not a millenial. You can find a rando on twitter saying virtually anything you want. [1] https://twitter.com/Anarchopriapism/status/1129809037602770947 https://twitter.com/Anarchopriapism/status/11298090376027709...

empressplay 7y ago

I predicted the Coalition would be returned the moment the writ was dropped. People haven't forgotten that Bill Shorten played a large part in knifing Kevin Rudd, and that he's a union guy. Also the franking credits should have been grandfathered – that just came across as mean-spirited. If people were sick of the Coalition Labor might have been able to overcome those issues but Morrison is not unlikeable and a bunch of the old guard quit. The point is, Labor ran a bad campaign and the Coalition ran a good one – while I agree somewhat with your complaint that people vote in their own self-interest it's the job of political parties to convince them that it's in their self-interest to vote for them, and Labor failed at doing that. I hope they do better next time.

chillfox 7y ago
Morrison's greatest trick was probably making the rest of his ministers shut up the last few weeks. Labor's strategy could best be described as expecting destiny to take care of it.