Demonising the Desperate

Demonising the Desperate

Shock jocks have always raised my hackles. So have the weasel words that dominate the spin of politicians. But I am totally over the demonising of desperate people displaced by political persecution, civil war, religious factionalism, invasion, famine and the range of atrocious situations encountered by many who are not fortunate enough to have been born into a free, stable and democratic life.

      This week I’ve:

·         listened to a program on Radio National about NATO responses to a refugee boat on  which over two thirds of people died while potential rescue boats stood by and did nothing

·         read about attacks on immigrants and refugees in Greece 

·         Watched the SBS’s latest version of Go back to where you came from.

And what do they have in common? 

-          People using language that dehumanises the desperate by referring to them as criminals, queue jumpers, illegals, and security threats. Even the holding places are referred to as detention centres .

       I’m over hearing about the queue

I’ve come into Australia at a number of airports and I while I see queues for Australian passport holders, foreign passport holders, diplomats and air crew, I haven’t yet see the queue line marked refugees.

      I’m over hearing the catchcry: Stop the boats.

I can understand that no one wants to see desperate people taken advantage off by ruthless others who pile them on to unseaworthy vessels for profit. But I have to believe that no one willingly jeopardises their own life and safety and that of their families, if their reasons are not absolutely compelling.

  

I’m over the scaremongering that wants us to think that our whole national security and way of life is at risk from invading hordes. I’m still getting over the Reds under the Bed scare of my childhood.

So, my advice is ditch the detached rhetoric and political spin and start talking about real human beings who are in desperate need so we can find sensible solutions to assist them. 

In the end, it’s about who we are as a civilised society. And it’s how we deal with the most vulnerable and desperate around us that determines who we are as a culture.

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New Art works this week: 

Lake Tuggers Tweet

 I am currently preparing works for entry in the 2012 Rotary  Outdoor Art Show to be held in City Walk Canberra opening September 29.
www.qarts.com.au

Backyard Tweet

I'm not sitting around waiting to die

Clovelly Surf Club looking back to Coogee. August 2012

I’m not sitting around waiting to die.

In July of 2010 I walked out of my job – not the way I had planned to go after 40 years of full time work.  But that’s another story.

LAW – Life after ‘work’- has been a surprise. I never worried that I would have nothing to do, or that I would be bored or lonely. But the TV channels have me dead already.

Every time I switch on during the day – and that’s never before midday- I am bombarded with advertisements for funeral and life insurance. It is absolutely relentless  - Clive Robinson and his fey props and attempt to make it look cool by referring to relatives selling your stuff on ebay;  the weeping widow and his granddaughter  so grateful to the insurance company for providing cash on the wife and grandmother’s demise; the couple  not prepared to ‘risk the trip’ without the funeral insurance; the dilemma  about leaving one’s family to ‘clean up’ after you’ve gone.

The advertising companies have made a token gesture at doing some homework. They have discovered that older people:

Essaouira Tweeter August 2012

•   know there is such a thing as the  internet and eBay – der
•  have close relationships with their extended families- der
• are sometimes  grey nomads  - der
• can be made to feel guilty – der
• may not be as cashed up as they would like to be – der
• don’t want to be an imposition on their families – der… der… der.

What they have failed to realise is that if one is a ‘retiree’, one is not sitting at home anxious to be constantly reminded of his or her mortality. 

The worst of it all is that if I bought their product, the ads wouldn’t stop!

 There are so many things they could be promoting that might relate to my new lifestyle and its surprises, but they take the lazy option.

So, instead of thinking about funeral insurance, in the last ten days, here is a list of what I have been up to:

·         Provided technical advice to a start up business

·         Sewed a sample skirt for a new label’s winter 2013 collection

·         Planned and began promotion for a memorial function for 60 people

Kioloa tweeter Acrylic on canvas. August 2012

·         Catered breakfast and lunch for a group of 20 people

·         Tutored in maths

·         Attended the Russian Ballet

·         Completed a 16km social bike ride- mostly uphill

·         Walked from Coogee to Bondi

·         Participated in a Webinar

·         Read a book on blogging and planned my own blog

·         Mowed the lawn and attended to my winter vegetable patch

·         Started an Etsy shop- Wattleplace

·         Finished two paintings

·         Celebrated a friend’s Birthday

·         Managed the administration on our website www.thickerthanwater.com.au

How many of those things were provoked by TV advertising ?– only the ballet.

Have I bought funeral insurance? Absolutely not.