Like every talking head or person with a presence on social media, I too am about to weigh in with my two cents (notwithstanding we've not used copper currency in Australia since 1991) on the latest hue and cry concerning the Anzac Day tweet posted by Yassmin Abdel-Mageid.
Everyone knows I push for free speech, so I'm not offended that she has a view. She's entitled to it. I'm actually not offended by the content of the tweet per se because the plight of refugees concerns and distresses me also. What I'm pissed off about is her motivation and timing in posting the tweet.
Yassmin is far from stupid. She is an intelligent, articulate and accomplished young woman. Therefore, she must have known that posting such a comment on a day held sacred to most Australians would have caused one mofo of a stink.
I don't hold with the headlines saying she has insulted our diggers. I cannot for the life of me see how the words 'Lest. We. Forget. (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine...)' is a direct sling at the soldiers who died at Gallipoli. What I do see is the cynical appropriation of a solemn occasion to promote one's own agenda, and Yassmin, that is downright offensive. The other day I posted about the grub handing out the Australian Patriots brochures at my local Dawn Service, and although this tweet is right at the other end of the spectrum on refugees, it's just as tasteless.
Furthermore, the ensuing controversy, which I'm sure Yassmin must have anticipated, deflects from the issue of the wretched state of the refugees.
This is sort of thing Madonna does: something that is bound to piss people off en masse, in the name of self-promotion. Yassmin, you don't happen to have a new album coming out, do you?
This morning I saw Lynda Carter, the 70s Wonder Woman, on television. She looked great, but I daresay she's had some surgical assistance in that regard. I used to watch the show when I was in primary school. Princess Diana aka Wonder Woman aka Diana Prince (in the mortal guise), solving crimes and mooning over Major Steve Trevor. Who, like me, used to think Major Steve Trevor must have been the most obtuse person to ever draw breath? How could he not twig Diana Prince and Wonder Woman were the same being? Seriously, the shit would go down, and Diana Prince would duck away. Then Wonder Woman would appear and clean the shit up. She would leave the scene, and then Diana Prince would reappear, having missed it all. Ergo, the two women were never seen together. Also, how many women did Steve Trevor know who stood six feet tall, were built like a brick shithouse, and genuinely stunningly beautiful? I'm willing to bet not many. Yet he never connected the dots. Maybe the statuesque Amazonian stunner should have set her sights elsewhere.
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