Empathy 101
Today John HoWARd attempted empathy.
With his complete failure of Concepts of Self Determination, Truth for Liars and expulsion from Sincerity for Bastards, I warn you, what follows is ugly.
Talking to ABC Radio he wondered out loud whether it was helpful for Kim Nguyen to be given false hope regarding her son Nguyen Tuong Van who faces death by hanging at dawn on 02 December 2005 in Singapore.
In the following quote our John patronises Kim by assuming that she can’t cope with the hopeless truth (as he sees it):
"I don’t know that we help her suffering by pretending that there are things that can be done that are going to bring about the change other than the only thing that would bring about the change and that is a change in the attitude of the Singaporean government."
Then he remembers who he is and injects his much loved fear element into the equation.
"And the more international constructs that are brought to bear on the issue, the less likely rather than the more likely it is for the Singaporean government to change its mind."
He would have us believe that it is better to be pessimistic than optimistic and cannot conceptualise the notion of realistic. He has patronised and dismissed an amazingly strong woman, chastised two Lawyers, devastated an extended family and saddened almost everyone else involved.
The best that John HoWARd can offer Kim Nguyen is his tough-love. He dismisses other suggestions and focuses on some archaic notion of paternalism. Tough-love is often described as abuse by the survivors of it. They state that it creates hurt and pain and they are not left feeling loved. It is a flawed notion, not dissimilar to fighting for peace. A flawed notion from a flawed PM.
You can stop helping now John.
Image from here
November 22nd, 2005 at 7:31 pm
Howard obviously believes that the best thing to do in the face of an oppressive authority is to be cowed and silent. That’s certainly what he expects of you and I, Suki.
November 22nd, 2005 at 7:42 pm
Where would a grrrl buy a loudhailer?
November 22nd, 2005 at 9:05 pm
Rage against the dying of the Light
The public opposition to the pending execution of Van Nguyen by the Singapore government appears to be growing. If a lot of people cancelled their connections to Optus and their flights on Singapore Airlines it would make an impact.
…
November 22nd, 2005 at 9:54 pm
So true Andrew.
Moreover, whatever we do offers hopefulness. Not just for Van Nguyen and his family and supporters, but also for the rest of us.
Right now, in this climate of suppression we all need to feel that what we believe matters.
November 23rd, 2005 at 4:54 am
http://Getup.org.au is running a campaign on this front. It’s a pretty clever site, using modern techonology to facilitate change.
The blurb of their campaign is:
25-year old Melbourne man Van Tuong Nguyen is currently sitting in a jail cell in Singapore awaiting execution for drug trafficking. Please take a few minutes to write to the President of Singapore and respectfully urge him to grant Van Tuong Nguyen clemency.
which connects to a email page, which helps you write the email.
Pretty cool.
November 24th, 2005 at 6:28 pm
Isn’t it that damn slippery,that while all THIS is happening,and other issues of major concern, Senator Hill , has managed to let it be Known that B-52’s will be dropping cheer, to the Northern Territory near Katherine and returning to Guam? Possibly depleted uranium. Not much media attention there!
November 24th, 2005 at 9:33 pm
This was all I could find joe2.
November 24th, 2005 at 9:37 pm
David,
GetUp is organising a meet and greet in Sydney next week and I’m hoping to get along and meet lots of like-minded people.
November 25th, 2005 at 12:00 am
You have a point about the little fuckbuket’s attempts at empathy, but I’m still looking for the marbles that clattered from my head after reading the Beazley profile in last weekend’s Oz Magazine.
Apparently Kim’s finally got this whole opposition leader business nailed. Yes, after 26 years in parliament, a ministerial career, and three times round the block as party leader Kimbo has revealed that his recent decision to watch the evening news (!) has delivered the startling insight that you’ve got to get your point across in 15 words or less.
Well I suppose it’s a start, but one wonders what dark corner of the outer universe KB’s been inhabiting.
Please, somebody stop the pain. Instead of the ALP vainly trying to sustain this helpless behemoth with buckets of water from Lake Burley Griffin, why can’t somebody just invite the Japanese whaling fleet to Canberra and end the whole sorry farce?
November 25th, 2005 at 6:26 am
Peter,
At the day of action last week, as Kim got up to speak the crowd of around 20,000 booed and let fly with “Thanks for nothing Kim”. I know Kim was on the screen, but I hope someone feeds back to him that it used to be that a Labor leader just had to breath in an out to get unionists to cheer.
Wall to wall fuckbuket even with Kim’s epiphany I fear.
November 25th, 2005 at 5:58 pm
Kim the whale has finally spoken out , under the prod of Whitlam and Fraser. Attacks by Howard, as to do with “ticker”, have been fully countered by his seditious comments that our P.M. has “no bottle”, in the Kim Nguyen case. How good is that for a future featherduster election?
November 25th, 2005 at 8:29 pm
It’s truly heartbreaking. So many lives will be affected by Kim’s mediocrity and inaction…