As the shock – to them, at least – of losing last May’s federal election, reverberates through Australian Labor, two distinct schools of thought are emerging. The majority consensus in the red corner seems to be that Labor did nothing wrong, got its policies exactly right, and that their loss was all the fault of stupid voters who were too thick and prejudiced to see the light.
A much smaller bloc in Labor is grappling with the horrifying thought that maybe, just maybe, it was them, after all.
Labor frontbencher Clare O’Neil will call on the party to push back against political correctness in light of the May election defeat, saying progressives are too quick to dismiss people with opposing views…the opposition innovation spokeswoman will on Thursday say she was dismayed during the election campaign to discover lifelong Labor voters felt “progressives were talking down to them”.
Gee, what would give people that idea? I mean, apart from the left continually branding everyone “deniers”, “-phobes”, “bigots”, “racists”…
“When … Labor people of a lifetime tell us they feel they are not allowed to question new social standards that seem to be reset every other week, I think we need to listen…There is a culture developing in the progressive movement where membership is granted with a box of ideas. And if you don’t accept one of the ideas in the box, you do not merely have a different opinion, you are obviously wrong, probably stupid and possibly subhuman.
“Not everyone with a concern about the immigration rate is a bigot. Not everyone with a hesitation about changing gender roles is sexist. Not every social change is inarguably a good one.
“If Australians feel they can’t question assumptions and positions in conversation with us, they will find someone else to talk to about it.”
It’s not a culture “developing”, it’s a culture in full, festering swing. It’s been that way for nearly two decades. As James Delingpole described it, it’s as if every middle-class Arts student wanker is given a handbook during O-Week: “This Is What You Believe”. Except that now it’s a kind of mental meta-text that gets regularly updated as Progressive HQ keeps shifting the goalposts of Correct Thought.
Ms O’Neil…[says] the [election] loss has “changed my outlook on politics forever” and warn that centre-left parties around the world have been “stymied by a disease of managerialism”.
“I don’t think we are winning hearts and minds out there talking about policy this way. If an election is about whether a family will be 4 per cent better off in five years under one leader and 6 per cent better off under the other one, I think we are missing the mark,” she will say. “Politics is about offering a compelling story about our country: who we are, where we are going. One of the most upsetting things I have heard in speaking with people after the election, especially in the regions, was how we sounded on the doorstep. The impression of many was that progressives were talking down to them. I know this is not what was intended, but if our voters hear sanctimony, that is what matters.”
theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/as-progressives-we-got-it-wrong-says-labors-claire-oneil
Of course, it was intended. Leftism today has become a cult. Either you sing from the hymn sheet, or you’re a heretic, outcast and unclean.
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