As I’ve written several times, Australians are simultaneously blessed and cursed with two Scott Morrisons.
On the blessed side, Morrison, more than ably backed by Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Peter Dutton, has shown the sort of steel against China that Australians have long been crying out for. In standing up to Bully Beijing, Morrison has rightly caught the attention of leaders around the world.
On the cursed side, though, there’s “Scotty from Marketing”: the former ad-man who too often treats domestic issues like just another marketing problem. Notably, that often leads Morrison to cave to the left-media on everything from a made-up “rape culture” to the equally made-up “climate crisis”.
A recent speech by Morrison to the United Israel Appeal went mostly ignored by the media, who briefly paused to heap derision on Morrison’s reference to “the evil one”, before rushing back to their Twitter feeds.
But, argues Lyle Shelton, it was “the most important speech of any Australian Prime Minister in the post war era”. After all, Robert Menzies’ epochal “Forgotten People” speech was delivered in 1942. Like Menzies’ paean to middle Australia, Morrison is kicking back against the pricks of the left.
Morrison struck deep at the heart of our illness.
He correctly diagnosed the cancer as entitlement mentality, identity politics and cancel culture[…]
But Morrison didn’t just dwell on the problem. He gave us some golden keys, reminding us of the timeless but now unfashionable Truth that morality is the indispensable ingredient of free and democratic societies.
Morality needn’t necessarily refer to specifically Christian ethics, but it cannot be denied that the broad Judeo-Christian ethos (which, it should be remembered, fused Greek and Hebrew thought) is the foundation of Western morality.
Morrison reminded us of another timeless Truth which he said was the foundation of morality. That is a concept which in turn is at the heart of the Judeo-Christian tradition – human dignity.
“If you see the dignity and worth of another person, another human being, the beating heart in front of you, you’re less likely to disrespect them, insult or show contempt or hatred for them, or seek to cancel them, as is becoming the fashion these days.”
More importantly, Morrison laid down a challenge to the totalitarian collectivism of the modern left.
As Morrison warned, today’s danger is an expectation that the state will take care of everything.
“As citizens, we cannot allow what we think we are entitled to, to become more important than what we are responsible for as citizens.”
This of course went to our responsibility as individuals to build marriages, family, associations of clubs and community groups and faith networks.
“These are the further building blocks of community on that individual, providing the stability and sinews of society that bind us one to another.”
In contrast, Morrison repudiated identity politics which is divisive and sadly drives so much of the public discourse.
“You are more, we are more, individually, more than the things others try and identify us by, you by, in this age of identity politics.
“You are more than your gender, you are more than your race, you are more than your sexuality, you are more than your ethnicity, you are more than your religion, your language group, your age.”
Far from completely repudiating identity, Morrison offered a qualifier which strident, power-obsessed Critical Theory ignores:
“All of these of course contribute to who we may be and the incredible diversity of our society.
“But of themselves they are not the essence of our humanity.”
This is, of course, in complete contrast to the collectivist mentality of the social justice warrior. Such a mentality completely negates the worth of the individual and tears apart the fabric of the community.
The ramifications of this speech are far-reaching. Its thesis, based on the timeless virtues which gave us our freedom and made us great, flies counter to the current cultural narrative coming from our universities, the ABC and those driving our education curriculum.
It was ironic that on the same day Morrison delivered this speech the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority recommended junking our Christian heritage and ancient Greek and Roman history from classrooms in favour of more anti-British “invasion day” tellings of our past.
Morrison’s speech is a signal to the cultural Marxists that their Long March is to be reversed[…]
It’s up to all of us to now have his back because the radical Left will resist vigorously.
The Good Sauce
As writer David Cole says, the left have learned that softly, softly doesn’t work: their path to power is to scream and shout down as loudly as they can, in the hope of fooling politicians that they represent the majority. A majority who’ve been silent for far too long.
Scott Morrison has reminded the forgotten people that they exist and they are important.
Let’s hope he doesn’t soon forget his own words.
Please share this article so that others can discover The BFD
