Some front pages of today’s papers carry the story about a hundred and fifty school children between the ages of twelve and eighteen, do you mind, marching on John Howard’s offices in Sydney in a protest over Pauline Hanson and they were quoted as saying ‘I just want to protest about racism’.
Who is responsible for this? Who has put this racism flag up the pole?
Why is it that every time anyone has opposition to the migration policy, the epithet ‘racist’ is thrown at them.
These kids are having their minds poisoned. I have every sympathy for them. They have been force fed this notion that because Pauline Hanson and others may have a view on migration that differs and because no-one has got the brains to intellectually argue against that notion, then just call her and others ‘racist’.
Everyone from former Prime Jones has come with this shabby trick. It was only a matter of a few years ago that John Howard was described as a ‘racist’. Surely a laughable notion. Well now it is serious. Who now is ready to accept responsibility for the fact that many of these students who probably have read nothing at all other than headlines are now shouting slogans like ‘Hanson, Howard, racist coward.’
This behaviour is a disgraceful derivative of the disgraceful development within section of the media and amongst some politicians to call everybody who they disagree on migration - call them ‘racist’. The kids get the headlines and away they go and in parrot fashion all the slogans are trotted out. Well we’ve dwelt on the politics of personality, of vilification, of vindictiveness, spitefulness and sloganeering and now in some way the kids have picked up the slogans.
And that surely brings shame not on them, but on us who made them what they are.
I’m Alan Jones.