Stage Managed Offensive (part one)

Part One: leadership squabble
© Melina Magdalena

Big news this week in Australia: John Howard and Peter Costello’s battle for supremacy. Did anyone else notice how little passion either of these men expressed for his position, his party, his nation; his people?

I had a conversation with a friend yesterday who was describing the kind of blank-faced beige bureaucrats who govern us. They have not a smidgeon of character, and are shape-changing creatures who magically alter their facial expressions, stance and opinions to suit whatever occasion presents itself.

However, let’s not ignore their undeniable skills at the art of distraction and media manipulation.

The polls are not favouring dear John just now, and why should they be?

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“Hey Peter – “Let’s play dirty and grab some media attention by acting out in front of the millions of Australians whose lives have been negatively affected by our policies.”

“What a good idea, John! The joke will definitely be on them, if we twist it a little. We’ve got to somehow convince them that politicians don’t lie.”

“The best way to do that is if you accuse me of lying. Then I’ll prove I didn’t.”

Do you believe him?
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My teenagers are good at the same thing. I suppose they learned it from me, in the earliest years of their lives. I honed my skills at the art of distraction during the hours spent waiting for and riding on buses around Adelaide.

I’ve seen my kids band together and create a scene over the most petty and trivial of issues (for example which placemat they get to use at the table, when all the placemats came from the same identical set).

The effectiveness of this technique lies in the fact that I am momentarily distracted from whatever was preoccupying me at the time. My kids do it to jolt me out of distress. They pick up on my distress, become distressed in turn, and act out, in order to put me back on track.

Oh – and Australia needs a nuclear power industry like I need a hole in the head.

GET REAL, FOLKS!