Please note this correspondence contains strong language and concepts that may offend.
I’m fed up with the "war on terror". I’m sick to the eyeballs with the rhetoric that implies I should be afraid of ghosts. I’m angry that unknown people in suits are telling me, constantly, that I should be scared of my shadow. I’m tired with the continuing arrogance our so-called leaders display towards the intelligence of the average person.
However, I’m also appalled that so many of my fellow Australians have been sucked into the current diversion from the real war. The real war of terror that receives little more than lip service in the halls of power and in their mouthpieces, the corporate media.
The real war that causes terror is the war being fought on the unemployed, the casual worker, the single mum, the invalid, the disabled, the injured, the immigrant, the asylum seeker and us all as consumers.
Why is it that a politician can take a quick fuck on an overseas trip just so she can get into his pants (she hopes?) while some poor sod, probably in the next suburb, has his unemployment benefit cut because some suit determines that he is not, in fact, living in a "domestic" relationship with the girlfriend he’s been with for ten years! For the next 12 weeks this poor bastard has to live on nothing while the ‘Hon.’ member gets to swan around in first class travel at our expense.
Who is more likely to contemplate death as a better way out in this case? Don’t tell me there is no war on those who rely on our generosity and sense of fairness for their daily bread.
I guess in her electorate there are also casual workers. Maybe they’ve held back to back contracts for ten years. Undoubtedly they’ve worked all the over time they’ve been asked to. Sure they’ve increased their output, implemented cost saving programs and boosted the companies profits. But should this sucker ask for leave and long service, he’ll be shown the door and told to either get the fuck out of here or turn up tomorrow.
At the same time the boss of the ‘Hon.’ Member goes around telling everyone she’s the best thing since sliced fucking bread! Don’t tell me she’s important in any sense more than ensuring the continued reign of the most appalling government in my lifetime. And then with a generous super pay out at the end.
I bet that in the ‘Hon.’ member’s electorate there is a young single mum who is trying to complete her degree. With little family support she is attempting to ‘better’ herself so she can get a ‘proper’ job in order to stand on her own two feet. She does a couple of shifts in a local pub to help her mate, the manager, out. He pays her in cash rather than go through the hoops of employing her. One day, in walks her Centrelink ‘case manager’. Within the week she gets a notice of review and eventually loses most of her Austudy.
All the while the ‘Hon.’ Member is quaffing wine and swanning around the grand ballroom enjoying the company of the area’s wealthy as they admire the latest works of the highly subsidised ‘corporate’ artist. Looks to me like she’s working her butt off there.
In a group home just a few suburbs away a short, balding man in his 50s is being abused by the under-trained staff of the nursing home he’s been living in since he was 40 and got hit by a car. His ABI left him unable to speak or keep his balance but he feels, thinks and is fully aware of his surroundings. Its not abuse as we would usually define it but I guess being locked in your room for up to 8 hours a day because the agency is more profit driven than humanitarian and therefore keeps staff numbers to the absolute minimum could be called imprisonment. More than once he has been chemically restrained because the staff have found him trying to slash his arms or legs when they finally opened up his cell.
While this man, a victim of our ‘world class’, ‘high tech’, ‘humane’, ‘best practice’ system of disability and invalid health care, tried to die and take away his pain, the ‘Hon.’ member found herself in the hotel in France trying to interest the younger man in a root. All he wanted to do was watch the free porn. "Stop your whinging, bitch", he barks, "this costs you nothing, so enjoy it". Sulking she retreats to the shops.
Meanwhile a young girl can’t get the image of the head out of her mind. Where she stands it’s dusty, hot and dry. Her tongue sticks to the roof of her mouth as she stares, wondering if the blood will ever stop. She notices, in the dead eyes of her sister, what she thought was recognition, but of course not. She’s dead. A shout stirs her and slowly she returns to the now. There is no head anymore. That occurred at home. The blood is nothing more that water on the red dirt. In silence she rises and moves into the mess hall for another tasteless meal.
The ‘Hon.’ member never thought in her wildest dreams that Spain cold be so wild. OK, the sex was sparse, but she was beginning to think the young bloke could be coming around and maybe, back at home, things would be better. But the present? Wow. The wine, the food, the vivid colors and sounds. She felt alive and vibrant.
For almost 50 minutes she sat waiting. Pressing 1, then selecting option 4 and pressing 3 had led her, if the message was to be believed, to the destination she sought. Every 30 seconds the voice broke up the inane music track and announced "Thanks for calling. Your call is important to us. We apologise for the delay but one of our consultants will be with you shortly". Finally she heard that comforting ringing tone. She held her breath. "May I help you", came the voice. She explained her situation. "Mmm", came the reply. "I’ll have to check with my supervisor". After a short break the voice comes back, "I’m sorry, that is handled by our other office. Their number is …".
The long flight back allowed the ‘Hon.’ Member to reflect on her trip. She had already compiled her report in order to comply with House requirements. After all, two pages should be more than enough to justify it. She picked up the paper (The Australian, of course) and noted with disdain the front-page headline, "Youth Crime on the Rise".
And you tell me there’s a fucking war on terror! Tens of thousands we never hear of, meet or know live in terror every day. They die in fear or in terror and we never know. Billions are squandered on corporate welfare and perks for our politicians, yet if a young person should make a mistake on their dole form, they are punished in the harshest ways. While the ‘Hon.’ members of both major parties chose to ignore the deplorable doubles standards they embrace, they deserve our condemnation.
The war of terror has been in full swing for years. There is no let up. The current distraction is designed to take our minds off the appalling conditions we now accept as normal. It’s said that if you take a frog and drop it in hot water it will jump out but if you place it in cold water and slowly heat it up you can have boiled frog for dinner. We are being slowly sautéed and we don’t even fucking acknowledge it.
As long as we refuse to act on the actions of our ‘Hon.’ Members, frankly, we deserve all we get. And fuck those who can’t look after themselves. That’s the war of terror and, like it or not, you have to chose whose side you would rather die on.