Time after time, Morrison uses his religion as some kind of get out of jail free card. His thin-skinned narcissism and belligerent attitude towards anyone who would challenge his actions hardly smacks of the grace and humility of someone who would turn the other cheek. His smug references to religion are simply a total abrogation of any personal responsibility or genuine self-reflection.
With this book, so clearly pitched at the next audience for his opportunism having sensed that the last mob he tried to con and found him out, he simply makes plain his tone-deaf charlatanism. Always failing upwards, one town ahead of the posse, eye on the next opening for a quick buck, he’s on his way to a nation where the breathtaking hypocrisy of the pseudo-religious hustler is well-rewarded.
Morrison represents the very worst of Australia: the stubborn ignorance, the casual incompetence, the refusal to take genuine responsibility, the crass entitlement of the privileged, the cruelty and bigotry of the morally indignant.
That his choice of religious brand to run interference for his manifest personal moral failings should be the weirdo cult of prosperity Pentecostalism is no surprise. It’s about as far removed from the actual teaching of Jesus as you could possibly get. If his meanness of spirit, crass narcissism and crude incompetence hadn’t blighted so many Australian lives he’d merely be an oafish laughing stock. Instead, he handsomely earns his reputation as a massive piece of shit.
☝️☝️☝️What he said. Guy Rundle is seeing something that none of us ever observed in any of his public actions. I consider all of that bullshit to be a performative charade. He never showed empathy to anyone beneath him, he never had Christian charity. Tony Abbott's Catholicism was far more evident and understandable.
Now that's invective! An underestimated and underutilised skill. Not saying I agree, but lots of that rings more accurate than Rundle's musings which are, as a general rule, best ignored.
Forgive me if I remain unmoved by ScoMo's revelations of his struggles with anxiety. And I say that as someone who has, in the past, struggled with anxiety and clinical depression myself. For one thing, if I had as many schemes in play and had to keep track of as many lies as ScoMo did when he was in power, I'd have anxiety too. You are right to point out that he was the cause of much anxiety in many in the electorate. Also, ScoMo is a narcissist and just because he believes that he is God's friend doesn't make him less of a narcissist (more of one, if anything). Being a narcissist means that he could still be prone to anxiety (he has a wounded ego to protect, after all) but it means that he isn't prone to ethical behaviour. During his time in politics he gaslit (as you said), flat out lied, and looked after the interests of himself and his corporate sponsors ruthlessley. Why on earth should I care about such a relentlessly self-serving creature? Your observation that he may well be writing for an American public is an interesting one, and would fit in with his narcissistic behaviour. He has moved on to looking for a fresh audience and a new source of narcissistic supply, as well as lucrative speaking engagements. I'm not going near his biography; I don't want to reignite my own anxiety and rage now that the Australian electorate is rid of him.
It is indeed deeply weird that an Australian PM has tailored a biography for an American audience. But he's been deeply weird for a long time, and a fair percentage of Australians don't seem to have ever been bothered about that.
He's not a silly person at core, and realised there is little point in writing to an audience that has made up its mind. So there is a transactional logic in his decision-making here. As it's not for Australians, I absolve you from any responsibility in reading any further :).
Yes, the vote is going against continuing, and although I'm relieved, I suspect I will have one more crack at it. I will certainly be interested to see what the intended audience makes of it.
Morrison is just too mediocre to be of any interest to me. A PR man with a series of confected public images, epitomised by his shift from rugby man to devoted follower of the Sharks. I couldn't summon up the energy to hate him, or even dislike him with any intensity. I haven't even read the news articles about his book, let alone the book itself.
The only interesting thing he did was the five secret ministries. Since you have the book, I suggest you skip straight to that bit, and see what, if anything he has to say for himsel on that score.
Yes, I like the idea of skipping through it and picking out the odd juicy bit.
(Btw, one of the most-read things I did back in the Surfdom days was a running review of Richard Clarke's Against All Enemies. Blog format lent itself to that really well. Maybe that's what I was thinking of here...?)
All the focus is on 'Morrison the man', but will anybody write about the system that enabled Morrison to become PM? Is Morrison the worst PM that the duopoly delivered? What qualities will future PMs with minority govts require? Is Albanese capable of being that PM in 2025? Morrison's finished, Albanese and the duopoly maintains the status quo but what will the future look like or will it just be invented by the MSM when we get there?
Absolutely, his ascension is a product of deep internal dysfunction that had been building for years. And yes, there will be the actual future. And there will be the future the media describe and they're unlikely to be the same thing.
I have long been of the view that over time, people of a religious bent (which I am not, and never have been... I have been an atheist since before I knew there was a word for it) tend, over time, to find themselves the sect that best reflects their personality, politics and worldview--providing, of course, that their culture allows for such spiritual mobility.
People who are generous and compassionate often ultimately find a religion that values and practises those. People who are self-serving, selfish and given to performative expression to manipulate others, do the same. After all, there are plenty of options within just Christianity to reward and reinforce pretty much any world view, its teachings and interpretations historically having been used to rationalise both the best and the worst of human behaviour (oh hi, Luther).
I have two cousins who exemplify this perfectly. One is Catholic. Her Catholicism is the version that genuinely cares for others. If anyone in her community is in need, she will do whatever she can to help, irrespective of how much it inconveniences her. I confess (ha!) that at times I've felt irked by her telling me that she'll pray for me when things in my life have gone pearshaped, but I know she means it to the depths of her being. She wants nothing more than to help others and her particular version of Catholicism is perfect for that. In another culture I could see her being a very productive Sikh.
The other cousin was raised Anglican and became a very successful executive in various multinational corporations. He was based in the US and became a Southern Baptist. And when I say "became", I mean he embraced it utterly. He had no television playing in his mansion other than televangelists booming through every room from vast screens. He is, in my layperson's view, a Machiavellian narcissist, whose treatment of his family has been abhorrent and it undoubtedly explains his meteoric rise within the cutthroat ranks of corporate capitalism. (He's since been a pastor in Hillsong, and most recently, converted to a particularly conservative flavour of Judaism. I guess happy-clappy wasn't sufficiently Old Testament and hardline for him.)
Scott Morrison is another who shopped around for his god. And he found one that would rationalise and value all his worst traits, including his inhumane politics.
I don't doubt he sincerely believes in his god. Does that demand respect or some form of immunity from criticism or condemnation? I don't think so.
I think that's right. I remember a friend in politics telling me years ago that whenever Morrison walked into a room full of people, he'd scan them, work out who was most important to him, and zero in. He'd tailor his persona to suit.
Really well, thanks, Gavin! Hope things are going nicely for you too.
I'm doing Dutch classes to prepare for my inburgering exams, which I need to do for citizenship; writing my next novel; spending time in my new garden; and doing a fair bit of travelling around nearby countries, particularly France and Ireland -- my two favourite countries. It's a pretty fine life, I have to say. :)
No longer on Twitter... well, I keep an account there in the forlorn hope that Musk will one day lose control of it and someone sane will take over. These days, Substack is the closest I get to to social media!
The following is an extract from a sermon given by journalist Chris Hedges at a service held at the encampment for Gaza at Princeton University on April 28th.
"Jesus, if he lived in contemporary society, would be undocumented. He was not a Roman citizen. He lived without rights, under Roman occupation. Jesus was a person of color. The Romans were white. And the Romans, who peddled their own version of white supremacy, nailed people of color to crosses almost as often as we finish them off with lethal injections, gun them down in the streets, lock them up in cages or slaughter them in Gaza. The Romans killed Jesus as an insurrectionist, a revolutionary. They feared the radicalism of the Christian Gospel. And they were right to fear it. The Roman state saw Jesus the way the American state saw Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Then, like now, prophets were killed."
We know very well how Mr "I stopped the boats" dealt with the undocumented.
Hedges goes on to say, "The Bible unequivocally condemns the powerful. It is not a self-help manual to become rich. It does not bless America or any other nation. It was written for the powerless, for those James Cone calls the crucified of the earth. It was written to give a voice to, and affirm the dignity of, those being crushed by malignant power and empire."
If Mr Morrison was graced with a conscience, rather than troubled by anxiety, he would be riven with shame. Morrison and his merry men are well aquainted with the concept of malignant power, they unleashed it ruthlessly on the neediest in our society.
He certainly isn't a follower of the Christ I know anything about.
Don't waste your time reading his absurdist trivia.
I don’t want to derail this discussion, but as an aside I want to say that Chris Hedges doesn’t know what he is talking about. The Roman Empire, for all its other ‘evils’, was a very colour blind power. Hedges is actually wrong in most of the things he says about the Empire.
You probably have more knowledge of the Roman empire than I, your critique of Hedges may be correct, in that respect. I believe his critique of the US empire is gained from personal experience, and is accurate.
I guarantee that anything I read from Chris Hedges on Gaza, Palestine or the Middle East is actually written by a journalist with expertise on the topic, rather than a stenographer regurgitating the latest propaganda from a powerful lobby acting for a foreign nation.
With regard to Hedges thesis of the undocumented Jesus. How would he fair under the previous regime set up by Rudd, perfected by Morrison and maintained by Albanese?
Yeh - Nah - Actions speak louder than words - Morrison can be judged by his actions and they were disgraceful. And, just because he mentions God, does not mean he is religious - there are plenty of fundamentalist nutters that mention God. To truly be a religious person, one must live the scriptures - I don't remember Jesus being a narcissistic, belligerent, lying, cheating mongrel
Thanks, Tim. You give him too much credit re his religious "prosperity-theology' crudeness - he and all the other evangelicals similarly afflicted with self-righteousness. I emerged from being "immersed" in a somewhat related self-righteous fundamentalist Protestant "faith" - out of the US (too) at the grand old age of 19 - but it was a permanent break with the unreality of the delusions still suffered by someone who was the PM of this country - who rose to that position via back-slapping/stabbing and undermining - typical of the Liberal Party (let me write that for Mike Pence - so he understands - Australia's contemporary Tea Party/Republican Party) rising up this century out of the relaxed but fearful imaginings of a fridge magnet mantra from John Dubya Howard.
You are referring to his intended US evangelical Pentecultist and Zionist-supporting demographic and its tiny proportion here. Among that mob there is a chance it will sell except that they are not especially known for reading much beyond their selected verses and stories from the Bible - to be honest. Having said that - and with his self-serving buddyhood with arch-cultist and danger to the world Mike Pompeo - that may be enough? The thing about these cultists is whether they believe the drivel they spout and babble about - arms waving wildly - or not. If they truly believe then of course they are driven forward with the notion that they can help bring to fruition the so-called Rapture/Second Coming. These ARE The Last Days - wars and rumours of war, pestilence and famine, earthquakes and so on - including Armageddon - centred in the Zionist stronghold of Israel. Hasten the day, Lord Jesus - is their mantra. Therein lies the crucial danger to our planet. They are the true danger - careless of the planet and all its other inhabitants - its environment and resources - and especially of the 99% of us who don't believe the nonsense - being of a myriad of other faiths and belief systems in countries and societies all around the world. One of my British cousins, a noted Jesuit theologian, was the first to read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings in manuscript form - and to comment to the man who acted as his mentor when he entered Oxford - that he clearly understood the story in terms of the eternal Manichean cosmic struggle between light and darkness. Between the forces of good and those opposed. And it's a story - helping the readers to find some kind of morally upright pathway forward in their own existences. This is NOT the message which in any degree could come out of Morrison's book - from the character of the man who was once the promoter of "on-water-matters" cruelty towards asylum-seekers - the promoter of Robodebt. Just because he could shout "Go the Sharks!" as if it gave him "cover" with the "common folk" - it very definitely did NOT make him one of the common folk. I'd like to see any report on him from his Tourist Board dismissals in Aotearoa and here in Australia. That the Liberal Party allowed him to advance - with clever skulduggery - through their ranks to Ministry level - and then the prize of ultimate national power as PM - simply reveals how flawed it all is.
Tim, this isn’t fair, you’ve forced me to subscribe to comment on Scumo. May God have mercy on you for this.
I started typing for 20 minutes, poring out my bile and hate for Morrison, at the end I was just tired. So I deleted it and I’m now starting again.
If Morrison had severe depression, I have no sympathy for him, none. The man, to me, has never been seen to show any regard for anyone, unless they can be of benefit to him and it’s of no surprise he should find a version of Christianity where the ethos is “What God can do for you”. This book is just a remaking of Morrison for his new career path in the US, it’s a sort of ‘get to know me’ for the conservatives over there. I was going to go on about his faux beliefs but Mal has done it in a far more articulate manner than I could ever hope to do.
When it comes to religious or spiritual beliefs, I have none, but I have quite a few friends who do and I value their friendships and have respect for their beliefs, because in general, they try to live their lives by them, quietly trying to do what they believe is correct. I have yet to see Morrison or any other politician who wear their beliefs so stridently, do so in a convincing manner.
If there is a heaven, I hope Morrison burns in hell.
Considering they did crucify people back I think it would be inappropriate to laugh, but laugh I did. Never heard Sandy’s comment before , nor your reply. Just so bloody funny.
As someone who has inflicted upon himself some execrable Australian political writing by our political class I sympathise with your question. I am much more inclined to JQ's view of Mr Morrison, but the reason why I think we need to read the auto-biographies and the gormless insider tomes is to answer the questions: why and how do our parties turn to people as leaders who are completely and obviously unsuited to the roles of party and national leader? What's the pathology here? (I have theories). But unless we nail it, and can explain it, I fear the parties will keep doing it. I see no sign the LP has learned a lesson, and I wouldn't take odds the ALP has either.
Time after time, Morrison uses his religion as some kind of get out of jail free card. His thin-skinned narcissism and belligerent attitude towards anyone who would challenge his actions hardly smacks of the grace and humility of someone who would turn the other cheek. His smug references to religion are simply a total abrogation of any personal responsibility or genuine self-reflection.
With this book, so clearly pitched at the next audience for his opportunism having sensed that the last mob he tried to con and found him out, he simply makes plain his tone-deaf charlatanism. Always failing upwards, one town ahead of the posse, eye on the next opening for a quick buck, he’s on his way to a nation where the breathtaking hypocrisy of the pseudo-religious hustler is well-rewarded.
Morrison represents the very worst of Australia: the stubborn ignorance, the casual incompetence, the refusal to take genuine responsibility, the crass entitlement of the privileged, the cruelty and bigotry of the morally indignant.
That his choice of religious brand to run interference for his manifest personal moral failings should be the weirdo cult of prosperity Pentecostalism is no surprise. It’s about as far removed from the actual teaching of Jesus as you could possibly get. If his meanness of spirit, crass narcissism and crude incompetence hadn’t blighted so many Australian lives he’d merely be an oafish laughing stock. Instead, he handsomely earns his reputation as a massive piece of shit.
Wow!
Mate - that was very well written and spot on. It's Morrison to a tee
A perfect description of that bottom feeding scum dweller.👏👏👏
☝️☝️☝️What he said. Guy Rundle is seeing something that none of us ever observed in any of his public actions. I consider all of that bullshit to be a performative charade. He never showed empathy to anyone beneath him, he never had Christian charity. Tony Abbott's Catholicism was far more evident and understandable.
Now that's invective! An underestimated and underutilised skill. Not saying I agree, but lots of that rings more accurate than Rundle's musings which are, as a general rule, best ignored.
Misread part of that as "morally indigent".
Forgive me if I remain unmoved by ScoMo's revelations of his struggles with anxiety. And I say that as someone who has, in the past, struggled with anxiety and clinical depression myself. For one thing, if I had as many schemes in play and had to keep track of as many lies as ScoMo did when he was in power, I'd have anxiety too. You are right to point out that he was the cause of much anxiety in many in the electorate. Also, ScoMo is a narcissist and just because he believes that he is God's friend doesn't make him less of a narcissist (more of one, if anything). Being a narcissist means that he could still be prone to anxiety (he has a wounded ego to protect, after all) but it means that he isn't prone to ethical behaviour. During his time in politics he gaslit (as you said), flat out lied, and looked after the interests of himself and his corporate sponsors ruthlessley. Why on earth should I care about such a relentlessly self-serving creature? Your observation that he may well be writing for an American public is an interesting one, and would fit in with his narcissistic behaviour. He has moved on to looking for a fresh audience and a new source of narcissistic supply, as well as lucrative speaking engagements. I'm not going near his biography; I don't want to reignite my own anxiety and rage now that the Australian electorate is rid of him.
So many people feel the same way from what I can see.
It is indeed deeply weird that an Australian PM has tailored a biography for an American audience. But he's been deeply weird for a long time, and a fair percentage of Australians don't seem to have ever been bothered about that.
He's not a silly person at core, and realised there is little point in writing to an audience that has made up its mind. So there is a transactional logic in his decision-making here. As it's not for Australians, I absolve you from any responsibility in reading any further :).
Yes, the vote is going against continuing, and although I'm relieved, I suspect I will have one more crack at it. I will certainly be interested to see what the intended audience makes of it.
Morrison is just too mediocre to be of any interest to me. A PR man with a series of confected public images, epitomised by his shift from rugby man to devoted follower of the Sharks. I couldn't summon up the energy to hate him, or even dislike him with any intensity. I haven't even read the news articles about his book, let alone the book itself.
The only interesting thing he did was the five secret ministries. Since you have the book, I suggest you skip straight to that bit, and see what, if anything he has to say for himsel on that score.
Yes, I like the idea of skipping through it and picking out the odd juicy bit.
(Btw, one of the most-read things I did back in the Surfdom days was a running review of Richard Clarke's Against All Enemies. Blog format lent itself to that really well. Maybe that's what I was thinking of here...?)
All the focus is on 'Morrison the man', but will anybody write about the system that enabled Morrison to become PM? Is Morrison the worst PM that the duopoly delivered? What qualities will future PMs with minority govts require? Is Albanese capable of being that PM in 2025? Morrison's finished, Albanese and the duopoly maintains the status quo but what will the future look like or will it just be invented by the MSM when we get there?
Absolutely, his ascension is a product of deep internal dysfunction that had been building for years. And yes, there will be the actual future. And there will be the future the media describe and they're unlikely to be the same thing.
I have long been of the view that over time, people of a religious bent (which I am not, and never have been... I have been an atheist since before I knew there was a word for it) tend, over time, to find themselves the sect that best reflects their personality, politics and worldview--providing, of course, that their culture allows for such spiritual mobility.
People who are generous and compassionate often ultimately find a religion that values and practises those. People who are self-serving, selfish and given to performative expression to manipulate others, do the same. After all, there are plenty of options within just Christianity to reward and reinforce pretty much any world view, its teachings and interpretations historically having been used to rationalise both the best and the worst of human behaviour (oh hi, Luther).
I have two cousins who exemplify this perfectly. One is Catholic. Her Catholicism is the version that genuinely cares for others. If anyone in her community is in need, she will do whatever she can to help, irrespective of how much it inconveniences her. I confess (ha!) that at times I've felt irked by her telling me that she'll pray for me when things in my life have gone pearshaped, but I know she means it to the depths of her being. She wants nothing more than to help others and her particular version of Catholicism is perfect for that. In another culture I could see her being a very productive Sikh.
The other cousin was raised Anglican and became a very successful executive in various multinational corporations. He was based in the US and became a Southern Baptist. And when I say "became", I mean he embraced it utterly. He had no television playing in his mansion other than televangelists booming through every room from vast screens. He is, in my layperson's view, a Machiavellian narcissist, whose treatment of his family has been abhorrent and it undoubtedly explains his meteoric rise within the cutthroat ranks of corporate capitalism. (He's since been a pastor in Hillsong, and most recently, converted to a particularly conservative flavour of Judaism. I guess happy-clappy wasn't sufficiently Old Testament and hardline for him.)
Scott Morrison is another who shopped around for his god. And he found one that would rationalise and value all his worst traits, including his inhumane politics.
I don't doubt he sincerely believes in his god. Does that demand respect or some form of immunity from criticism or condemnation? I don't think so.
Yes, good distinction. His sincerity doesn't of itself command respect. I'm just thinking he actually has a kind of Zelig quality.
I think that's right. I remember a friend in politics telling me years ago that whenever Morrison walked into a room full of people, he'd scan them, work out who was most important to him, and zero in. He'd tailor his persona to suit.
The ultimate hollow man.
MM an aside - How's life in the Netherlands post-Australia? Are you still on X/Twitter?
Really well, thanks, Gavin! Hope things are going nicely for you too.
I'm doing Dutch classes to prepare for my inburgering exams, which I need to do for citizenship; writing my next novel; spending time in my new garden; and doing a fair bit of travelling around nearby countries, particularly France and Ireland -- my two favourite countries. It's a pretty fine life, I have to say. :)
No longer on Twitter... well, I keep an account there in the forlorn hope that Musk will one day lose control of it and someone sane will take over. These days, Substack is the closest I get to to social media!
Terrific - hope to cross paths again on Substack. All the best. Cheers gavin
The following is an extract from a sermon given by journalist Chris Hedges at a service held at the encampment for Gaza at Princeton University on April 28th.
"Jesus, if he lived in contemporary society, would be undocumented. He was not a Roman citizen. He lived without rights, under Roman occupation. Jesus was a person of color. The Romans were white. And the Romans, who peddled their own version of white supremacy, nailed people of color to crosses almost as often as we finish them off with lethal injections, gun them down in the streets, lock them up in cages or slaughter them in Gaza. The Romans killed Jesus as an insurrectionist, a revolutionary. They feared the radicalism of the Christian Gospel. And they were right to fear it. The Roman state saw Jesus the way the American state saw Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Then, like now, prophets were killed."
We know very well how Mr "I stopped the boats" dealt with the undocumented.
Hedges goes on to say, "The Bible unequivocally condemns the powerful. It is not a self-help manual to become rich. It does not bless America or any other nation. It was written for the powerless, for those James Cone calls the crucified of the earth. It was written to give a voice to, and affirm the dignity of, those being crushed by malignant power and empire."
If Mr Morrison was graced with a conscience, rather than troubled by anxiety, he would be riven with shame. Morrison and his merry men are well aquainted with the concept of malignant power, they unleashed it ruthlessly on the neediest in our society.
He certainly isn't a follower of the Christ I know anything about.
Don't waste your time reading his absurdist trivia.
Shame is a key word in this, isn't it? It has almost completely disappeared from contemporary politics.
I don’t want to derail this discussion, but as an aside I want to say that Chris Hedges doesn’t know what he is talking about. The Roman Empire, for all its other ‘evils’, was a very colour blind power. Hedges is actually wrong in most of the things he says about the Empire.
You probably have more knowledge of the Roman empire than I, your critique of Hedges may be correct, in that respect. I believe his critique of the US empire is gained from personal experience, and is accurate.
I guarantee that anything I read from Chris Hedges on Gaza, Palestine or the Middle East is actually written by a journalist with expertise on the topic, rather than a stenographer regurgitating the latest propaganda from a powerful lobby acting for a foreign nation.
With regard to Hedges thesis of the undocumented Jesus. How would he fair under the previous regime set up by Rudd, perfected by Morrison and maintained by Albanese?
Yeh - Nah - Actions speak louder than words - Morrison can be judged by his actions and they were disgraceful. And, just because he mentions God, does not mean he is religious - there are plenty of fundamentalist nutters that mention God. To truly be a religious person, one must live the scriptures - I don't remember Jesus being a narcissistic, belligerent, lying, cheating mongrel
I'm thinking of that Robert Caro quote: power doesn't corrupt, it reveals. Morrison revealed himself, however he dresses it up now
Thanks, Tim. You give him too much credit re his religious "prosperity-theology' crudeness - he and all the other evangelicals similarly afflicted with self-righteousness. I emerged from being "immersed" in a somewhat related self-righteous fundamentalist Protestant "faith" - out of the US (too) at the grand old age of 19 - but it was a permanent break with the unreality of the delusions still suffered by someone who was the PM of this country - who rose to that position via back-slapping/stabbing and undermining - typical of the Liberal Party (let me write that for Mike Pence - so he understands - Australia's contemporary Tea Party/Republican Party) rising up this century out of the relaxed but fearful imaginings of a fridge magnet mantra from John Dubya Howard.
Interesting, Jim. How do you think this book will be received by its intended audience?
You are referring to his intended US evangelical Pentecultist and Zionist-supporting demographic and its tiny proportion here. Among that mob there is a chance it will sell except that they are not especially known for reading much beyond their selected verses and stories from the Bible - to be honest. Having said that - and with his self-serving buddyhood with arch-cultist and danger to the world Mike Pompeo - that may be enough? The thing about these cultists is whether they believe the drivel they spout and babble about - arms waving wildly - or not. If they truly believe then of course they are driven forward with the notion that they can help bring to fruition the so-called Rapture/Second Coming. These ARE The Last Days - wars and rumours of war, pestilence and famine, earthquakes and so on - including Armageddon - centred in the Zionist stronghold of Israel. Hasten the day, Lord Jesus - is their mantra. Therein lies the crucial danger to our planet. They are the true danger - careless of the planet and all its other inhabitants - its environment and resources - and especially of the 99% of us who don't believe the nonsense - being of a myriad of other faiths and belief systems in countries and societies all around the world. One of my British cousins, a noted Jesuit theologian, was the first to read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings in manuscript form - and to comment to the man who acted as his mentor when he entered Oxford - that he clearly understood the story in terms of the eternal Manichean cosmic struggle between light and darkness. Between the forces of good and those opposed. And it's a story - helping the readers to find some kind of morally upright pathway forward in their own existences. This is NOT the message which in any degree could come out of Morrison's book - from the character of the man who was once the promoter of "on-water-matters" cruelty towards asylum-seekers - the promoter of Robodebt. Just because he could shout "Go the Sharks!" as if it gave him "cover" with the "common folk" - it very definitely did NOT make him one of the common folk. I'd like to see any report on him from his Tourist Board dismissals in Aotearoa and here in Australia. That the Liberal Party allowed him to advance - with clever skulduggery - through their ranks to Ministry level - and then the prize of ultimate national power as PM - simply reveals how flawed it all is.
Tim, this isn’t fair, you’ve forced me to subscribe to comment on Scumo. May God have mercy on you for this.
I started typing for 20 minutes, poring out my bile and hate for Morrison, at the end I was just tired. So I deleted it and I’m now starting again.
If Morrison had severe depression, I have no sympathy for him, none. The man, to me, has never been seen to show any regard for anyone, unless they can be of benefit to him and it’s of no surprise he should find a version of Christianity where the ethos is “What God can do for you”. This book is just a remaking of Morrison for his new career path in the US, it’s a sort of ‘get to know me’ for the conservatives over there. I was going to go on about his faux beliefs but Mal has done it in a far more articulate manner than I could ever hope to do.
When it comes to religious or spiritual beliefs, I have none, but I have quite a few friends who do and I value their friendships and have respect for their beliefs, because in general, they try to live their lives by them, quietly trying to do what they believe is correct. I have yet to see Morrison or any other politician who wear their beliefs so stridently, do so in a convincing manner.
If there is a heaven, I hope Morrison burns in hell.
I'm seeing this sentiment everywhere. He really burned some bridges, didn't he. (Thanks for the sub, too, Dennis!)
I think Grundle was far kinder to Morrison than he deserves.
While his faith may be sincere it is utterly self-serving.
I was a bit surprised by the article too, Dave.
I will never have the fortitude to read it.
You have made an excellent presentation of the preface.
Please nail yourself to the cross and read and report on the rest of it.
This reminds me of that old joke, "You only have three nails? It's okay, I'll cross my legs."
Considering they did crucify people back I think it would be inappropriate to laugh, but laugh I did. Never heard Sandy’s comment before , nor your reply. Just so bloody funny.
Sandy, as you no doubt know, the 'Land of the Fair Go' started to die 4 decades ago. As sad as that is.
"Please nail yourself to the cross and read and report on the rest of it.”
OMG, I just love that line!
The product of a miss spent youth at Church of England (Anglican) primary and high schools.
As someone who has inflicted upon himself some execrable Australian political writing by our political class I sympathise with your question. I am much more inclined to JQ's view of Mr Morrison, but the reason why I think we need to read the auto-biographies and the gormless insider tomes is to answer the questions: why and how do our parties turn to people as leaders who are completely and obviously unsuited to the roles of party and national leader? What's the pathology here? (I have theories). But unless we nail it, and can explain it, I fear the parties will keep doing it. I see no sign the LP has learned a lesson, and I wouldn't take odds the ALP has either.
I think that is where I might head with a follow up piece, Rob.