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timdunlop

@timdunlop

Mar 19

One of the key tools of public opinion control in the lead up to the Iraq War was the assertion by the political class that they had available to them information that wasn't available to anyone else and they were thus in a better position to assess the risk posed by Saddam's WMD

It all turned out to be bullshit, a lie enabled and perpetrated with the help of the mainstream media, from The NYTimes down. Plenty of people saw through the charade because "they weren't stupid" and could draw reasonable conclusions from publicly available information.

We are seeing the same stunt being pulled now in regard to AUKUS, with Keating and others being dismissed as unreliable bc they are not privy to "secret information". And once again, the media is leading the charge, during, and in the wake of, PJK's appearance at the #NPC

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timdunlop

@timdunlop

May 28, 2022

Australia just delivered one of the most extraordinary election results in our history & within seconds, the msm is running pieces like this, whitewashing the obviously unfit Peter Dutton, continuing the gaslighting that gave us 3 years of "Scomo". smh.com.au/politics/feder…

It isn't just the oh-well-sure-he's-done-some-racist-shit-but-he-deserves-a-second-chance nonsense, it is the condescending way in which we are lectured that "it is lazy for the Twitter-focused left to dismiss Dutton as a bogeyman."

You know what's lazy? Reducing the seismic change of 21 May to the "Twitter-focused left" being "woke". It's lazy to say Dutton displays "mainstream values". Lazy to look at all that has happened at a grassroots level since Indi in 2013 & tell us Dutton "is good for us all"

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timdunlop

@timdunlop

Apr 20, 2021

Comparisons between the Morrison Govt and the Republicans in the US don't always work, as we operate in very different electoral environments. But they are kindred in one key way: both are post-political in the sense of not governing in the way we tend think of parties governing.

They are not governing "for all of us" but in the interests of small subsets of the population, as any follow-the-money exercise will reveal, from pork barrelling to JobKeeper payments. It is about power in service of the few.

They hate the arts and the life of the mind, and actively seek to damage the institutions that support them, particularly universities and arts organisations, as we saw during covid.
Never waste a crisis, as the saying goes, and they didn't.

Read 18 tweets

timdunlop

@timdunlop

Mar 27, 2021

Ways in which Scott Morrison has shown "he gets it":

Had to get his wife to explain the Higgins' situation to him
Hasn't met with Higgins
Has suggested she can come see him if she wants.
His office arguably backgrounded against Higgins' partner

Called an inquiry into who knew what when in his office then arguably misled parliament about this inquiry
Refused to answer questions in parliament about the behaviour of people in his office.
Inquiry cancelled bc of alleged conflict with police inquiry.

Didn't read letter outlining evidence in the Christian Porter case
Still hasn't read it
Rejected calls for ind inquiry into Porter allegations
Kept Porter in the Ministry
Also Reynolds, who called Higgins a lying cow
Until recently, was willing to let Porter sue the ABC & stay AG

Read 10 tweets

timdunlop

@timdunlop

Mar 4, 2021

Here’s why I think we need an enquiry and why the ‘natural justice’ ‘presumption of innocence’ claim is not the appropriate, let alone, the overriding consideration.

This is not merely about Christian Porter & what he did or didn’t do. It's also about the integrity of our institutions, parliament & cabinet in particular. As citizens, we have a right to expect them operate with the highest ethical standards. Our trust in them must be protected

An independent inquiry does nothing to harm Porter’s right to a fair trial, if it comes to that, his presumption of innocence is maintained, but it goes some way to providing us, as citizens, with the confidence we deserve, to know these institutions are being run with integrity.

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timdunlop

@timdunlop

Oct 25, 2020

https://twitter.com/oz_f/status/1320462678175854592

This is a great piece by Oz & he really has done some important work highlighting failures of the Andrews' Govt.
I'm going to add a 'but' bc there is a further point to be made, and it is something I have been saying for 20 years about the relationship between media & audience.

https://twitter.com/oz_f/status/1320462678175854592

The last para of the article is this:

To say, 'When the public side with the powerful over journalists, we all lose' is to miss a fundamental point. Namely that, compared to the media, most people feel incredibly powerless.
Relative to most of the population, journalists ARE powerful.

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