Did it “shock, horrify
and terrify” you? It was supposed to, that’s why Abbott turned a police
operation into a piece of grand theatre. For once, it is just possible; there
was actually evidence of ‘police intelligence’.
The police did, at least in part, what they are paid to do; to pick up,
track and act on criminal activities. Sure, if the allegations hold up, it was a
potentially bloody awful act of criminality. But take the emotive ‘terror’ out
of it and it’s no worse than many other criminal acts we hear of.
Of
course the timing creates its own issues for some of us. It was only yesterday
Abbott announced that he is dragging us into a war which has nothing to do with
us. He and his cronies know that many Australians will react in a suitably
xenophobic and racist way to his high drama; will simply accept he has some
form of legitimacy.
What
they don’t see is that to shore up his shaky program he must undermine the rule
of law, as shaky as that has become. Now police brutality has been legitimized,
in the name of terror raids. Now pre dawn raids will become normalised. Holding
people without due process will likely be excused as necessary in the name of
national security. Any number of protections can now be progressively reduced
or done away with.
Okay, I
know they were bloody Arabs! That’s what Abbott and Co want you to think. Corgi
Bernardi and Mastiff Morrison, Abbotts junk yard dogs, have confirmed the
target enemy now. Well even if you do feel threatened by strange neighbours, it
might be just as well to consider where this can go. Today those identified as
Middle Eastern, tomorrow anyone is fair game.
I’m
about as Anglo-Saxon as they come. Even my Irish antecedents run strong with
Viking blood. Yet I already feel threatened, by the Abbott government. Even my
little efforts to question the validity of the actions of this government put
me at risk in a growing ‘police state’. The shock me, horrify me and terrify
me, but I can’t back down from challenging bullshit.
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