Note: this article discusses sexual assault.
As a father of daughters, I’m more angry than I can express.
I’m not angry with Scott Morrison for — again, nauseatingly, for the billionth time — politically weaponising his wife and daughters in a pathetic, transparent attempt to get ahead of a ballooning scandal
That scandal? The alleged rape of a young female employee of his minister in his minister’s office, to which Morrison’s government responded by sending in the steam cleaners and gently dissuading her from pursuing a police complaint.
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If you observe Morrison’s actions this morning carefully enough, you can see that political calculation was not driving him.
Immediately after he pulled out the “I chatted to Jen and she said ‘what if it was one of your daughters’?” line at his train wreck press conference, Channel Ten reporter Tegan George stood him up with this question:
“What would happen if men don’t have a wife and children? Would they reach the same compassionate conclusion?”
There is the blinding stupidity of the whole thing laid bare; the bullshit of Morrison’s faux empathy exposed by its inherent inanity.
Morrison was literally flummoxed. He genuinely did not see the question coming, and his response was all over the shop. He fumbled around to find what he thought might be solid ground in his claimed public identity as, first and foremost, a husband and a father, ultimately resting on it as the logical foundation for his approach to matters of empathy and ethics.
It had not occurred to Morrison (who has after all been reaching for the “Jen and the girls” handle as his default escape hatch since he became prime minister) that anyone might ever have a problem with this.
No, in his mind, it was all good. He fronted the press this morning completely confident that he had the “Brittany” problem in hand, because his expression of empathy, grounded in the home-spun morality of which Jen had reminded him last night, would resonate generally. Who could have a problem with a national leader who reaches to home for his values? Aren’t they universal?
So I am not angry with Morrison for his utter, absolute failure to understand that sexual violence without consent is a wrong, in all circumstances and all times, regardless of the character, reputation, actions or choices of its victims. It is an unequivocal wrong, allowing no shades of qualification.
Morrison clearly does not understand the first thing about the subject, nor does he understand that neither empathy nor justice is permissibly tempered by one’s ability to imagine standing in the victim’s shoes. He is, on this subject, pathetically lost.
I am angry because this is the sort of moral leadership which we as a society tolerate. The sort that allows sexual violence to continue, endemic and unabated. And we put up with men in power who preside over this degradation without the first, faintest clue of what it means or what to do about it.
So we get Scott, hurt that we aren’t applauding his willingness to check in with Jen on how he should feel about rape in the building he runs.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault or violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.
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And what happened to allowing the criminal process to play out -innocent until proven guilty .Morrison is absolutely out of line.
Well from what has been reported they may have got in the way of the legal process even being allowed to play out. That is the problem. If someone had stolen money or smashed a window, they would have been reported to the police. If nakedness is involved – whatevs. This is the problem. Rape allegations are something to be managed vs reported. It’s a crime and should be treated as a crime.
Regardless of whether criminal activity is proved, isn’t the terrible abuse of position something that needs to be talked about?
Based upon what evidence DB? A single complaint? “Talk” is the problem otherwise Cky would not need to surpress comments.
Let the cops investigate the matter (and apply some self discipline in the interim).
Dude. She reported it to the police so they would investigate the matter. Then the bigwigs in the party threatened to fire her unless she withdrew her police report, to make sure the cops won’t investigate the matter.
It REMAINS a matter for the police (whatever the extent of the vacillating) and not for Cky or any other mob to sit in judgement.
Rather obvious I would have thought. Read Desmond Graham’s post if you remain unconvinced.
What remains a matter for the police, but is not the subject matter of this article, is the veracity of her rape allegation.
What is the subject matter of this article, the topic of the comments on this article, is the LNP’s handling of her rape allegation, and Scott Morrison’s lack of a moral compass when it comes to responding to rape allegations (which has to weakly make up for by having a chat to Jen and the girls.)
None of this is subject to a police investigation, or needs to be subject to one, because it’s already established. He himself reported all the relevant facts about the matter to us, in a public press conference.
Even *if* it turned out that her allegations weren’t true, it wouldn’t change a thing about what we just learnt about our PM.
If we agree on the need for due process then the antics of the PM, Minister or whatever anyone thinks about the situation is beside the point. The matter is either going to go to trial or not! Anything else is hot air.
I suspect that the “I asked the misus” line might have worked a charm decades ago but even *I*am surprised that the PM tried it on to social media hardened electorate.
Look on the bright side. At least the electorate will know exactly what to expect from May-2022 to May-2025 for the want of an effective opposition.
You seem to get a lot of down votes Erasmus, we could possible get along nicely.
Every one is a trophy Tony. Damn all by way counter factual arguments eh? “Funny” that!
FFS
I doubt that very much.
Aggi joined in, that poor failed ex public servant still looking for relevance.
Watching the Scomo press conference, i was reminded of the Seinfeld character George Costanza, desperately trying to talk his way out of situations, twisting truth into pretzels to prevent having to cop the blame. As Costanza said…”it’s not a lie….if you believe it”.
Yeah, but does he believe it or knowingly lied?
Both…that’s the Costanza zen mastery of lying.
Yes, but can a balance be maintained? I mean, at one stage, Trump probably had some idea that he was lying about the election being rigged. Now I suspect that he’s so barking mad, that he fully believes that he won.
No, I think he always believed it.
It’s hard to tell from a distance, whether it’s all delusion, or was there a certain amount of scamming involved. On the one hand, there’s a long documented history of scamming and a blatant disregard of facts. On the other hand, he probably only really listens to sycophantic advisers, who see it as advantageous to confirm his biases. There’s also projection: he tried to rig the election in his own favour, so he assumes that his opponents also rigged the election.
Does he believe it? I doubt he believes anything – for him, words are just tools to get what he wants. The only thing that matters to people like Morrison is money.
And power. Don’t forget the lovely “P” word.
Sociopathic personalities genuinely believe the lie, as long as it conforms to their self-interest at the time. If their self-interest changes, they have no qualms about genuinely believing the opposite.
Morrison’s approach to rape is a new low compared to where Tudge and Porter bottom feed. Another unacceptable attitude publicly rationalised that establishes the need for all politicians to undergo compulsory brain scans to determine whether they have an anti social disorders ie whether they are sociopaths.
Yes, you do wonder what Jenny Morrison needed to clarify?
And to me, Morrison mentioning the main woman in his life, was reminiscent of the old line, “No, really; some of my best friends are (insert minority that you’re accused of disparaging here)”.
I wonder if Jenny has had a chat about the two daughters wasting their childhood in detention on Christmas Island.
My guess would be no, but there’s a fair chance, that a foreign government might mention refugee detention, whenever we castigate them on their human rights record.
Comfy spin and shallow reasoning.
“He is, on this subject, pathetically lost.”
and that’s different to any other subject ? I think not.
He has no moorings, morally, ethically, socially or humanly.
Politically, in grasping its essential banality, he just about manages – for those who can bear that sort of thing.