The Stupid Continues

Even After His Political Death, The Culture Wars Rage On

Oh what joy. The anti-radicalisation kit handed out by the Federal Government to help teachers spot radicalising kids is a travesty.

News of the booklet, launched last week by the counter-terrorism minister, Michael Keenan, was first published in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph under the headline, “Schoolyard Terror Blitz”.

But Bouma said the information in the kit was not intended for public consumption. “People should have been trained in how to use it and how not to abuse it … to simply throw it out there was not the intention,” he said.
Other experts in radicalisation told Guardian Australia on Monday that teachers should not to “jump to conclusions” about students who show symptoms described in the kit, warning Australia risked its own Ahmed Mohamed incident. Ahmed, 14, was arrested in Texas last week after a clock he assembled was mistaken by a teacher for a homemade bomb.
Grossman, who also said she was unaware the booklet was being produced and distributed to schools, questioned the use of the case study relating to “Karen”.
“For me, that is not an example that I think is particularly helpful,” she said. “I think we want to be very careful not to conflate political activism automatically with violent extremism.

“There is a difference between people who get involved in what you would call incidental violence as a result of a political protest. To me, that’s not what we mean when we talk about facing and tackling the very serious issues around violent extremism.
“It’s going to draw attention away from some of the really valuable things that are included in the awareness kit that should be up for discussion and debate.”

The case study of 'Karen' is particularly worrisome because it links 'alternative music' to radical eco politics. You sort of wonder if by radicalism, they really meant the kinds of people who chain themselves to trees to stop logging and CSG mining. If so, this is nothing but the same old culture wars being raged by the Liberal and National Party, that places the alternative and counter-culture groups as the 'other' and sets about trying to disenfranchise them out of their own country. 

Which is to say, the execrable Tony Abbott's leadership was pretty off-the-mark in so many ways it wasn't funny. It's barely been a fortnight since he was ousted so it is hard to sheet this home to Malcolm Turnbull, but the fact that this kind of idiocy is being carried out by the government shows that you only have to scratch the surface these LNP types to find seething hateful culture warriors, carrying on like they are the sole inheritors of civilisation. They're wowsers - every bit as backward and stupid as the Mothers of Prevention in the USA. 

Deservedly, there is a piece of satire going the rounds:

The Stupid Never Stops.