I had a long and genuinely fascinating conversation with Barnaby Joyce once. It was an interview, probably for some weekend feature at the Herald or the Age. They’d occasionally dispatch me on these missions if they had somebody who wouldn’t talk to anyone else at the paper. As ‘that Felafel guy’, I could be disarming. I forget why I was talking to Joyce, but he was a good storyteller, and he had the ability, unusual in politicians, to just talk like a normal person.
Successful women don't even need to be drunk or in compromised positions like Bananaboy. They just have to be doing their job. Ask Christine Holgate how that works.
Barnaby has had way too many excuses made for his gigantic pancake stack of shitfuckeries over the years. I wonder when they will finally run out?
I too once had an encounter with Barnaby, but with a man who bore no resemblance to the shambolic cretin we see today. It was 2007 (iirc) and he'd just been elected to the Senate. He gave a talk in the Shine Dome at the ANU about the role of Senator, and I attended out of free will. I found him to be direct and intelligent, a good speaker with a sharp intellect. He was not This Barnaby.
This Barnaby is a bad man. A man who openly propagates climate denial and ridiculous lies about renewable energy to stoke up US-style polarisation politics and hate, and to do favours for his mining industry mates. An irresponsible man who doesn't represent his constituents any more so much as do whatever the mining industry asks him to do in aid of his post-political sinecure. He is twisted beyond belief from the decent fellow I chatted with after the talk in the Shine Dome. I guess this is what the pressures and opportunities of party politics do to some people, poisons their souls.
I couldn't give a shit about him lying on the footpath drunk as a skunk - I've done that myself more than once, and ultimately it's absolutely harmless (apologies to the non-white males who also want to do this). But all of the damage he has done to this country's progress in the past 15 year - that I cannot forgive.
Thanks, JB - your background story sets the scene - as does your musing on what might have been the outcome had BJ been a First Australian (shot? or likely dead in a police lockup) or a woman of high office (never to be seen again). Excellent analysis!
My brain has done a pavement clown this week so I have not been able to eloquently express my thoughts on B-Joyce's creative spin on street performance. Thank you for your insights into a man who will recieve more support and ongoing medical care for his issues than the people society routinely pours scorn upon. I'm a decent human who'ss familiar with pavement cuddles and would have helped him up, told him to get his act together and fix stuff he's paid to care about. Love your work
Politics encourages corruption. Some fall for it or because of it more than others. Sorry for the pun.
I agree with halwes - the politicians should have mandatory drug and alcohol testing, at least while the parliament is sitting. They should also have to do the tedious Code of Conduct training that's now inflicted on certain public service employees. It should be linked to consequences, as per public servant codes: break the codes and you're sacked. No exceptions, even for privileged white men.
Far too many of us have to deal with the trauma of suicide victims in our lives for that to be an excuse for people in power to behave badly. Especially if they are responsible for policies that have led to suicides. Barnaby should get help or get out. Preferably both.
"might even have contemplated Kundera’s thesis that the pursuit of lightness ultimately leads on to a sense of emptiness and disconnection from the essential weight of human experience and empathy" ... OMG is that what that story was about? I even went and saw the movie (which some wit cleverer than I, it might have even been you named it 'the unbearable lengthiness of filming' after reading the book and I still had no idea. Thank you for clearing that up for me.
One inadvertent benefit from B. Joyce's pisstumble was the number of photoshopped artworks that popped up overnight, putting him in all manner of situations. The Heidelberg School of Australian Impression seemed to be a favourite. I laughed like a drain. Thanks Barnaby.
I sometimes wonder if politicians are normal reasonable people who've been caught up in game-playing, and not ineffectual hypocritical short-sighted arseholes.
A little sidebar about Jeffrey Smart's Cahill Expressway. I recently got to see it in person after may years of admiring from afar. Up close and personal you can see that the stout little man is missing his left arm. His emtpy sleeve is tucked into his pocket.
Thanks JB for that insight and articulating shitfest of double standards on parade.
I'm amazed about the Barnaby you described from earlier, I'd assumed he'd always been an entitled disconnected arsehat, like a rural cospaly version of Christian Porter. That he was once a half decent human or at least decent adjacent at one stage only annoys me more oddly enough.
It annoys me because it shows he has allowed himself to become the shitstain he is on Australian politics, clearly it didn't have to be that way.
I get random drug and alcohol saliva tested all the time at work. My work involves making good decisions and not hurting anyone. I witnessed the voluntary euthanasia debate in the NT parliament and most of the pollies were pissed. I know because I drank with some of them on the night. The dribbling speeches were embarrassing. If it's good enough for me to be tested then I reckon it's good enough for them. I asked a Queensland friend a few years ago " how come the cops don't test for coke on drivers in Queensland ?" He said " Someone's got to run the government mate" They do test now though but some of the worst decisions I've made, but also some of the best, were made on alcohol and drugs. Like illegally climbing the Harbour bridge in 1984 late one night. We still laugh about that one.
Some (often women and people of colour) are punished harshly for minor transgressions, others (often white, wealthy, heterosexual men) are immune from censure.
We humans are tribal creatures and are more likely to make allowances for those in our tribe. Membership of powerful tribes results in privilege, the ability to live by different rules, more favourable rules. It's unfair. And it is deeply personal and deeply hurtful for those who are not part of the more powerful tribes, and who are not extended the benefit of the hypocrisies of privilege when they stumble.
Hating on Barnaby may feel good (and perhaps is warranted) but you can't hate your way to a better world. More sympathy for those not in our tribes is what is needed, especially (but not exclusively) from those in powerful tribes.
Successful women don't even need to be drunk or in compromised positions like Bananaboy. They just have to be doing their job. Ask Christine Holgate how that works.
Barnaby has had way too many excuses made for his gigantic pancake stack of shitfuckeries over the years. I wonder when they will finally run out?
I too once had an encounter with Barnaby, but with a man who bore no resemblance to the shambolic cretin we see today. It was 2007 (iirc) and he'd just been elected to the Senate. He gave a talk in the Shine Dome at the ANU about the role of Senator, and I attended out of free will. I found him to be direct and intelligent, a good speaker with a sharp intellect. He was not This Barnaby.
This Barnaby is a bad man. A man who openly propagates climate denial and ridiculous lies about renewable energy to stoke up US-style polarisation politics and hate, and to do favours for his mining industry mates. An irresponsible man who doesn't represent his constituents any more so much as do whatever the mining industry asks him to do in aid of his post-political sinecure. He is twisted beyond belief from the decent fellow I chatted with after the talk in the Shine Dome. I guess this is what the pressures and opportunities of party politics do to some people, poisons their souls.
I couldn't give a shit about him lying on the footpath drunk as a skunk - I've done that myself more than once, and ultimately it's absolutely harmless (apologies to the non-white males who also want to do this). But all of the damage he has done to this country's progress in the past 15 year - that I cannot forgive.
So what Barnaby Joyce best exemplifies is that old advice "Carry yourself with confidence of a mediocre white man".
Thanks, JB - your background story sets the scene - as does your musing on what might have been the outcome had BJ been a First Australian (shot? or likely dead in a police lockup) or a woman of high office (never to be seen again). Excellent analysis!
My brain has done a pavement clown this week so I have not been able to eloquently express my thoughts on B-Joyce's creative spin on street performance. Thank you for your insights into a man who will recieve more support and ongoing medical care for his issues than the people society routinely pours scorn upon. I'm a decent human who'ss familiar with pavement cuddles and would have helped him up, told him to get his act together and fix stuff he's paid to care about. Love your work
Politics encourages corruption. Some fall for it or because of it more than others. Sorry for the pun.
I agree with halwes - the politicians should have mandatory drug and alcohol testing, at least while the parliament is sitting. They should also have to do the tedious Code of Conduct training that's now inflicted on certain public service employees. It should be linked to consequences, as per public servant codes: break the codes and you're sacked. No exceptions, even for privileged white men.
Far too many of us have to deal with the trauma of suicide victims in our lives for that to be an excuse for people in power to behave badly. Especially if they are responsible for policies that have led to suicides. Barnaby should get help or get out. Preferably both.
To kind to the human turd.
The person who took photo should be outed for not giving the human turd a kicking.
You may get an indication I don't like him.
DV & women dieing every few days don't illicit any such kindest or enough coverage another good bloke having a lay down, grrrrrrrrrrrr
"might even have contemplated Kundera’s thesis that the pursuit of lightness ultimately leads on to a sense of emptiness and disconnection from the essential weight of human experience and empathy" ... OMG is that what that story was about? I even went and saw the movie (which some wit cleverer than I, it might have even been you named it 'the unbearable lengthiness of filming' after reading the book and I still had no idea. Thank you for clearing that up for me.
One inadvertent benefit from B. Joyce's pisstumble was the number of photoshopped artworks that popped up overnight, putting him in all manner of situations. The Heidelberg School of Australian Impression seemed to be a favourite. I laughed like a drain. Thanks Barnaby.
I sometimes wonder if politicians are normal reasonable people who've been caught up in game-playing, and not ineffectual hypocritical short-sighted arseholes.
A little sidebar about Jeffrey Smart's Cahill Expressway. I recently got to see it in person after may years of admiring from afar. Up close and personal you can see that the stout little man is missing his left arm. His emtpy sleeve is tucked into his pocket.
Thanks JB for that insight and articulating shitfest of double standards on parade.
I'm amazed about the Barnaby you described from earlier, I'd assumed he'd always been an entitled disconnected arsehat, like a rural cospaly version of Christian Porter. That he was once a half decent human or at least decent adjacent at one stage only annoys me more oddly enough.
It annoys me because it shows he has allowed himself to become the shitstain he is on Australian politics, clearly it didn't have to be that way.
I get random drug and alcohol saliva tested all the time at work. My work involves making good decisions and not hurting anyone. I witnessed the voluntary euthanasia debate in the NT parliament and most of the pollies were pissed. I know because I drank with some of them on the night. The dribbling speeches were embarrassing. If it's good enough for me to be tested then I reckon it's good enough for them. I asked a Queensland friend a few years ago " how come the cops don't test for coke on drivers in Queensland ?" He said " Someone's got to run the government mate" They do test now though but some of the worst decisions I've made, but also some of the best, were made on alcohol and drugs. Like illegally climbing the Harbour bridge in 1984 late one night. We still laugh about that one.
Great piece. Thoughtful and ... unexpected.
Some (often women and people of colour) are punished harshly for minor transgressions, others (often white, wealthy, heterosexual men) are immune from censure.
We humans are tribal creatures and are more likely to make allowances for those in our tribe. Membership of powerful tribes results in privilege, the ability to live by different rules, more favourable rules. It's unfair. And it is deeply personal and deeply hurtful for those who are not part of the more powerful tribes, and who are not extended the benefit of the hypocrisies of privilege when they stumble.
Hating on Barnaby may feel good (and perhaps is warranted) but you can't hate your way to a better world. More sympathy for those not in our tribes is what is needed, especially (but not exclusively) from those in powerful tribes.
The memes have been great tho 👍👍🤣
sobering isn't it... excuse the pun...