How Would You Feel?

In the wake of the death of the nurse who was tricked by the 2dayFM presenters there has been a lot of opinion some blaming the presenters for the death others exonerating them. I'm not sure I agree with either side completely, much of the blame seems to be knee jerk and to some extent only seem be countering the results of a public shaming by starting another one. Yet the defence worries me too. We are told that we shouldn't blame anyone because we don't know the full story; we don't know what other issues the nurse may have had, nobody could have foreseen it and they were just having a joke.

The fact is we don’t know anyone’s full story, how close to the edge they are or what mental frailty may exist. As for it not being able to be foreseen, it is true that after tricking someone into thinking you where royalty to the extent that they betray confidential information then publish the whole thing Nationally and subsequently Internationally no one could predict that the person who was tricked and shamed might take their own life. No one however would expect that she would have been feeling anything less than used, humiliated and upset. 

The trouble is these excuses are exactly the same ones that I used to hear from bullies at school when you had finally snapped. They didn't know you would be hurt like that or they were just joking around. And to an extent they are valid excuses, most bullies do not realize, do not seek to ruin or end someone else’s life. They just want a cheap laugh.

On the other hand the two radio presenters, small blame to them, did not expect what happened to happen on the reasonable grounds that most of the time, pranks do not end in a suicide. Yet they will undoubtedly be blaming themselves, and will probably continue to for the rest of their lives.

As I type the world of twitter churns as the backlash against the pranksters reaches fever pitch, demanding everything from sackings to suicides as the appropriate response.

This raises the question, why do people try to create cheap laughs? The most probable explanation is because there is a market for cheap laughs. Perhaps we all need to put ourselves in the other persons place before we get in the business of publicly shaming them.

Labor In Need of Divine Intervention

The new revised edition of The Labor Voter’s Prayer book is finally here. This handy pocket edition comes tastefully bound with a red and green cover. It is a must for any serious Labor supporter, backbencher or even cabinet minister in 2012. The Labor Voter’s Prayer book includes all the old favourites like Solidarity Forever, Moving Forward and many more. Below is one of the new prayers that have been included in the 2012 edition.

The PM’s Prayer

Our PM in Canberra,

Hallowed be your name,

Your re-election come,

Your will be done,

On earth as in Utopia.

Give us today our daily boats.

Forgive us our national debt,

As we forgive those in debt to us.

Lead us not into the polling booth,

But deliver us from Abbott.

For the Education system,

The Unions and the ABC are yours.

Now and forever.

Amen

Written by Nathaniel Mikhaiel, with apologies to the New Testament writers.

A Rare Insight at the NATO Summit

In another embarrassing Gaff for the US President, he has once again left his mic on while having a private discussion. This time with Australian PM Julia Gillard while at the NATO summit in Chicago. A transcript has been preserved and you can read it below:

Julia: So, how has your week been?

Obama: Well it’s been a disaster. My speech writers messed up and I said I had two sons instead of two daughters, any fool should have picked that up before it made it to the tele-prompter. Oh and there also seems to be some kind of thing going on in Europe...

Julia: I know what you mean. One of my Ministers was on twitter and he said that Spain and Greece were in the Southern Hemisphere..

Obama: Aren't they?

Julia: No, no, you must be thinking of somewhere else.

Obama: ...........anyway speaking of somewhere else, the Middle East is giving me a massive headache at the moment....

Julia: Iraq? Iran? Afghanistan?

Obama: No, not that Middle East, I'm talking about one of the flower beds at the white house. Michelle wants to plant it over with white roses and it will look as hideous as my poll figures when it's done.

Obama: Speaking of the polls, how are things at your end Juls?

Julia: Well to be frank, it’s been terrible, but there are some green shoots of hope...

Obama: Please don’t mention green shoots, I had a bad experience. Anyway what was the good news?

Julia: Well we are at 30% in the polls.

Obama: That’s the disapproval rating, right?

Julia: No, primary vote.

Obama:....................................... and the bad news?

Julia: Where do I start. Well my Foreign Minister is campaigning to legalize drugs, my Trade Minister spends all his time on twitter abusing people, my Treasurer keeps stalking through the corridors diving at anything shiny and then there’s Craig Thompson…

Obama: Who’s he?

Julia: Well you know Bill Clinton? Well think of him but with less charisma. 

Obama: Oh dear, and what did he do?

Julia: Well it seems he may have misappropriated about $500 000 of union money on travel expenses, prostitutes and campaign funding.

Obama: $500 000 you say, and I suppose everyone is up in arms about the whole thing?

Julia: Yes it's pretty serious. I could lose the leadership over it.

Obama: That is quite serious...... I was just wondering.... how will they react when they find out that you just pledged $300 million to the Afghan Government.

Julia: Oh, I wouldn’t worry about them finding out. It will probably only be published in the Murdoch press......

Obama: Murdoch... now who is he again?

Julia: You must have heard of him. He owns Fox News.

Obama: Oh, the "hate media."

Julia: Yes, precisely. Anyway, besides that, most of them can’t read anyway.

Obama: Do you mean to tell me that most of the Australian people can't read?

Julia: Who said anything about the Australian people, I'm talking about the ALP Caucus.