Magda Szubanski mouths pro-SSM, anti-plebiscite cant on Q and A

On their ABC's Q and A it's pretty much a given that discussion will veer onto the subject of "marriage equality", even if they're quacking on about something completely unrelated to this. So last night's episode -- which specifically focused on the issue -- was hardly unique. However, the stupidity, incoherence and bloody-mindedness of most panellists was something to behold.

Magda Szubanski in particular came out with some real doozies such as this: "A lot of us in the LGBTQI community don’t want this money spent, and as we see it, wasted, for what is essentially an expensive opinion poll that won’t be binding when we already know from several polls already that the majority of people in the country are in favour."

So funny that she's fretting about wasted money. Has she ever railed against excessive government funding of crap movies that next to no one even watched -- some of which she even appeared in? Many millions of bucks down the drain right there ...

And she presumes to speak for the "LGBTI community". Yeah, well, I'm sure there are many in that same crowd who do want a plebiscite -- and even some who don't even want gay marriage at all, incredible as that may seem. They're just not organized and vocal about it.

Let's face it, the LNP went to the election with the plebiscite as a major promise. Clearly, that's one of the reasons they won. Most Aussies do want a say on this issue, and they certainly deserve one. Marriage is a central social institution that affects everyone, and has developed organically over millennia across the globe. People will be seriously pissed off if a bunch of opportunistic weasels deny them direct input on what marriage actually means from now on. Same sex marriage may become the law of the land sans plebiscite, but public resentment of it will seethe indefinitely due to the dodgy way it was enacted.

Anyhoo, if it's a done deal, as Szubanski claims, then why not hold the plebiscite? (Actually this was the official position of "marriage equality" advocates early on as I remember. Magda was prolly even among them. But now the plebiscite itself is deemed evil and wrong. Hell of an about-face, that.)

Having millions of Aussies vote for SSM would be such a huge vindication of it. There is absolutely no way the public will would not be respected by the Govt if that occurred. That battle will have been well and truly won; the whole issue down and dusted for all time.

But nup. Gotta get the pollies to do it. They can be bullied, cajoled, rewarded for their compliance. Why play fair when you can cheat?

Which begs the question: Why would you wanna cheat, particularly if you say you can win fair and square anyway. Well, the answer's pretty obvious. The "overwhelming support" so often claimed for SSM isn't actually there. They're lying about it, in other words.

Lefties telling porkies to get their way? Who'da thunk it!

Interestingly, Magda also introduced a strawman about the perceived "threat" of SSM.

MAGDA SZUBANSKI
Can I dispute with you that this is a really... It’s being portrayed as though this is a threat to society. Jimmy and I... You’re saying this is a serious issue.

FIONA NASH
I’m not saying it’s a threat.

MAGDA SZUBANSKI
It’s so serious that it requires a plebiscite.

FIONA NASH
No. No. No. Hang on. Hang on. I never said it was a threat.

MAGDA SZUBANSKI
No, I’m not saying you said that, but other people are saying that. You’re saying it is such a grave issue that every single Australian must vote on this. Why? Why not vote on other issues like superannuation? Why not a plebiscite on that? Why not a plebiscite on aged care? Those people are living below the poverty line. Why not a plebiscite on that? Now, Jimmy and I are actually family. I’m the godmother of his granddaughter. He’s a Scottish migrant. I’m a Polish-Scottish-Irish migrant. His wife is Thai. I’m a leso. We ARE that modern family. What threat does it pose except that I don’t have the same rights as the other people in my family?

FIONA NASH
It’s not a threat at all. 

So revealing that Magda was verballing Nash in this way. It was a clear case of projection. On absolutely no evidence, Magda was implying that those who believe in traditional marriage are hateful, insecure bigots. Even though she momentarily claimed not to aim this accusation at Nash it was clear that she was doing just that (and this wasn't the only time). It's an oft-used tactic of the PC crybully, this. It's aggressive misrepresentation purporting to be justified self-defense.

Speaking of threats: Pretty clear that the ones making most of them so far regarding this whole issue are the SSM zealots. Their vicious bullying of Mercure staff, for example, resulted in a planned ACL event being cancelled. This was not even mentioned in last night's Q and A, and for obvious reasons. Perpetuating the PC narrative was deemed way more important, of course.

And just on that subject of PC, check out these two egregious violations of gender sensitive language by Tony Jones and Jimmy Barnes, two right-on male persons who surely should have known better.

TONY JONES
Guys, I’m just going to go back to our questioner. Jack Lattimore has his hand up. I’m just going to go back to Jack. Go ahead. 

The later on ...

JIMMY BARNES
Eventually we won’t need you guys.

Guys? Guys? GUYS? 

That deserved a badthink red alert. Shoulda called Gender Avenger David Morrison in! Coulda swiftly re-educated 'em on the correct terminology, then kicked 'em both in the nuts with his high heels for good measure.

FFS, what a joke ...

Back to Magda. Well into the show she used that verballing tactic again on Fiona Nash, though in a much more obvious way:

FIONA NASH
A plebiscite isn’t the thing that necessarily triggers people being nasty.

MAGDA SZUBANSKI
Can I ask one simple question?

TONY JONES
Yes, I’m going to give you the final point here.

MAGDA SZUBANSKI
One simple question. Do you think I’m equal to you?

FIONA NASH
Of course I do.

MAGDA SZUBANSKI
If I was your daughter, and being gay, would you think that I should have the right to be married?

FIONA NASH
I’ve been asked this question a lot over the last 12 months and my response was that my view is still the traditional view of marriage. I love my children, regardless of what they ever brought home for me. It would make absolutely no difference at all. I completely respect your view and your desire to see that as equality...

MAGDA SZUBANSKI
But you won’t give me my rights.

FIONA NASH
I just have a different view.

MAGDA SZUBANSKI
Thanks for nothing.

See what she's doing. She's making it personal and emotive, forcing a confrontation that demonizes the interlocutor, puts them on the defensive. You see it all the time on Q and A. Shanghai Sam Dastyari tried it a few weeks back. But he was such a doofus, he failed spectacularly.

It's sooo dishonest and mean. It's kinda like saying: "When did you stop beating your wife?". It's not debate. It's abuse. But it works for the thick, credulous and plain ol' primitive. And there are plenty of those in the Q and A audience, as we all know. Which was the whole point, natch.

As Fiona Nash noted, it's not necessarily the plebiscite that makes people nasty. But political correctness sure as hell does! And when it comes to the issue of same sex marriage, well, it's pretty clear who the main bullies and threateners are -- at least at this point in the game.