To the Pauline-haters, this will only make her stronger
Anyone thinking the Al Jazeera investigation will damage One Nation are deluded, writes David Oldfield. This saga will only strengthen Pauline Hanson’s loyal support base and push more voters to One Nation.
Pauline Hanson and her hapless band of incompetent assistants have finally done it.
“Shot themselves in the foot”, so to speak, or as one prominent, yet ill-informed ABC presenter put it, “finally hammered the last nail in the One Nation coffin”.
Is that what you think? How about this alternative view?
Middle-eastern owned news service, alleged to support terrorism, wants to disarm Western countries and targets gun rights Nationalist political movement in sneaky, dishonest sting.
It’s extraordinary that supposed intelligent people are utterly incapable of understanding the position of those with whom they disagree.
Often it goes beyond not understanding, but to the point of disbelieving anyone could feel differently about any issue.
One person’s lie is another person’s truth. You don’t need to be smart to realise one doesn’t have to agree with something to understand it.
While the majority of what has been said by Pauline Hanson and her cohorts in the aftermath of the Al Jazeera covert operation is verging on ridiculous and poorly presented, what they certainly have going for them is their supporters see no credibility in those who target One Nation — you know, shhh, ‘terrorists’.
Large numbers of people who don’t vote One Nation, and in some cases despise the party and all involved with it, think this gun laws and foreign donors scandal must be the final exposure that will let everyone else see One Nation as they see One Nation.
MORE FROM DAVID OLDFIELD: Why I will always support Pauline
These same people are those whom if they witnessed Pauline Hanson rescue a drowning child, would seemingly manifest that she was in fact interfering with the poor kid’s swimming session.
They have no capacity to comprehend a truth they don’t like or see something they won’t allow themselves to believe.
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Think Donald Trump and the Russians. Here you have a series of allegations pushed to the nth degree that the Russian Government, the KGB and every shadowy, ‘Rusky’, in the world interfered with the outcome of the US Presidential election.
Even at its peak, it didn’t really hurt Trump.
For the most part the Russian interference allegations were only an issue for those who had been opposed to Trump. And surprise, surprise, Trump’s enemies were ecstatic for anything negative about him, anything that might undermine him, anything however inconceivable, that might destroy him.
The anti-Trump forces, media and otherwise, despite their pathetic positioning, weren’t horrified or ashamed that their democracy had been undermined, rather, they hoped it had.
But Trump supporters wouldn’t have cared if the Devil himself helped Trump, because after all, it must have been God’s will for the Devil to do that!
When Pauline Hanson was elected to the Senate with three One Nation colleagues, there was fear among those opposed that One Nation was having a huge resurgence — that wasn’t the case — in fact One Nation had less than half the votes in 2016 than they had in 1998, but Senate voting changes and a double dissolution produced an extraordinary result.
RELATED: Calm down, Pauline. It’s called journalism
I suspect it was this result that prompted the Al Jazeera decision to embark on a three-year investigation and so it raised the question of intent: Why does a foreign government funded Muslim news service undertake a costly and lengthy piece on a small political party on the other side of the world?
Because Hanson and One Nation are considered ‘enemies of Islam’ and ‘must be stopped’. Surely no-one would be silly enough to think there was any decency attached to this investigation? But many Muslims, and Muslim organisations, consider One Nation part of what is evil about the West.
Despite what a lot choose to believe, it has been demonstrated on countless occasions that there is a very strong anti-Muslim sentiment in Australia.
Whether there is any basis to those feelings is a matter of debate, but it’s nonsense to make out that view doesn’t exist.
It’s understandable why Al Jazeera went after One Nation, but they may come to regret it because if there is any electoral impact on One Nation, it will be to solidify their support and likely improve their vote.
Anyone angered at One Nation over this scandal wasn’t ever going to be voting for Pauline Hanson so all their posturing and hand-wringing is to no effect other than to highlight the matter to those who might be persuaded to vote for One Nation.
The problem for One Nation growing its support has generally been their lack of ability to plausibly articulate their position. But the likes of Al Jazeera and those grandstanding over this latest episode of Hanson craziness are doing One Nation’s work for them, and pushing voters their way.
David Oldfield is a retired parliamentarian, co-founder of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and former principal advisor to Pauline Hanson and One Nation.
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