On elections, trickster gods and cargo cults
As they teach us in Classics 101, myths are a way of explaining the world, and the fact that left-wing political parties usually have a greater store of myths and rely more on myth-like thinking to explain their world, tells us something about them.
I was made to think of this again today during a conversation with an old friend who happens to be a rusted-on Howard-hater. I asked her what she thought would happen in the coming Federal Election, and she immediately started talking about a new golden dawn under Kevin Rudd. I gently interrupted her: "M., don't tell me what you want to happen, tell me what you think will happen". At which point she came out with exactly the response I was expecting. Howard-hater she may be, but even she thinks Rudd has gone too far in his plan to wind back Howard's workplace laws, and that this will allow Howard to sneak back in. That's what I was looking for. Every Howard-hater I speak to on this subject - without exception - always believes that Howard only ever wins an election by some last-minute piece of cunning, guile, deceit or infernal good luck. The idea that Howard wins because a majority of the electorate actually prefer his government and his policies is quite literally inconceivable to them.
Howard, in their 'analysis' resembles something out of the old myths, a trickster-god like Hermes in the Greek myths, or Loki in the Norse, or Mantis in the Bushman mythology: someone who achieves a mischievous success by trickery and guile.
The Howard-haters' view of democracy in Australia also has a lot in common with the phenomenon of cargo cults. These cults, which flourished on Pacific Islands particularly around the period of World War Two, often involved a belief that the vast amounts of material goods which Europeans seemed to have at their disposal were in fact intended by the gods for the islanders themselves, and had been feloniously intercepted by superior European 'magic'. This is exactly how the Left think about Government in Australia: it's a gift, self-evidently intended for them, but which time and again is mysteriously snatched from their grasp at the last moment by the inexplicable magic of the Coalition.
With each election defeat comes first the stupor of astonishment, quickly followed by the scramble for a myth to explain it. If Rudd loses in November, which I personally expect he will, it will be interesting to see what they come up with.
As they teach us in Classics 101, myths are a way of explaining the world, and the fact that left-wing political parties usually have a greater store of myths and rely more on myth-like thinking to explain their world, tells us something about them.
I was made to think of this again today during a conversation with an old friend who happens to be a rusted-on Howard-hater. I asked her what she thought would happen in the coming Federal Election, and she immediately started talking about a new golden dawn under Kevin Rudd. I gently interrupted her: "M., don't tell me what you want to happen, tell me what you think will happen". At which point she came out with exactly the response I was expecting. Howard-hater she may be, but even she thinks Rudd has gone too far in his plan to wind back Howard's workplace laws, and that this will allow Howard to sneak back in. That's what I was looking for. Every Howard-hater I speak to on this subject - without exception - always believes that Howard only ever wins an election by some last-minute piece of cunning, guile, deceit or infernal good luck. The idea that Howard wins because a majority of the electorate actually prefer his government and his policies is quite literally inconceivable to them.
Howard, in their 'analysis' resembles something out of the old myths, a trickster-god like Hermes in the Greek myths, or Loki in the Norse, or Mantis in the Bushman mythology: someone who achieves a mischievous success by trickery and guile.
The Howard-haters' view of democracy in Australia also has a lot in common with the phenomenon of cargo cults. These cults, which flourished on Pacific Islands particularly around the period of World War Two, often involved a belief that the vast amounts of material goods which Europeans seemed to have at their disposal were in fact intended by the gods for the islanders themselves, and had been feloniously intercepted by superior European 'magic'. This is exactly how the Left think about Government in Australia: it's a gift, self-evidently intended for them, but which time and again is mysteriously snatched from their grasp at the last moment by the inexplicable magic of the Coalition.
With each election defeat comes first the stupor of astonishment, quickly followed by the scramble for a myth to explain it. If Rudd loses in November, which I personally expect he will, it will be interesting to see what they come up with.
posted by cuckoo at
7:32 PM
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