Andrew Dickens: Posie Parker's visit and the fallout played out exactly as predicted

Andrew Dickens Afternoons

Welcome to the new world of performative politics and the battle of the outraged.

Though it's not a new world, but the same old world now amplified by social media and our move away from the written and spoken word and into pictures on screens.

The visit of Posie Parker went exactly as anyone could predict over the weekend and the fallout is just as predictable.

All sides played their part in this passionless play. All feeding on each other for validation. All throwing out vast generalisations.

It all started with with the calls to ban her entry. Free speech crusaders railed against it. Trans activists bellowed for it. Ignoring the fact that entry could only de denied on criminal record. Posie Parker is many things but she's never been a criminal. But the drama acted out broadcast by media entities both professional and social who only report what's right before their eyes

Posie Parker is nothing without opposition and we'd all be ignorant of her stance if opponents hadn't highlighted it.

She claimed to be representing New Zealand women despite never having been in the country. I wondered what the point of her tour of New Zealand and Australia was for and it is obvious it was for her supporters back in the UK, therefore she needed the protests. She needed the pictures to become a hero for her people.

This was evident in her bizarre choices of venues in public open spaces both here and Australia. A security consultant over the weekend asked whether she was naïve or stupid in choosing Albert Park. Wide open spaces, hard to defend with easy access for supporters and opponents. I'm pretty sure Posie knew she was vulnerable and didn't mind. Remember, Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux's cancellation came at the hands of landlords of the venues.

On the other side, trans activists needed a perceived threat to publicise their cause, so Parker was perfect. They amplified the threat and mobilised their forces and built up a lather. They talked about the threat to their lives of being trans and yet turned up to a protest with signs saying 'Kill the TERFS' with absolutely no sense of irony.

The Nazis smelt some attention in Melbourne and turned up with their masks and salute and got coverage. Brian Tamaki smelt opportunity to follow up his 'gays caused the cyclones' outrage. The Greens meanwhile smelt the opportunity to demonise all white straight males. Meanwhile, right wing and conservative broadcasters hitched their horse to the issues to push the "New Zealand has been trashed by a Labour Government".

So the actors played their part to a willing audience.

But it was interesting to hear a caller this morning talking about how 95 percent of the Albert Park protestors were polite and law abiding. Which was exactly what we heard about the Parliamentary protests on the vaccinations. Which is the truth.

What we saw this weekend was the extreme minorities of both sides having a go at each other which meant the news that the IOC has banned athletes who transition after puberty from Olympic Sports passed by with little comment.

There's no drama when the grown ups speak.

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