Anzac spirit meets extremism surge: a moral crossroads
By clare rowe

• SkyNews.com.au Contributor and Education Commentator
• 12:00AM April 27, 2024
• 7 Comments

This past week has presented Australia with a profound juxtaposition: the heartening sight of a record number of children turning out to commemorate Anzac Day, a poignant symbol of unity and patriotism, against the sombre backdrop of the arrest of seven youths allegedly engaged in extremist activities.
Anzac Day has evolved to become more than a commemoration and remembrance of the service of our armed forces. It is quickly becoming a day that galvanises our national identity and gives much-wanted permission to all Australians to be unashamedly patriotic. The involvement of children in such numbers this year is particularly significant – it symbolises the transmission of these values to the next generation.
The arrest of seven teenagers, suspected of plotting acts of terror illustrates the dark path individuals can take when alienated and misled by destructive ideologies.
The country finds itself at a daunting moral crossroads. We are compelled to confront a disturbing phenomenon: the radicalisation of youth in our own backyard. It is an issue that threatens not just our safety but the foundational values of our society.

The juxtaposition of these two events within the same week throws into sharp relief the work that remains to be done. While Anzac Day reflects the values we aspire to, the Sydney arrests highlight the vulnerabilities and dangers we must still address. Both events involve our youth, and both significantly impact our national psyche, yet represent diametrically opposed visions of our future.
The police operations that unfolded this week in Sydney are uncomfortable and shocking but must be acknowledged for what they are. That pockets of teenagers, born in this great nation, have somehow found themselves in a position where they deem that the best path forward is to turn against their fellow Aussies. Combating the allure of extremist ideologies to some young individuals isn’t just a matter of law enforcement; it’s a psychological battle against narratives that exploit vulnerabilities.

The pathway to radicalisation often begins at an age where identity and belonging are paramount concerns. Adolescents are at a stage in life characterised by questioning and, sometimes, rebellion against societal norms. When these natural tendencies meet a sense of alienation or disenfranchisement, the stage is set for radical ideologies to take root.
Extremist groups, with a cunning understanding of psychology, target these individuals through social media platforms, discussion forums and other online channels. They present a narrative that resonates deeply with personal grievances, often portraying themselves as the only solution to the injustices these young people perceive they are facing.

Sky News education commentator Clare Rowe needs to bone up on Islam and its history with the West.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has backed the National Disability Insurance Scheme, saying the “benefit to the economy is profound”.

I suppose his idea of “benefit to the economy” is it employs so many of the country shoppers by keeping them off the dole …. never mind the, bottomless, drain on the public purse the scheme costs …….!

“This national firearms register will help ensure that police know guns are in the community, where they are and who owns them.”

They already know this. FMD. The Feds can always ask the local Plod.

Everyone is a theologian.

In a piece on the Albanese government’s dim electoral prospects, the Saturday Paper reports a “Labor insider’s” view that “the Coalition’s weak economics team” is helping Labor avoid the polling its economic performance deserves.

That would be Angus Taylor, Luke Howarth & James McGrath.

The ball is in your court, Peter Dutton.

(Btw, did I see Dutton walking back on the censorship dispute with Musk?

Could it be he’s been given a clear message from the party’s grassroots?

Why do Liberal leaders, federal & state, exhibit such poor political instincts?)

Surley it can’t be long before we hear the NDIS has saved us from recession.

I am pretty sure that I have already heard tales of the NDIS fetching frightened kittens down out of trees to the great relief of teary eyed little girls, pulling thorns from the paws of angry lions, and snorkelling in water hazards at golf courses to retrieve discarded golf balls and using the money raised to feed orphans and puppies.

chris kenny Sydney University pro-Palestine camp shows topsy-turvy world of warriors for radical chic

• 12:00AM April 27, 2024
• 195 Comments

Like children with matches in a summer bushland tinderbox, the pro-Palestinian protesters at our universities seem to have no idea about the lethal forces that are their playthings. Islamist extremism, anti-Semitism, Arab grievance, Jewish defiance, great power politics and social cohesion in Western liberal democracies like our own are all in the mix.
These are tensions not easily grasped or resolved by undergraduates looking for the revolutionary cause of their era. When they bandy around terms like “Israeli genocide” and “apartheid state” or talk about a colonial power usurping the rights of an Indigenous people you know that facts, history and context have no place in their considerations.
Politicians of the left in the US, Britain and here do little to chastise or correct them because they are in the ugly electoral game of courting the ever-growing Muslim vote, holding off ever more radical leftist rivals, and appealing to the young and impressionable. National values and interests play second fiddle to the spineless mathematics of political power.

At Columbia University in New York City, which has led the way in what has become a global campus campaign, Jewish students this month were advised to stay away from classes, and now the whole university has switched to a remote learning model. Even one pro-Palestinian protester, Linnia Norton, seemed shocked at the hatred they had unleashed, telling a reporter; “There were people outside of campus one time with signs that said, ‘Death to all Jews’ – that is awful and nobody should be having to experience that on their campus.”
The Students for Palestine protesters at the University of Sydney are unashamedly derivative, posting on Instagram that they have been “greatly inspired” by the movement at Columbia. They have chanted “Intifada, intifada”, cheering on Palestinian armed uprisings that have visited terrorism on Israel repeatedly since the 1980s, taking thousands of innocent lives.
Whatever your view of Palestinian aspirations and the Israeli government, no rational approach to this issue should ignore the human reality. It seems incomprehensible that these privileged students could see the Hamas atrocities of October 7 last year and the horrible war they were designed to trigger and use those events not to condemn and campaign against Hamas but to advocate the terror group’s agenda.

On Anzac Day, after bathing in the warm and reassuring camaraderie of the dawn service at Bondi, I went to the Sydney University students’ “occupation” site to see for myself. From a distance, the whole thing looked like topsy-turvy world to me. These are students who promote and enjoy sexual liberation, gender equality, embracing of gays, bisexuals and transgender people, imbibing of alcohol, and no doubt free expression, democracy and individual rights; how could they offer comfort to the Islamist extremist terror group Hamas, which would readily throw them off a rooftop on any of those counts?

Taylor never practiced as an economist; he was a management consultant with McKinsey.

I suppose that’s at least a real job, unlike fellow USYD Econ grads Albanese & Bowen.

We’re away from home & I happened to be in a cafe for breakfast this morning where I skimmed the Courier-Mail. Reported Dutton saying we can’t expect to police the internet. Then our order came.

We’re here – north of Brisbane – for a family 50th birthday. It’s like a preview of a dystopic future Australia. The main street is either empty office space or rented by government agencies or disability service providers and tattoo shops. CCTV cameras everywhere. And legal chambers, on account of the courthouse that dominates the main street.

The breakfast was excellent though, served by a cheerful Filipina waitress. That’s the only bright spot so far. Chinese banquet tonight.