Pauline Hanson has arisen from the crypt of 1998 like Michael Myers in Halloween Resurrection.
We all thought his reign of terror was over – we even saw Jamie Lee Curtis chop his head off with an axe FFS – and yet here he is again to sew fear and discord into the hearts of our fragile society.
“Please explain.”
ICYMI: it looks like Hanson has scored herself a seat in the Senate and (apparently) could have another 5 members of One Nation in there with her.
And it’s news that should rightfully terrify any Aussie not currently in possession of a “FUCK OFF WE’RE FULL” T-shirt, now that the veteran polly has upgraded her anti-Asian immigrant stance to include Muslims as well (YAY for inclusive racism!)
But there’s one silver lining: in the wake of Hanson’s resurgence, political satirist Pauline Pantsdown AKA the guy who turned her into a human punchline in the first place with his smash hit I Don’t Like It – is now also pondering a comeback, and may return do battle against his old nemesis once more.
Just like Mothra awakening to save the world from Godzilla or whatever.
Back in ’98, I Don’t Like It artfully dismantled Hanson’s berserk xenophobia with the power of LOLs while simultaneously rocketing to #10 on the ARIA charts. And the man behind it, UNSW media lecturer Simon Hunt, says he’s considering bringing his Pauline Pantsdown character out of retirement, depending on how the whole political situation plays out.
“If I were to take on a song it would be about the same things: that she’s talking rubbish and that the only things that are driving her are racism and hatred.”
The professor also offered up some frankly crushing truths about the difference between Hanson’s message back in the ’90s versus her message now.
“It was always about the outright racism, but she’s not really as unique now in that way anymore,” he (please) explained. “She’s jumped into a government where she’s actually probably seen as more acceptable.
“The far-right, anti-Muslim Christian [movement], who are all the same people conducting the war on transgender people at the moment, are all talking about Muslim people in exactly the same way Pauline Hanson is.”
And the LGBT rights campaigner says it means he’d have to think very carefully about releasing any new material that took the piss out of Hanson, in case it accidentally backfired and ended up helping her cause.
“That’s part of the reason why I’m not coming out and saying that I’ll definitely do a song. I have to survey the situation, what her power is and what’s the best way to undermine that power and get rid of that [anti-]Islamic rhetoric that she’s going to bring to government,” he said.
“I felt like I did do something useful back in the 90s but it’s a different world. She’s not the only one saying these things out loud anymore so there can’t necessarily be the same response.”
And if the shattering realisation that such fear-mongering hate propaganda has actually become more normalised, accepted and believed in 2016 (#Trump #BREXIT #Turnbacktheboats) makes your heart hurt as much as ours, then here’s Pauline Pantsdown’s classic I Don’t Like It one more time to help you laugh some of the pain away.
