Perception is important. It defines our thought process, our feelings and emotions onto any given event. The recent climate tax "debate" in Australia shows a lot about perception in Australian society. The perception can be deduced that the country is polarised in some ways between the "climate change deniers" and "leftist hippies". Of course the reality is much different, but its helpful for the press and those they serve to portray it in this manner.
The shallowness of the debate (and Australian politics in general) can be seen when you see posters like "Bob Brown's Bitch". The reality is those people (on both sides) have very little knowledge of climate change, the economics behind the climate "tax". Instead they rely on their self constructed perceptions of the world to form their opinions on this matter. And in truth, that is how we construct all realities.
Those that belief that climate change is a hoax, are often the ones that hate asylum seekers, and often the ones that are against immigration. Personally I think this reflect their negative personalities. These people are often older, people who have struggled and are bitter at how things have gone. Their perception is tightly wrapped around their personal identities as "real" Australians. These people are typically of lower socio-economic standing, although that is not necessarily always the case. It is sufficient to associate yourself with this "class".
They are, let's face it, not having the greatest time after the GFC (who is, apart from our corporate overlords?) This group of people have legitimate reason to question why things seem to be getting tougher and tougher for them. And the scapegoat is often on things/people they don't understand. You fear what you don't understand. So hence the antagonistic response to immigrants, asylum seekers, and most recently, climate change.
This identity is exploited by the Liberal party, who claims to champion their cause. The perception suits. This is the conservative backwards looking party, whose most successful leader modeled himself after the previous most successful leader, who served in a completely different era. This is the party that has no new ideas, but draws on Australia's mythical golden past. Such ideas are attractive to those who resist change. This perception is helpful - it helps blind the people whilst the real people in power, behind the media and large corporations, make their profits.
I mean a good example of policy working in contrast to perception is that this is the Liberal party that offered tax cut after tax cut to these people. It's a wonderful vote earning technique, except it doesn't make too much economic sense. The reality of course, is those tax cuts, have cost Australia in the form of public infrastructure, roads, hospitals. Things that are then blamed on state governments. The Liberal party federally could not lose as they couldn't be blamed for problems they help cause. The perception however, that the Liberal party is one that gives back, was very helpful for them to retain power.
On the other side, perception is that Labor is generally the more "socially" equitable of the two parties. The problem has been that Labor has been a victim of its own perception. Those on the left find it too centrist. Those on the right perceive it as too hippy. Hence Labor seems to be either/ or. It doesn't seem to fit.
Rudd won on the perception that he was the socially equitable prime minister that was willing to tackle social issues and make Australia more equitable. This is the same campaign waged by Obama in America. The perception of "change" helped both these leaders win elections. It can be said that the reality of Rudd and Obama was quite different to the perception of them.
This is the state of modern politics. As long as the people perceive you as representing their ideals and values, then you have their vote. This is why democracy doesn't work. It's about selling the political iamge to convince 50.1% of people to vote for you every 3 years or so. The real issues and problems behind them don't matter. What counts is perception.
My words are summed up perfectly (better in fact) by this cartoon.
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