Ruby spurns the sausage

Ruby Hamad, one of the staples in Fairfax's Ladies Pages, is also a regular at The Drum, which should come as no surprise. When Young Chip has finished the ironing, goodbye kisses have been exchanged and the man of the house departs for work -- arriving late, one assumes, as The Drum now features fewer daily testaments to the dubious benefits of degrees in feminist studies, enviro-alarmism and abnormal psychology than before -- he must settle into his desk with Dearest's doorstep admonition still ringing in his ears. ".....and don't you forget to get the Geritol on the way home, after you've given the sisterhood a good airing...."

What is a young squire to do but as his queen has bid? Hence obnoxious inanities like this one, which may keep Young Chip in the good books at home, but must surely test even Mark Scott's indulgent standards. On second thought, given that Scott has no standards for what constitutes good use of public monies, probably not:

The growing attachment to the Anzac Legend is another manifestation of this fear of changing demography. The celebration of Anzac Day has moved well beyond the solemn remembrance of the wasted lives of exploited soldiers and into an idolisation of this mythical Australia where things were simpler, better, and a whole lot whiter.

As such, the diggers of old have become unwitting mouthpieces from beyond the grave, who killed and died for whatever people imagine the "real" Australia is. Recall that infamous tweet from the Australian Christian Lobby's Jim Wallace two years ago, "Just hope that as we remember Servicemen and women today we remember the Australia they fought for - wasn't gay marriage and Islamic!"

In as much as humans resist change, we are often powerless against it. Australia's racial demography will be what it is as we become more diverse than ever. The Jim Wallaces and racist bus passengers can either come along for the ride or be left behind in that mythical Australia they romanticise, but that never really was.

Worth noting is that this offensive nonsense is published under the headline, "Thriving diversity should be embraced, not feared". In Hamad's re-making of Australia, those of us happy our ancestors, old or more recent, came here for better lives get short shrift in favour of, well, militant vegan feminists keen to rabbit on about the Sexual Politics of Meat.Hamad writes:

Eating animals acts as mirror and representation of patriarchal values. …If meat is a symbol of male dominance then the presence of meat proclaims the disempowering of women.

Got that? If not, more of Hamad's thinking is available for contemplation. Her instant identification with a headless chook is rather revealing.