Hmm. Whom Does This Remind You Of?
Watching the smug, bible-bashing hatemonger Liberal MP David Clarke ranting in his pearl-clutching way about same-sex couple adoption on Stateline NSW tonight Sir Roger was struck by what occurred – at least to himself – as startling similarities of attitude, demeanour and vocal style to a couple of NSW identities: the preposterous and terminally flatulent royalist David Flint, and ignorant, self-serving right-wing shill Alan Jones (who reportedly “adopted the Clarke cause”).
Hugely impressed by his own self-importance, pompous and deluded. Deluded and dangerous; an Opus Dei warrior for theocracy.
Fierce crusader against the Abomination of homosexuality. Swaggering religious zealot. Now whom does that remind Sir Roger of? Oh yes, that’s it, Ted Haggard. Of course it’s a coincidence. There’s nothing in it at all. It’s just Sir Roger’s free-ranging mind let loose.
Still, it would be hilarious if it were true. But there’s no evidence that it is.
However, in a strange twist, there’s this echo from December 30, 2008. As the Daily Telegraph reported then:
THE Reverend Fred Nile has everyone talking about bare breasts – but both sides of politics say his proposal to ban topless sunbathing is not a matter for State Parliament.
A proposal to outlaw bare-breasted women on NSW beaches has gained almost no support since Mr Nile raised the issue today.
The Christian Democratic Party upper house member wants to introduce a private member’s Bill, which NSW Labor MP Paul Gibson and Liberal MP David Clarke said they would support.
Yes, Fred has everyone talking about bare breasts again!
The question bothering Sir Roger is, What is going through the mind of a heterosexual man who dislikes the sight of female breasts, who finds them distasteful, disturbing, even disgusting, to the point of campaigning against them? Is this possibly evidence of a reaction formation¹? Surely not. No, certainly not. It couldn’t be …
David Clarke’s supporters include Pell disciple Tony Abbott, Nick Minchin, Eric Abetz, Kevin Andrews, Connie Fierravanti-Wells and Helen Coonan.
It’s not unimportant that David Clarke is a “cooperator” of Opus Dei.
Clarke: Well members of, co-operators where they can, assist Opus Dei financially on specific projects in various other projects that they do have. Opus Dei assist members and co-operators with means of formation, you know, means for us basically to get to heaven.
That is, David Clarke (and other members and “cooperators” of Opus Dei) are in it for their own personal salvation. They are not at all interested in your welfare except in so far as their interest in it may help them get to “heaven”.
You can see clearly in the photograph that even when he is trying his hardest to effect a friendly smile the best his mouth can produce is a sneer … which fits with reports that his far-right faction is sometimes referred to as ”the Taliban”.
If David Clarke is a good Opus Deist he will wake in the morning for his “Heroic Minute” uttering “Serviam!” (“I will serve!!”). And on Tuesdays he will use Psalm 2 as “the basis of mental prayer”.
Here is Psalm 2, King James version:
1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.
5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
Sir Roger thought it certainly looked like a call to theocracy, to save us heathens from ourselves and bring the glory of god to his government on earth.
This could possibly explain his alleged un-Christian, rage-filled, finger pointing fury at an art exhibition in Liverpool.
A Liberal Party powerbroker once accused of racist road rage gatecrashed an art exhibition opening and “threw a temper tantrum”, a mayor claims.
Liverpool mayor Wendy Waller was so outraged by the actions of upper house right-winger David Clarke that she has complained in writing to the Premier, Nathan Rees.
Her account is backed by the council general manager, Phil Tolhurst, who said Mr Clarke “was very vocal and argumentative”, and by a senior exhibition staffer Nikita Karvounis, who said the MP was “very rude and aggressive and basically accused us of being a communist organisation”.
Well of course they’re communists: they don’t agree with him.
It certainly doesn’t accord with the Opus Dei focus, for ordinary people, on performing sacrifices pertaining to normal duties and to its emphasis on charity and cheerfulness.
One can’t know. probably, whether Mr Clarke subscribes to the Opus Dei practice of mortification, which can take many forms, emotional or physical, mild or extreme.
Critics state that self-mortification is a “startling,” “extreme,” and “questionable” practice — one that borders on masochism. Critics assert that “due to modern psychology and thinking, the practices which inflict pain are sometimes considered to be counterproductive to one’s spiritual development, as they can easily lead to pride and an unhealthy attitude toward one’s body.”
Why, wondered Sir Roger this evening, does David Clarke focus so much on matters of the human body and of sex which his political actions and declarations suggest to Sir Roger he dislikes. Perhaps Joseph Campbell has the answer (and so, unashamedly, we repeat him).
¹”In psychoanalytic theory, reaction formation is a defensive process … in which anxiety-producing or unacceptable emotions and impulses are mastered by exaggeration … of the directly opposing tendency.”
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