Scott Morrison - A Good Bloke?
Scott Morrison exists in a cloak of manufactured personality, occasionally straining at the seams when he is forced to respond off-script to uncomfortable situations. In short, he's full of shit.
Let's just rewind for a moment and look at what, as Australians, endears a person to each of us. There are two paths to this answer. There's the individual position, as in, what is it that we as individuals like and admire about another, that registers in such a way that we think of them as trustworthy, friendly or simply "okay". On the other path, there is the Australian stereotype of "Is he a good bloke?" in which we seemingly forego our regular sense of caution or scrutiny and accept people at face value. Coincidentally deciding if the person is "a good bloke".
Now think about your friends. You trust them. You'd accept what they say because you have a belief that they're not likely to "bullshit" you. We're supposed to look out for our mates, lend them a hand and believe that they have our best interests at heart. Even those friends who don't share all the same beliefs, you'd probably accept that they are "good blokes".
"He's a good bloke...
- even if he DOES barrack for Collingwood,
- even if he DOES still live in his parents basement,
- even if he DOES talk about Star Wars way too much." etc.
However, we are usually a bit wary of someone who appears to be fake. Wary of the sort of person who will do or say whatever it takes in order to win you over. We're not all good at identifying these people, in fact, a lot of us are susceptible to exactly the sort of tactics and methods that this kind of person uses. This is why advertising works and it's why marketing works.
- even if he DOES still live in his parents basement,
- even if he DOES talk about Star Wars way too much." etc.
However, we are usually a bit wary of someone who appears to be fake. Wary of the sort of person who will do or say whatever it takes in order to win you over. We're not all good at identifying these people, in fact, a lot of us are susceptible to exactly the sort of tactics and methods that this kind of person uses. This is why advertising works and it's why marketing works.
Think about how companies or organisations refresh logos or change product design. It's all about giving the old, stale image a swift kick up the backside in order to fool potential/existing customers into thinking that things have changed or that the product is new.
And it works! Sure, there are some spectacular fails, but you need to be paying attention to those. You needed to be trying them out in order to realise that despite the hype, they were shit.
Ahh, so refreshing
Marketing works.
So again, what if the product being marketed, is a person? The "good bloke".
This is Scott Morrison.
Marketing is all Scott Morrison knows and make no mistake, it has worked well for him. It worked in his days as Immigration Minister, when he demonised asylum seekers, using the "illegal boats" and "illegal immigrants" phrases on repeat. He wasn't trying to sell it to those on the left or the right, he was selling it to the average Australian who either didn't care that much or wasn't paying attention. And again, it worked. Those in the middle saw Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison "stop the boats" and prevent the arrival of "illegals". Is it still xenophobia if you don't believe it, but you make others believe it? Hmm.
Anyway, this marketing continued as he would regularly refuse to answer questions on asylum seekers, claiming they were operational matters. The marketing this time was to remove the issue from the minds of the public. If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it still make a sound? Apparently not, as this marketing ploy also worked.
It's at this point that I'll point out that his efforts don't always work. Same sex marriage is one such example, but I'm going to put this down to him being one person in the Government, and not actually in charge or leading the policy. If people already don't like the taste, no amount of marketing is going to be able to sell it, especially if it is voted on NOT along party lines.
August 24, 2018. Scott Morrison becomes Prime Minister. The marketing now was all about him.
Remember the start of the blog, how people gauge friends on whether they're a good bloke or not? Well now think about people you don't know so well. Think about the casual acquaintances in your lives. It now becomes "I don't know him so well, but he SEEMS like a good bloke."
This is the "good bloke" persona that Morrison tries to project. The casual acquaintance that you don't see very often. Maybe you'll catch him on the telly or hear him on a six second FM radio news report. Scott Morrison is not trying to appeal to the left or the right, he's trying to appeal to those people who don't care enough to drill down beyond a headline or a news grab of a few seconds and this is why he has been successful, despite being one of the most untrustworthy and disingenuous politicians I've seen for quite a long time.
Scott Morrison is trying to be that casual acquaintance you see at a party who "Well, Glen thinks he's okay, so he must be a good bloke."
He builds stuff with his kids, he goes to the footy, he kicks about with kids, he runs the drinks out to the Aussie Cricket Team, he works in his board shorts, he shares a beer down the pub with "strangers"...or at least he has photos taken that depict all these things. He is trying to sell himself, whilst at the same time being responsible for an incompetent and often corrupt Government. He tries to look like your mate, he tries to sound like a wise elder (the croaky voice), he latches on to the success of others (Dan and Gladys), but distances himself if anything goes wrong. These are what the disengaged public sees. A "good bloke".
Scott Morrison says what?
Scott Morrison is not one of us. He's a hard conservative, religious nutbag with a proven track record of incompetence, dodgy dealings, politically suspect behaviour, heartless treatment of asylum seekers, and required an EMPATHY coach in order to even remotely fake being able to speak to people who are hurt and vulnerable. He does not have the best interests of those on the LEFT at heart, but he also doesn't have the best interests of those in the MIDDLE at heart. He's not a "good bloke".
When a relentless marketing machine goes unchallenged, it prevails.
It's time for the ALP to up their volume in response to Scott Morrison.
llama
@SirWonderLlama
@SirWonderLlama
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