It has been rightly said that every good story line needs its villain of the piece. What would Harry Potter be without Lord Voldemort? How interesting would Star Wars be if there were no Darth Vader? How would the plot of Superman be sustained across all those comics without Lex Luthor? This is true, too, of politics, and especially of those who find themselves on the left of the political fence – they who are ‘the haters’, as one former Prime Ministerial aspirant (Mark Latham) self identified.
The haters have recently lost one of the most celebrated of all hate figures in the pantheon of Australian offence taking and victimology – that of Tony Abbott, lately removed from the top job and banished to the backbench. But, providentially, another has stepped forward, stage right, in the form of anti-Islamist Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who has recently been provided with a visa for his pending trip Down Under.
The haters on the left should be rejoicing rather than protesting that he now has an Aussie visa in hand, for Geert Wilders brings into play the most highly favoured victim of all in the culture of complaint – that of the oppressed Muslim. If nothing else, his visit is sure to give the local Islamophobia industry a huge economic boost. Geert even looks like an archetypal Bond villain. What more could a leftist hater wish for?
