Monday, August 9, 2010

Q&A - PM Julia Gillard on Atheism and Same Sex Marriage





August 9, 2010 on ABC TV (Australia)
(Thanks DS)

11 comments:

  1. I think she's pro-gay-marriage, but her party is not. She even said "sorry" to that girl!

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  2. I got the feeling too. She realizes she is denying them liberties but does not expound on why she feels it necessary. Her only reason was that "her party decided". That sort of answer lacks the personal conviction one would expect on such an issue.

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  3. BS, if she does not believe in it she should not support it!

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  4. While it almost certainly will assist in unshackling you from a number of common bigotries, there is no reason to similarly suspect that simply not believing in god and religion should also immunize someone from cowardice. It clearly does not. Too bad.

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  5. They all apologise when saying that. They always start off with a little preamble to the effect that the listener may be disappointed by what they are about to say it. Tony Abbott does it on this topic and Kevin Rudd used to. It's a stock standard political technique.

    What bothers me is that she point blank refused to answer the question. The question was "how do you justify...", not "please restate your position".

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  6. <span>They all apologise when saying that. They always start off with a little preamble to the effect that the listener may be disappointed by what they are about to say. Tony Abbott does it on this topic and Kevin Rudd used to. It's a stock standard political technique. 
     
    What bothers me is that she point blank refused to answer the question. The question was "how do you justify...", not "please restate your position".</span>

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  7. <span>They all apologise when saying that. They always start off with a little preamble to the effect that the listener may be disappointed by what they are about to say. Tony Abbott does it on this topic and Kevin Rudd used to. It's a stock standard political technique. 
     
    What bothers me is that she point blank refused to answer the question. The question was "how do you justify...", not "please restate your position in a patronising way".</span>

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  8. 1. Elected officials often have to straddle the line between being a representative and being an individual.  So it seems here stance against same-sex marriage comes from here having to be a representative of her party and its platform.  To run contrary to your parties platform sort of makes you a member of a different party.  Not always a great thing, just a part of party politics.

    2.  Can she run for president of the US? (kidding) I don't have a lot of familiarity beyond this, but what a great set of responses.  Calm, reasoned and clear.  

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  9.  to be honest for all the haters out here that are attacking her- she is at least come out as an atheist- let us see obama do that 1st before you attack us folk in the souther hemisphere...

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  10. Not really. The Labour Party tend to kick out anyone who disagrees with party policy too loudly. She's just trying to not get booted.
    TBH, I think a lot of politicians are pro-gay marriage, but also pro-keeping-my-job. If they didn't have the threat of losing their position for disagreeing too vocally with party policy, gay marriage might have been given the green light sooner.

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  11. It's nice of her to admit to having no faith, but really, I would rather she was honest wrt. the policies she supports, than wrt. her personal opinions.

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