Time for GetUp to get off it
Written by Bill Muhlenberg
Used with permission.
GetUp is an online-based lobby group which bills itself as an “independent political movement to build a progressive Australia”. It of course is in fact a radical leftist bunch of activists who want to radically remake Australia in their own image.
It is pushing every radical, trendy cause around. It is hardly interested in what ordinary Australians think. It is only interested in pushing its radical activist agendas. A perfect illustration of this concerns an attempt to have the protection of unborn babies become one of its campaigns.
GetUp actually asked people to suggest and vote on campaign ideas. So that some pro-life folks in fact did. In good faith they offered the recognition of the human rights of the unborn as a great campaign. It seemed like a perfect campaign for this lobby group to embark upon.
In a few short days votes from around the country pushed this item to number 2 or 3 on their list of top causes. Yet what did GetUp do about this? It simply dumped it, claiming it was not something GetUp would run with. It does not align with “GetUp’s values” as they said on their site.
So just what value does it promote? And this from the very folks who go on and on about social justice! This from a group which is so proud to stand up for the needy and the underprivileged. This from a group which seeks to take the high moral ground.
There can be no greater social justice than to allow unborn babies the right to life. Without that most fundamental and basic of human rights, there can be no other rights. But the radicals of the secular left don’t really care about genuine social justice. All they want to do is further their cultural Marxism crusade, and their war against the West.
Already concerned individuals are speaking up about this gross hypocrisy on the part of GetUp. Let me here simply offer the first two I have come across. I will just reprint their press releases in full. The first is from James Leach, Victorian President of Vitae Australia:
“It is disappointing Get Up! have chosen to shut down this campaign idea and not allowed voting to continue. In just a couple of days It would have likely become the most voted for issue and by closing voting Get Up! are denying members the right to show how much they care about rights for the unborn. It is clear that Get Up! are not interested in democracy or freedom of speech, otherwise they would have allowed voting to continue. Instead all they are care about is pushing the already established agenda of those in charge.
“Simply because many supporters of this campaign are Pro Life does not mean their votes are invalid. This was a campaign to give rights to human beings after 20 weeks of development so of course Pro Lifers are going to support it even if they believe that it doesn’t go far enough.
“The issue of foetus rights can not be seen as a separate issue to abortion because if the foetus has rights than abortion is a violation of those rights. In other words you cannot legally protect unborn children in the womb from assault and car accidents while not banning late term abortions because whether or not a child has rights cannot be dependent on whether or not that child is wanted.
“While Vitae did not instigate this campaign we fully support its aims and commend griffibo for proposing it. Due to the large amount of support it has received Vitae will be running a similar campaign next year. To find out how you can support the fight to give the unborn rights join our Facebook group so we can keep you updated: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24689967484 ”
The second is from Warwick Marsh of the Fatherhood Foundation:
“GetUp has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of their members’ funds running ads supporting the summary removal of babies human rights through abortion and yet they are betraying their own constituency. A group called Labor4Life ran a campaign on the GetUp Campaign Ideas page for new campaigns. Human Rights for unborn children got 1,869 votes by GetUp members as against the pro abortion campaign which at the same time was sitting at 571 votes at the same time.
“This is a ratio of 3 to 1 for life and against abortion. It should be noted that the highest vote for any one campaign was 2,209. So the Human Rights for Unborn children was just below the highest vote on the campaign page at 1,869 votes. To put this in perspective for the average punter: Human Rights for Unborn children was number three out of 446 campaign ideas. It was leading by a massive majority of GetUp members and yet it was axed by the powers that be.
“At approximately 11AM this morning (EST) 20th December GetUp summarily removed the offending member driven campaign for Human rights and offered the following pathetic and hypocritical statement. They said they consulted their members but we have comments from GetUp members who are part of our Facebook site who say they were never consulted (http://www.facebook.com/canberra.declaration ).
“We encourage you to use the enclosed information to show Australia what Hypocrites Get Up are. They are not member driven as they so loudly proclaim but they are possessed of a ideology of extreme and fringe causes which puts them at odds with many of their devoted members who love the environment and also love life as well. This is the hypocrisy of the highest order. GetUp is beholden to no one. Only its extreme antilife and antifamily fringe policies of its dictatorial leaders will prevail. It has lost contact with its members who in the main are prolife and pro the environment.
“Instead GetUp is pushing fringe policies of the extreme left like Euthanasia, abortion and homosexual marriage which are more in line with their elite taskmasters. Getup does not represent its constituency. They have betrayed them at every turn. Please send this information to every journalist you know as this is a national news story.”
Of course GetUp is not alone is such gross hypocrisy and double standards. There are plenty other examples of lefty secularists whose morality is greatly selective, to say the least. But this is a great example of what a bogus bunch these groups can be.
It is time for GetUp to get off its high horse, and admit to all the world what its real agenda is.
