Wednesday 22 June 2016

Election posters

or,  in Upover, referendum posters are all over the place. 
Someone mentioned that their referendum poster had been torn down. Presumably the vandal disagreed with the sentiment on it. 
The election date here had not even been officially announced when the first "corflutes" started to appear. 
They are called corflutes because of the material they are made from. They aren't indestructible but they are weatherproof. If they don't get vandalised then they are generally good for at least two election cycles. They are, as intended, eye-catching.
In my state in Downunder most of them get attached to "Stobie" poles. (The concrete and metal poles which carry the power lines across most suburbs.) Occasionally they appear on fences or other prominent places. Two or three can appear together - from different political parties.
Do they do any good? I don't know. I know my old federal MP quite well. I knew him before he entered politics. I have, quite by chance, met the candidate for his party. I have seen the "independent" candidate. I have  not seen or met the other candidates. I doubt I will.
But I won't go around defacing their election posters. I don't agree with the policies all parties are espousing but they have the right to state them. They have a right to be seen and to be heard. I have the right to be informed. I have the right to make up my own mind.  
Defacing an election poster is an act of violence. It may be seen as a "minor" thing but it is still an act of violence - against everyone else. 
In a democracy we have the right to know who the people asking to be allowed to represent us are - and what they stand for. If you deface an election poster then I will think less of you than the face on the poster.

3 comments:

Adelaide Dupont said...

So, Catriona, THAT was the word I was looking for.

CORFLUTES! I could have remembered that they were and looked like musical instruments.

So many posters are displayed outdoors.

catdownunder said...

Well, looks as if writing a blog post helped someone! :)

Adelaide Dupont said...

Thank you Catriona.

The corflutes...

COR ANGLAIS is the first part.

I am really enjoying the multilingual ads I am seeing

- including "100 positive policies" in Arabic.