Victorian state Liberal MP Bernie Finn has somehow figured out a way to make a completely unfunny “joke” about the Chinese rocket which fell back down to Earth, while at the same time wishing death upon an Aboriginal woman and a Muslim man.
On Sunday afternoon, Finn posted a meme which read: “Where should the Chinese rocket land?” Beneath were photos of journalist Waleed Aly, the ABC logo, Victorian Premier Dan Andrews and Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe.
“For the benefit of humuorless left-wing tossers, this is a joke,” Finn said in the caption, apparently oblivious to the fact that he’s the one who lacks a sense of humour in this case.
That alone is completely devoid of humour. But what takes this tasteless provocation from bad joke to seriously problematic is that it implies the deaths of Lidia Thorpe, an Aboriginal woman, or Waleed Aly, a Muslim man, are funny in the first place.
Both Thorpe and Aly have long been the target of racist death threats. Coming from an elected politician, it’s a pretty abhorrent reference to make in a Facebook meme.
And sure, Dan Andrews is perfectly open to criticism. But the timing here is pretty shit considering he literally broke his back and hasn’t been back to work for two months.
The post stayed up until about midday on Monday, when it appears to have been deleted. Hmm.
Before Finn was able to cover his tracks, a whole bunch of people called out this offensive and “unfunny” joke.
Der! It’s a JOKE about blowing up an Aboriginal woman, a Muslim man, the bed-bound guy with a broken back and the broadcaster currently focussed on exposing powerful men’s violence against women! HAHA GET IT!? THE FUNNY BIT IS BLOWING THEM UP!!!
Bernie Finn should resign. pic.twitter.com/l5p9cAP7pP
— Sally Rugg (@sallyrugg) May 9, 2021
The thing is @BernieFinnMP that other people go to gaol for a long time for these kinds of ‘jokes’: pic.twitter.com/w2PWSKD1eN
— Alex Bhathal (@alexbhathal) May 9, 2021
Dear Bernie,
We have on several occasions had very productive, professional discussions about autism – given your portfolio & our shared parenthood of ASD boys. That you would *joke* about bombing my place of work, shared with hardworking, diligent, decent journalists, floors me. https://t.co/uQ3x3M4Dym— Louise Milligan (@Milliganreports) May 9, 2021
This isn’t the first time Finn has posted shit like this. Last year he posted an ableist meme about Dan Andrews (which he later apologised for).
Oh, and he’s also the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for autism spectrum disorders. Cool, cool, cool.
The good news is that the post is gone. The bad news is that we have dickheads like this vying to run our country.
In case you missed it, the Chinese rocket landed uneventfully in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives on Sunday afternoon.
That, despite being the most unremarkable outcome imaginable in this whole situation, is still more funny than Bernie Finn’s Facebook post.
