Grab your marshmallows, ’cause we’ve got ourselves a flame war.
It was to be expected that Sydney’s Lord Gladstone Hotel and their sensitively-titled F*CK Pauline Hanson event (and its ‘chippo’ snack packs) would draw some heat from some of Australia’s more conservative internet denizens.
After all, the newly-minted senator and her One Nation supporters have historically compensated for their lacking numbers with incredible volume.
Still, the torrents of True Patriotic Australians™ currently hammering the pub’s Facebook page with one star reviews are absolutely boggling.
If you’re wondering who could possibly have started such a backlash, or which online arbiter of truth, justice and Australian-ness could mobilise such a dedicated faction, the answer is The Great Australian Patriot.
That 20k-strong page let our nation’s most trenchant defenders of freedom know that somewhere, there was a pub that wanted to capitalise on anti-Hanson sentiment, and something had to be done:
How Mr or Mrs Patriot ascertained there will be ANZAC-hating flagburners present is currently unknown, but the watering hole itself is apparently using the opportunity to demonstrate the kinda clientele they’re not cool with:
They knew what they were getting into with an event with such a provocative title, and boy oh boy are they making the most of it.
So, here we are, folks. Our political divisions are expressed through the medium of pub reviews. Our factional urges can be channeled agains’t those we disagree with by hitting a singular blue star on a screen.
Whether you agree with politicising a pub night or not, watching two sides throw pixelated memes at each other over Facebook is one of the most uniquely modern expressions of democracy we have.
Truly Australian, even.
Source: Facebook.
Photo: Bradley Kanaris / Getty / Facebook.
