{"id":4431,"date":"2020-09-19T10:33:16","date_gmt":"2020-09-19T02:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dingo.news\/voice\/?p=4431"},"modified":"2024-08-10T22:25:51","modified_gmt":"2024-08-10T14:25:51","slug":"labor-sic-their-pet-attack-dog-jordan-shanks-friendlyjordies-onto-the-unruly-auwu-untermenschen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dingo.news\/voice\/labor-sic-their-pet-attack-dog-jordan-shanks-friendlyjordies-onto-the-unruly-auwu-untermenschen\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor sic their pet attack dog Jordan Shanks (friendlyjordies) onto the unruly AUWU Untermenschen"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Jordan Shanks – Punching down for power<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

From my (evolving) 1980’s Labor Left perspective on life, I’ll admit to being unimpressed when I first saw Mr Shanks prattling away on video. I thought, Who is this puerile, egotistical yuppie and what is he on about?<\/em> Eventually however, (as he was amplifying worthwhile causes) his videos started to cut through my initial perceptions.<\/span>
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Who doesn’t<\/span> love koalas<\/span><\/a> or seeing<\/span> Clive Palmer<\/a><\/span> ridiculed?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now, having seen Shanks’ ego-driven bigotry firsthand and researched his motivations and history – I have to confess my initial reaction was overly generous. I assure you, his arrogant sense of superiority to us Gosfordians (his term for “average Australians”<\/strong>) runs unchecked throughout most of his material.
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What strikes me most about his video defaming the AUWU, is the open hatred Shanks directs at the AUWU officials and his disdain for the unemployed which he has unsuccessfully attempted to reinterpret.  Shanks may be a former model, but such vehemence never looks pretty.
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Just Shanks’ sneering “comrades”<\/em> shtick alone, would be deeply insulting to many of the activists and unionists I’ve worked alongside over the years. He’s either totally unaware of Labor’s socialist roots (he studied politics) or contemptuous of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nOrigins of a media meltdown<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jordan Shanks<\/a><\/span> of the ironically named Friendly Jordies <\/span>copped some flak<\/a><\/span> from an Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union<\/span> (AUWU<\/a><\/span>) official on Twitter, the<\/span><\/span> fracas escalated rapidly and clearly Shanks’ ego and pro-Labor political sensibilities were hurt.<\/span>
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“This attack on my YouTube celebrity and associations with Labor royalty, by some<\/span> drug-addled, unemployed non-entities<\/a> <\/span>shall not go unpunished!”<\/span><\/em> thought Mr Shanks (obviously)<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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\nIn his main video ‘my apology’<\/a> Mr Shanks uses a segment from<\/span> an earlier podcast<\/a><\/span> dealing with the AUWU that was circulated on Twitter. He conveniently cuts the segment with the part where he boasts of his “heavyweight” Labor mates.<\/span>
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And I quote: “As soon as I started going after the Australian Unemployed Worker’s Union, a lot of heavyweights within the Labor movement, who I can’t disclose *cough* Bill Shorten’s staffers<\/strong><\/em> – (Much laughter) – There were others as well. . .<\/strong>“<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

So (unsurprisingly) Shank’s RW Labor party mates supported his attack on a union for the unemployed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paving the way no doubt, for yet another nice chunk of money to Friendly Jordies from the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).<\/span><\/p>\n

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A request for ‘dirt’ on the AUWU, a recommendation that people leave the union and an all-encompassing value judgement about former members portraying them as set-upon victims, demonstrate both Shank’s bias and emotional immaturity. <\/span><\/p>\n

All this, from someone who rails against other “journalists” (justifiably in most cases) as “corporate whores”<\/em>. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cFucking Buzzfeed.\u201d<\/strong> Jordan Shanks \u2013 the face of Friendlyjordies…<\/p>\n

…frustrated with the media fallout after an (April 6, 2016) Buzzfeed article \u2018revealed\u2019 his videos are funded by unions, GetUp, Greenpeace, and other left-wing organisations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“Perhaps the source of this ire was a 2016 BuzzFeed<\/a> <\/span>article, which includes an email from Jordan trying to drum up paid commissions from progressive organisations.”<\/p>\n

Source<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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He is no more generous to the online youth media than to the mainstream. They are, in his mind, false prophets corrupted by corporate sponsorship.<\/p>\n

The ABC is just a Liberal Party mouthpiece. \u201cI just see it as a propaganda network because anyone that works for it is a propagandist. It\u2019s the same with BuzzFeed<\/em>, it\u2019s the same with Vice,<\/em> and they\u2019re failing as a result because it\u2019s so easy to see through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


\nShank’s unashamedly pro-Labor stance and employment by the ACTU demonstrate his objectivity is on a par (albeit at a more vicious and transphobic level) with the Junkees\/Westpac relationship he eviscerates in a video<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Why do Labor hate the AUWU?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Many people criticise the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Some argue, they’ve become a party of over-compensated, professional politicians that exclude working class people and pander to the absurdities of religion<\/span><\/a> and tax cuts for the Rich<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Others, with less favourable opinions, point to former Labor politicians such as Mark Latham<\/span><\/a> and Gary Johns<\/a><\/span> as examples of the depths the Labor Party has sunk to since the glory days of Gough.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are even some who hold the view that the Labor Party is now at best, the electorally unsuccessful wing of the Duopoly<\/a><\/span> and then there are. . .
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. . .the radical, abrasive (and always eclectic) opinions of the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union<\/a><\/span> (AUWU) which are unappreciated by a neoliberal Labor party\/ACTU.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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\nAustralian Labor Party and unions agree to slash income support and working conditions<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h5>\n

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YouTuber brat spat<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

The escalation of this Twitter dispute into the<\/span> vociferous, unprofessional rant<\/a><\/span> we witnessed by Shanks, on his YouTube channel Friendly Jordies, was surprising (to me) in its intensity, if not in its intent. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It’s apparent the Labor Right are excited by their affordable<\/span> Topham Guerin<\/span><\/a> aspirant’s efforts and consider the AUWU (indeed any independent dissent) as an impediment to their gaining traction on social media platforms such as Twitter.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Clearly the AUWU were not subdued by the Labor-inspired attack on their union<\/span><\/p>\n

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Shanks supports Labor’s election winning pragmatism…<\/span><\/p>\n

“(Shanks) defends, for example, offshore refugee detention centres<\/strong> (despite opposing them being \u201cobviously correct\u201d) as a necessary concession made to \u2018Gosford\u2019 \u2013 what he calls average Australia.” – So refugees will just have to continue to suffer<\/span><\/a> on the wheel of Labor’s electoral strategy?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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…but actually believes the Greens<\/span><\/a> are better
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\n“Liberals will always vote in the interests of corporations \u2013 that\u2019s all you need to know. Labor will compromise with corporations<\/strong> to get a better deal for workers and the average Australian, and the Greens will take the moral high ground.” source<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“I ask him why he doesn\u2019t support the Greens. \u201cThey are not viable they don\u2019t have a political machine behind them. I support Labor because I read.\u201d source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


\nSince Mr Shanks’ attack, donations to the AUWU have increased and most intelligent<\/em> commentary has condemned the misuse of his platform to bully an organisation devoted to helping the unemployed.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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