Checkmate As Enlightened Local Man Asks Bleeding Heart To List All The Other Genocides Going On Around The World Right Now If He Cares So Much About Them

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact

A local man has declared checkmate this week after challenging his bleeding heart son to list all other genocides currently occurring around the world, before concluding that public concern about Gaza is limited to a noisy inner-city minority.

The exchange occurred on Tuesday evening in a living room belonging to Ralph McCullum, a long-standing resident of Betoota’s French Quarter, as television coverage showed protests in Sydney linked to the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

"Bloody shocking," McCullum said.

Seated opposite him was his adult son Colin, who suggested the demonstrations were driven by concern over Gaza, following repeated warnings by United Nations officials and experts that Israel’s military campaign largely amounts to genocide, a claim currently subject to ongoing legal processes before international courts.

"Well if they care so much," McCullum said, "They should be able to list all the other genocides going on then?"

Colin responded by naming the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar, which is currently the subject of proceedings before international courts.

McCullum rejected the comparison.

"No one's out punching cops over Myanmar," he said. "So clearly people don’t really care."

Colin noted that genocide has a specific legal definition under international law and that recognition depends on judicial findings rather than the size or frequency of street protests.

McCullum dismissed this as inner-city thinking, saying concern of that kind was confined to a handful of postcodes.

"People outside the inner city don’t really care about this stuff,” McCullum said. "It's a noisy minority. It's these bloody phones, I'm telling you. And there's a genocide happening right now in Sudan, did you know that?"

Colin then suggested the "intensity" of protests may be linked to the fact that Israel's president is currently in Australia on an official visit, making the issue locally proximate.

When asked whether a similar reaction might occur if Australia's prime minister invited Myanmar's military leader Min Aung Hlaing to visit, McCullum said the scenario was hypothetical and therefore irrelevant.

"You should put your phone down and go outside. It's a lovely day."

More to come.