Politics

A Liberal MP Deleted His Terrible “Chinese Rocket” Meme When “Left-Wing Tossers” Didn’t Laugh

"Looking forward to Bernie Finn getting a gift voucher for empathy training and a position in cabinet."

by Michelle Rennex  11 May 2021
Bernie Finn Chinese Rocket Meme

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Bernie Finn, the dickhead Liberal MP and Victorian Shadow Assistant Minister for Autism responsible for posting an ableist meme last year, is back again with his terrible attempt at a “joke”.

Back in November, Finn was slammed for his cross-eyed meme of Premier Dan Andrews that had the caption: “If 2020 was a person”. When people in the comments questioned whether the meme would “be considered bullying ‘special’ people”, Finn responded that Dan Andrews was “too bloody special!”.

Yet, despite deleting the post after getting slammed for his attempt at making a joke, Finn has decided to post yet another problematic meme. This time, Bernie Finn has focused his attention on the “Chinese rocket” and where — or rather, who — it should fall on.

The “Chinese rocket” Finn is referring to is China’s out-of-control Long March 5B rocket that re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere. With no idea of where the rocket would fall back on Earth, there were fears that the rocket could possibly fall on land, or worse, in a heavily-populated area.

So, on Mother’s Day, Bernie Finn provided four options for where he thought Long March 5B should land: on The Project co-host Waleed Aly, on Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe, on Victorian Premier Dan Andrews, or on the ABC offices. For reference, that is Bernie Finn threatening to blow up either a muslim man, an Aboriginal woman, a politician who is currently recovering from a serious back surgery, or a public broadcaster.

“Question of the day,” Mr Finn posted along with the meme before deleting the photo the next day. “For the benefit of humourless left-wing tossers, this is a joke.”

While Long March 5B did end up crashing into the Indian Ocean near the Maldives on Sunday, the problematic joke was still slammed by people online for how poor in taste the whole thing was.

Wishing literal death and destruction on others for a “laugh”, when non-white people who make similar threats can go to jail is a real choice. As was choosing to not delete comments that called Lidia Thorpe a “try-hard Aboriginal” or Waleed Aly a “puffer fish with the big mouth”, as 4 Corners reporter Louise Milligan noted. As two notable Australia POC, both Thorpe and Aly have been subject to racist hate and death threats.

Even Victorian Transport Minister Jacinta Allan shared that the Liberal Party, and in particular Liberal Leader Michael O’Brien, needed to get Bernie Finn in line.

“Michael O’Brien needs to put some steel in his spine and stand up and call out this sort of behaviour,” Allan said. “This is outrageous behaviour, it’s not acceptable anywhere and its certainly not acceptable from a member of parliament.”

But sadly, it’s likely that Bernie Finn will remain as MP given his track record and the clear lack of discipline he’s had in the past.

Beyond his problematic meme from last year, Finn has also used Facebook to imply that the Victorian Premier had sex with a goat in a toilet. Beyond his horrific moments on Facebook, Finn also refused to stand for Parliament’s Acknowledgment of Country in 2019 and said that rape victims shouldn’t be allowed to have abortions in 2014.

But hey, I’m sure a bit of empathy training may be on the cards for Bernie Finn sometime soon.