Flat White
Getty Images
27 January 2023
6:00 AM
It’s a scene familiar to every Australian who’s ever turned on their TV between the hours of 5-7pm – the dodgy tradie chase.
Aussie journalism at its finest, an immediately recognisable David vs Goliath narrative that draws its audience in, and gets us cheering. The scene is usually set outside a half-finished construction site or local pie shop, where an earnest journalist sits in wait for their prey, microphone at the ready. At last, the target emerges; a dodgy tradie, chocolate Breaka and Chiko roll in hand, who has ripped off an innocent, unsuspecting pensioner.
The chase begins; the tradie ducks and weaves, desperately trying to resist the journalist’s microphone. There will be a tussle, the microphone will be pushed back and forth, like a game of hot potato, and if we’re lucky, some expletives will escape the censoring. The cameraman will be pushed and someone will threaten to sue, though it’s not remotely clear who will be suing who.
At last, the confrontation ends, signalled by a Ute screeching into the camera’s vision. The dodgy tradie jumps in, there is more swearing and a door is slammed. He speeds off into the distance, leaving behind a frazzled-looking journo, broken camera, and a television audience feeling like they’re just witnessed a local version of J’accuse. Indeed, this was one of the few opportunities we plebs had to witness crooks being held accountable. Or to be fair, ‘alleged’ crooks.
Fast forward to Davos, Switzerland, January 2023, where the whole scene is being re-enacted, only this time in the very posh, snow-covered streets of a luxury resort. Instead of one earnest journalist waiting for their prey, we now have a pack of ten. From a distance, they resemble a football scrum.
They don’t drink chocolate Breakas here, but just like the Australian version, the dodgy targets of these journos can easily be identified by the carrying of a soy latte and vegan Birnbrot (a delectable Swiss pastry treat filled with dried pears and walnuts).
Here in Davos, amongst the rich and Woke (for you do indeed need to be rich in order to be Woke), the dodgy tradies aren’t plumbers or builders (or anything useful) but pharmaceutical executives, activists, and bitcoin hustlers whose escape from the cameras will be via an EV rather than a Ute. Many of these posh, questionable tradies are famous, such as Greta Thunberg, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, and Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy for Climate Change. But regardless of the upscale setting and expensive suits, it is the exact same David vs Goliath narrative we are seeing being played out, only this time the ripped-off pensioner who has lost their life savings is us.
Jokes and biblical narratives aside, these are the scenes coming out of the World Economic Forum this week as journalists desperately hustle and push to ask vital questions of WEF heavyweights. It is both exhilarating and sickening to witness; yes, these videos are a circus but they are literally dealing with fundamental aspects of our daily lives and questions that are not asked elsewhere. There is certainly no point anymore in trying to hold our politicians accountable for the cost of living crisis, the scandalous waiting times for surgery in the public health system, failing literacy and numeracy rates, and the appalling violence against women in communities all over Australia. The usual conduits for pursuing accountability aren’t interested. It’s symbolism and tokenism that holds their attention to the point of blindness about everything else. So, alternate means of confronting the spokespersons for the great non-democratic reset have to be found. Far better to try and get some answers from the horses mouth in Davos, than to wait for mainstream outlets to ask any meaningful questions.
Take Greta Thunberg, who spoke to WEF elites this week regarding the need for them to listen to the people ‘… actually affected by the climate crisis’.
Wise words indeed Greta, however Thunberg herself had no interest in speaking to people ‘actually affected’ by the cost of living crisis when she encountered a team of journalists in the streets of Davos. As she was followed by the walking, talking journalistic scrum, Thunberg was asked questions regarding China’s carbon footprint, the staging of her arrest in Germany, how she knew so much about climate change given her lack of education, and perhaps most importantly, whether or not she was a child actor. It’s worth noting, that following her high school graduation, Thunberg is yet to pursue any tertiary STEM education; not an unreasonable expectation of someone who professes to be an expert on climate change and prescribes a lowering of living standards every time she opens her mouth.
There are legitimate questions ordinary tax-paying citizens throughout the West have regarding Thunberg, a woman who has yielded unrelenting influence on how our tax dollars are spent. Yet Thunberg refused to answer them. Condescendingly, she evaded any chance of meaningful dialogue by reverting to childlike giggling, appearing to lack any compassion for how badly Net Zero hurts and endangers the lives of those who can’t afford to fly into Davos in a private jet. So much for actually listening to the people.
It was Calvin Robinson of GB News who got the one truthful response from Thunberg. Robinson asked about Net Zero policies causing the cost of living crisis, with everyday people in the UK unable to afford to eat or heat their homes.
‘Yes, that’s definitely why we are experiencing the cost of living crisis,’ said Thunberg.
The statement she made was shocking in its honesty and its mode of delivery; the childish smirks and shrugs of Thunberg would have made Marie Antoinette blush.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla was equally indifferent when it was his turn to be questioned by the journo scrum. Following his WEF address to elites, Bourla was asked by said journo scrum, detailed questions around the failings of the vaccine, myocarditis, deceptive marketing, and whether he was expecting criminal charges. Like Thunberg, Bourla chose to ignore his opportunity to speak to everyday people. Journalists in the scrum noted Bourla was only used to speaking to sympathetic, unchallenging media. Ducking and keeping his head low, Bourla relied on his handlers to hastily guide him off the street and away from the scrutiny of the public square.
MSM has refused to hold any of the attendees at the WEF accountable for their hypocrisy, with Thunberg receiving nothing but puff questions and staged encounters with the police. The old dodgy tradies were at least honest in their larceny, and a lot more articulate. None of the attendees at Davos could manage a comment outside of the staged venues (apart from Greta, who when she did comment, incriminated herself).
Perhaps the most surprising part of these impromptu interviews is that unvetted journalists were able to get close enough to ask any questions at all. One can’t help but speculate that WEF 2024 may well take measures to keep attendees off the streets, and out of the public square entirely, to avoid any chance of an encounter with non-compliant media. Unscripted questions are clearly not welcome at Davos.
But here’s to the honest tradies of the world, who keep everything running and provide a standard of living for which we should be eternally grateful. Without plumbers, carpenters, electricians, bricklayers, and builders, the bleak, non-democratic post-reset world of the Davos elites would have already descended upon us. It’s thanks to plumbers and the provision of clean water that infant mortality has fallen and ordinary people have a chance of avoiding water-borne disease. But they don’t rate a mention at Davos.
For now, let us enjoy the brief dances with accountability that escaped the media cordon in Davos and allowed us to see the elitist protagonists for the hollow men and women that they are. They aren’t a tradie’s bootlace.
Nelle's journey 