Larry Pickering
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Revision as of 15:50, 13 January 2015
Larry Pickering (not related to Charlie Pickering) is a conartist[1], political cartoonist and "journalist" from Queensland, Australia. He is, at least, a former member of the Liberal Party of Australia, and contested the Division of Fraser in the 1974 Australian Federal Election.
He is known for his deeply racist, misogynistic, xenophobic and islamophobic and anti-environment and climate change denialist wingnut crackpot views - vitriol that he usually distributes on his personal Facebook page to the 'ooos and aaahs' of his followers.
Pickering's views are similar to that of the equal wingnut Andrew Bolt, as well as align similarly to the US teabagger Repiblicans and the likes of Fox News. Like many wingnuts in the US and Australia alike, Pickering is also a firm believer of "lefty bias" in the Australian mainstream media, despite the fact that most of it is controlled by another wingnut, Rupert Murdoch.
Pickering runs his own "news" website, called 'The Pickering Post', which is contributed primarily by himself, as well as other wingnuts. He also somehow won a 4 Walkley Awards in the 1970's - perhaps he was at least somewhat sane in his younger years? Who knows.
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Facebook postings and support base
He is well-known for his Facebook rantings, and his Facebook page has over 30,000 followers. His fans literally hand on his every word, that is unless he is speaking of an Australian republic (which he supports, but most of his followers oppose) or criticises Tony Abbott actually, many of his followers now say that Tony Abbott lacks a spine.
Naturally, his support base consists of a combination of middle-aged rednecks lacking a high school education - and Far-right white supremacists, also generally lacking an education.
Things Larry hates
Julia Gillard and the Australian Labor Party
He took a massive disliking (some call it jealousy) to Julia Gillard (and the Australian Labor Party in general) when she was Prime Minister of Australia, often depicting her in cartoons wearing a strap on dildo, pointed towards other male characters. He also very often wrote articles attacking her appearance and other personal attributes. This schtick transferred over to Kevin Rudd when he became Prime Minister for a second time. He often writes articles accusing Labor of being "in bed with The Greens" to which his followers often then label both parties as socialist or communist[2], if Pickering didn't already do so.
More specific back to Julia Gillard, he often accused her, during her Prime Ministership, for being a scam artist who "slept her way to the top". Considering the fact that Pickering himself ripped off people to the tune of $15 million in a betting software scam in the 1990's, that would make him seem quite the hypocrite.[3] Pickering is also the father of several children to several women, to whom he reportedly doesn't even pay child support.[4]
He also often labels current Federal Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten as a "socialist" and is vomitously opposed to Labor's immigration policies, even though they are almost identical to those of the Liberal Party and as such, has it in for Labor's current immigration spokesperson, Richard Marles.[5]
On the flip-side, he has had almost nothing but niceties for one-time Labor leadership contender Anthony Albanese[6], preferring him to "conman snake" Bill Shorten. But then again, he also preferred Kevin Rudd to Julia Gillard as Prime Minister, and we all know how that "support" turned out[7].
Pickering and his supporters also whined at length at the bi-partisan support shown to Kevin Rudd after he delivered his final retirement speech in the Australian House of Representatives.
The Australian Greens
Not surprisingly, Pickering also has it in for certain members of the Australian Greens (and the party in general) such as Sarah Hanson-Young, Bob Brown, Adam Bandt and Christine Milne.
His dislike for Sarah Hanson-Young comes for the fact that she is pro-immigration. Bob Brown because of his homosexuality. Adam Bandt because he is pro-multiculturalism and Christine Milne because she is the leader of The Greens and as such, is an easy target for wingnuts in general.
He often labels The Greens, like Labor, as socialists.
Muslims
Pickering's dislike towards the Australian Labor Party and The Greens, now that the former is in opposition, has seemed to taken a turn towards Muslims and Islam. His views on Muslims are similar to those of the Australian Defence League and often uses 'anecdotal evidence' of the so-called situation in Britain with regard to the so-called "Muslim invasion".
He is strongly against Halal certification, calling it a "scam" that "is funding terrorism" (his followers usually parrot these same crackpot lines as well), often cherry-picking in an attempt to validate his arguments.[8]
Pickering has also appeared and spoke at anti-mosque rallies, and has it in for Bendigo Bank for shutting down the bank account of an anti-mosque group.[9]
"Warmists"
He has it in for advocates of climate change action, or "warmists", and has wrote a number of articles in regards to the "global warming scam".[10]
One of his favourite climate change denialist arguments is that carbon dioxide is a "plant food" and that therefore "more of it is a good thing".
Critics of Tony Abbott
Naturally, given his love affair with Tony Abbott when he was in opposition - he would often, insultingly based on their appearance or gender, target any of his critics in his writings.
A Guardian Australia journalist, Bridie Jabour, was targeted by Pickering for merely doing her job and asking tough questions of the then-opposition leader[11]. Something which every other section of the media wasn't even willing to do.
Barack Obama
Pickering also takes a massive disliking to US President Barack Obama, often making similar accusations that Right-wingers in the US make of Obama - that he is a "lefty socialist" and "a Muslim in disguise", a stance taken by many of his followers.
Gays
It should also be mentioned that Pickering is deeply homophobic, and preaches against same-sex marriage - labeling those who support it as supporting the "gay agenda". This opposition to gay marriage is, despite the fact, that Pickering doesn't believe in God or isn't religious himself. Sound familiar?
Pickering often uses the usual polygamy and "tri-marriage" argument when arguing against gay marriage.[12]
He has also taken a disliking to gay politicians in public office, for example, Labor senator Penny Wong.
The Racial Discrimination Act
He, like his mate Andrew Bolt, is a vocal opponent to the Racial Discrimination Act. Given that Pickering has been allowed to continue spewing his vitriol, it would seem that scrapping the racial discrimination laws (laws which are seldom-exercised in Australia anyway) would be utterly meaningless unless if he wanted to whine at length of Muslims and their apparent "rorting" of welfare...Oh wait, he already does that. Nevermind.
People who speak against him
For all Pickering's talk of being for freedom of speech, he doesn't have a very big issue banning people from his Facebook page who don't agree with him or point out his factual inaccuracies.
Footnotes
- ↑ http://www.smh.com.au/business/larry-pickering--the-conman-stalking-gillard-20120820-24hxi.html
- ↑ https://pickeringpost.com/story/a-c-t-a-labor-green-enclave/702
- ↑ http://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com/2012/08/19/larry-pickering-who-ripped-of-15million-in-a-betting-software-scam-claims-to-be-investigating-julia-gillard-for-the-awu-fraud-scam/
- ↑ http://www.news.com.au/national/today-tonight-child-support-sting-ends-up-in-court/story-e6frfkp9-1111113734706
- ↑ https://pickeringpost.com/story/marles-weaves-himself-a-web/2796
- ↑ https://pickeringpost.com/story/albo-not-pm-material/2000
- ↑ https://pickeringpost.com/story/so-long-kev-/1931
- ↑ https://pickeringpost.com/story/proof-of-halal-scam-/3872
- ↑ https://pickeringpost.com/story/bendigo-bank-backs-new-mosque/3046
- ↑ https://pickeringpost.com/story/so-long-kev-/1931
- ↑ https://pickeringpost.com/glance/calm-down-settle-gretel-or-take-a-hike-you-mad-cow-/1648
- ↑ https://pickeringpost.com/story/same-sex-marriage-/2195