Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison made what some in the media are calling a “gaff” when he said to a group of people on Kangaroo island “at least there hasn’t’ been any loss of life” when in fact two people had died on the island. The fact that he got this wrong is unforgivable but prefacing this sentence with “at least” also should be condemned
It is in fact pretty common in tragic circumstances for victims to hear “at least”. In my experience after my daughter’s stillbirth it was “at least you know you can have children” “at least Emma wasn’t your first baby” “at least you didn’t get to know her”…and the awful “at least” example list goes on, and on! I know from person experience that it is never EVER helpful for a victim to hear sentences starting with “at least.”
Lets imagine for a minute that even if Mr Morrison was right and there actually had not been a loss of any human lives, starting any sentence when talking to people who have been traumatised with “AT Least” is never EVER a helpful thing to do.
Lets try some ridiculous examples to prove my point:
Imagine someone has just lost their right arm in an accident would anyone, in their right mind , say “at least you have still got your left arm”
Imagine if one of your friends mother’s just passed away would anyone say “at least you still have your father” ?
So if you think about it even if Scott Morrison was right and there had in fact not been loss of human life on Kangaroo island does saying any sentence that starts with “at least” to a group of people who have just lost a great many things including, farm land, livestock, tourist livelihood, wildlife etc etc helpful? ABSOLUTELY NOT and so Mr Morrison needs to immediately and forever remove the two words “at least” from his vocabulary….in fact we all should.
It is in fact pretty common in tragic circumstances for victims to hear “at least”. In my experience after my daughter’s stillbirth it was “at least you know you can have children” “at least Emma wasn’t your first baby” “at least you didn’t get to know her”…and the awful “at least” example list goes on, and on! I know from person experience that it is never EVER helpful for a victim to hear sentences starting with “at least.”
Lets imagine for a minute that even if Mr Morrison was right and there actually had not been a loss of any human lives, starting any sentence when talking to people who have been traumatised with “AT Least” is never EVER a helpful thing to do.
Lets try some ridiculous examples to prove my point:
Imagine someone has just lost their right arm in an accident would anyone, in their right mind , say “at least you have still got your left arm”
Imagine if one of your friends mother’s just passed away would anyone say “at least you still have your father” ?
So if you think about it even if Scott Morrison was right and there had in fact not been loss of human life on Kangaroo island does saying any sentence that starts with “at least” to a group of people who have just lost a great many things including, farm land, livestock, tourist livelihood, wildlife etc etc helpful? ABSOLUTELY NOT and so Mr Morrison needs to immediately and forever remove the two words “at least” from his vocabulary….in fact we all should.
RSS Feed
