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'Medieval' Makes A Comeback In Modern Politics. What's Going On?, Clare Monagle, Louise D'Arcens

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

According to Hansard, in the parliament of John Howard's first term of government the adjective "medieval" was used eight times. In the following term, however, it cropped up 46 times. What happened? Why did our members and senators suddenly need to describe things as medieval? What happened was 9/11. The spectacle of planes crashing into skyscrapers prompted myriad politicians, in Australia and elsewhere, to denounce the perpetrators as "medieval" What we have seen in recent weeks is medieval barbarism, perpetrated and spread with the most modern of technology. Abbott is not alone; it has become commonplace to describe Islamic State …