Secret documents hidden for more than 40 years reveal that Lang Hancock advocated the extermination of more than one group of people.
Gina Rinehart’s late father made news recently when Australian netballers refused to wear jerseys bearing the logo of the company he founded. They protested in support of an Indigenous player because Hancock made the following comments during a TV interview in 1984:
“Those that have been assimilated into, you know, earning good living or earning wages amongst the civilised areas, those that have been accepted into society and they have accepted society and can handle society, I’d leave them well alone.”
“The ones that are no good to themselves and can’t accept things, the half-castes — and this is where most of the trouble comes — I would dope the water up so that they were sterile and would breed themselves out in future and that would solve the problem.”
The comments, plus Rinehart’s refusal to condemn them, as well as her decision to withdraw funding from Netball Australia, have divided opinion and created an enormous controversy throughout Australia. Some argue Hancock’s thoughts can be compared to the ideology of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. Some even suggest that the only difference between Hitler and Hancock is that Hitler followed through.
Amid the sponsorship saga, it has just been revealed that Hancock wished to wipe out another group as well as Indigenous Australians.
“We need to exterminate cigarette smokers,” the magnate stated.
“It’s easy to do. We could just dope their cigarettes with some kind of poison. When they smoke the cigarette they die. This would eliminate a big problem from the world.”
The comments are bound to shock Australians. The fact that they remained hidden for so long, the cruelty of the statement, and the fact that Hancock tried so hard to hide the comments while openly advocating the extermination of Indigenous Australians, is confounding.
They also reveal a surprisingly forward-thinking person.
“In the near future, cigarette smokers will be a huge problem. They will be all over the world. At the same time, the world will be overpopulated. This will create massive problems for everyone, so someone has to go. I already said we should get rid of half-caste Aborigines, but they’re only a small percentage of the world population. If we want to make a real difference, we have to get rid of a lot more people. We can start making the world better by eliminating cigarette smokers because they will belong to every race, nationality, gender and religion.”
Hancock made no mention of vaping, or e-cigarettes, because they did not exist in the 1980s.
Why Hancock targeted smokers is not entirely clear, although he was known as a non-drinker and non-smoker at a time when this was very unusual among Australian men. He had even less motivation to call for the extermination of Indigenous Australians.
Hancock also explains that cigarettes are not the only threat to the planet. He acknowledges that motor vehicles, plastic waste and some forms of mining and agriculture (except the ones he practices) are worse than cigarette smoking. However, he argues that transport, agriculture and mining all serve a purpose for humanity, whereas cigarette smoking exists only to satisfy the selfish cravings of the individual smoker.
“Plus, the smell is disgusting,” he stated.
In the previously hidden documents, the magnate also explains that cigarette packets carry warnings that the habit kills,
“…so we might as well kill them anyway,” and that every smoker makes a conscious decision to take up the habit.
Rinehart is yet to respond to these comments.
Image: http://www.mannwest.com
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