In tangent to the rise of Australia’s radical right, we’ve also seen a new trend in politics: the rise of the meme, or, to be even more specific, the rise of the Halal Snack Pack (HSP for short)
I first encountered the HSP on a flier boasting that Labor senator Sam Dastyari would be hosting a party centred around a making and then eating a giant HSP.
The flier was decorated with hideous Word Art graphics circa. Windows 95 and multiple copies of Dastyari gleefully shaving meat off a kebab.
First concocted, no doubt, in the irony-glazed minds of some young Labor volunteers, the HSP meme hit the spotlight when Dastyari invited newly-elected anti-Islam senator Pauline Hanson to a lunch of HSP on him.
After she vehemently refused, Hanson and Dastyari were offered another chance to butt heads on ABC’s Q & A this week, once more putting the HSP under the spotlight.
The real star of the show, of course, was self-proclaimed Guy Sebastian lookalike and audience member Mohammed, who with impeccable sincerity offered for Hanson to join him for lunch or dinner with his Muslim family.
“In respect to you and your beliefs,” he said, “while we have something halal, I’ll ensure that what you have is something that’s not Halal… a Haram Snack Pack.”
If we as a nation can’t find peace over a box of greasy chips and sauces, then what chance have we got?
After dwelling as a late-night drunk university boy food for many years, the HSP is now enjoying its time in the limelight, with HSP Appreciation Groups popping up around the place and sales going through the roof.
And thus the humble HSP, a meme both tasty and ridiculous, has cemented itself as an icon of what has always brought Australians together, no matter what their race: multicultural deliciousness.
