Pauline Hanson, we just want to thank you.

It’s okay, everyone. Pauline’s got this.

In troubled times, thank God for Pauline Hanson.

No, really, Pauline Hanson, thank you.

Thank you for using this moment in history to bring our community together.

Thank you for sitting with a complex problem, considering it with quiet contemplation, seeking the wise counsel of experts, scholars, and people with thorough understanding of the issues, and bringing Australia your considered and measured response.

Here it is:

Thank you, Pauline.

Because this is what we need in difficult times: More division. Less understanding. Zero tolerance.

When men are being shot in the streets, teenagers are being seduced to murderous acts by dangerous zealots and an entire community is finding itself under a distrustful glare, this is what we need.

When young women are being harassed on public transport, “patriots” are staging faux beheadings in public spaces and religious intolerance is at at an alarming high, this is exactly what we need.

So helpful. And so encouraging to people like this…

…is so very helpful.

Yes, Pauline, we need people like you.

People like you who know that a meme with some nonsensical NO slogans and some finger-wagging ‘I told you so’s is precisely what will heal our divisions.

People like you who know how to seize a moment of public uncertainty and fear and fill it with hate. Leaders who can spy a scab that needs picking, who dare to take a precarious flicker and pile on the gasoline.

That is exactly what Australia needs. People like you.

So really, Pauline:

Thanks so much for speaking up for us in difficult times.

What would you like to say to Pauline Hanson?