Tuesday, March 15, 2016

On the road to parrot purgatory with Paul Barry ...


Sorry, the pond's not on it, but if everyone loves it, then everyone is particularly silly. Nobody might also love it, but that's what the pond would expect of nobody ...

'I see nobody on the road,' said Alice. 
 'I only wish I had such eyes,' the King remarked in a fretful tone. 'To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance, too! Why, it’s as much as I can do to see real people, by this light!'

And so to a non-reptile aside to start the day.

There was Paul Barry last night, ranting and railing at Niki Savva, primarily for not approaching Tony Abbott or Peta Credlin for comment.

It was pathetic, extraordinary, unfair and unprofessional, we were told. And so on ... until at the very end, there was a glib, one line note However, Savva tells Media Watch she has no regrets.

In short, Barry did everything he complained about Savva doing, and then, with a thin veneer of cynicism, gave himself an out line remarkable for its insolent brevity and lack of insight.

It's only when you head to the story online that you see that the line links to a response by Savva.


But there was no clue to this in the show's presentation. No on air underlining and link ...

If Barry had been serious, why not practise what he had just preached at great length?

Why not get Savva on? Why not dedicate the whole of the show to the issue? What about that matter of pressure and bullying?

What would Barry make of that?

No doubt there were reasons the show decided not to engage. Perhaps it's because they wanted to keep room and make sure that they joined in the orgy of Warne-ism, and thereby score the requisite amount of click-bait trolling.

And then, along the way,  in relation to another matter, Barry and his show presented this, without comment, in a way that suggested endorsement ...


Jones is no Labor stooge?

Well there's a knockdown, blinding, flash of lightning insight.

But he is your classic climate science denialist, so why seemingly endorse, in a casual and flippant way, his idle chatter about modelling on climate change?

While you're at it, why not have a look at the real world ... you know, sometimes the modelling and reality might manage to coincide ...


There's more at the Graudian here, and there's more at The Independent here,  and the pond understands that the matter was discussed on Q and A, and so the ABC followed up with a story here ...

Yet the best that Media Watch can do is produce, and seemly endorse, a squawk by the parrot about climate science modelling ... because all modelling, like all cats, must be black in the dark ...

At one time, the pond used to marvel at the way that the reptiles got agitated about the show and routinely hurled abuse at it, with the dog botherer leading the charge.

But it would seem that this has now had the desired effect, such that the show will even throw a bit of shellgrit and corn into the parrot's cage to pacify him ...

Well if the pond wanted that sort of song and dance show, there are plenty of alternatives to Media Watch ...



Sharpen up, Mr Barry, sharpen up. Contrarianism for the sake of being contrary might put you on the road to parrot purgatory ...

9 comments:

  1. Well said, DP: just about everything I would have wanted to say if I had an appropriate channel. Particularly idiotic by Barry - does he really think that every author who is going to comment critically in a book about someone should offer their target(s) a right of reply in that book ? Would anything but hagiography ever get published ?

    Besides, though I haven't read Ms Savva's magnum, I thought the key point was the perception of a Credlin-Abbott affair, not whether there actually was one. Hence the appropriate people to seek comment from weren't Credlin and Abbott, but other LNP folks, and that's who she asked.

    I would dearly love to believe, having still some pro-ABC affection, that Barry's inclusion of the Denniss and Jones bits was an attempt at humour, but it's not as easy to keep the faith as it once might have been.

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    Replies
    1. Well I thought it was humour, GB. At least until I stopped laughing.

      Delete
    2. Well I do have a bit of a problem with humour, M; I hardly ever get a Rowe, for example.

      But if it was meant to be humour, I just couldn't see how it was supposed to be funny. And if it wasn't humour, I just couldn't see how it was supposed to advance the discussion.

      (And I don't suppose it's ever gonna get any better at my age.)

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    3. Even in the post-ironic, post-reflexive world the pond routinely inhabits GB, this level of meta-foppishness reflects the stupidity of the poseur rather than any long-suffering recipient of the pose, if indeed the foolish fop intended it as a comic pose ...

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    4. Thank you for those comforting words, DP. My existential angst is much ameliorated.

      Delete
  2. Off topic, but today's Essential poll asks 'do you see house prices going up or down in future?'

    Total go up 32%
    Total go down 34%

    Homer Simpson, anyone?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TboDmLD0ZU

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  3. Once upon a time I used to watch Media Watch.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Once upon a time I used to watch Media Watch.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Barry is as weak as piss.

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