Tuesday, July 19, 2016

L'Afrique du Nord par avion ...


The pond has been marvelling at the attempts of the reptiles to deal with a sudden high-powered outburst of Islamophobia, which saw the Nine network snatch away the crown from the Bolter and News Corp and make it their own ... even if the Bolter deserves due credit for setting it all in motion, and is even now in a frothing, foaming frenzy of righteousness, hate, fear and loathing.

But of all the bits and pieces to emerge, the pond treasures this most of all ...


Actually, in the view of any sane person, it's very hard to reconcile what's in the Bible, the Torah, the Quran, the Book of Mormon or Hubbard's Dianetics with a modern, secular, pluralist democracy.

But you won't catch your average fundamentalist Catholic managing that sort of modern, secular, pluralist bold stroke.

One of the key tests for people wanting to join Team Australia - count the pond out - is the way they're willing to keep gays off the team. We know Team Catholics, Team Islamic fundamentalists, Team Mormons, Team fundamentalist Jews and such like don't want them on the team.

It was by sublime coincidence that the pond was reminded of one particular Team Abbottism back in 2004 ...


For those who can't be bothered wandering back down memory lane with Playschool, Abbott said "I must say, I think if I'd been watching it with my kids, I would have been a bit shocked."

Abbott didn't go on to explain how he would have felt watching the show with his sister.

There's such a profound hypocrisy at work there, the public profile and the gay sister hidden for years, that the pond still can't imagine how the contradictions inside the head played out.

The Fairfaxians also have that flurry of homophobia covered in Play School's lesbian tale sparks outrage. Dear sweet long absent lord, to think Daryl Williams once existed, and was in a position of power.

But back to the phobia of the day, and the reptile stenographer was on the case early ...


It is of course the right of anyone to howl at anyone else, especially if the first aforementioned howler has seen fit to howl at others, and the stenographer rushes to defend the howler's right to howl.

But let that pass. What's interesting in this exposition of the alleged clear link between immigration and terrorism is the way it's all seen as a one way street.

No mention of course that France can thank itself for having expended considerable energy maintaining colonial outposts in north Africa ...


A very active two way street ...


But enough nostalgia for the moment, time to return to the chief stenographer's apologetics ...


Remember too she's a new mum? At this point the pond should confess, with perhaps a sense of shame, that the desire to ram cars carrying a "baby on board" sign is sometimes almost overwhelming.

And then there was all the rest of it, which unfortunately forced the pond to pay a hefty amount into the Godwin's Law swear jar.

Paraphrased, the right to spout ignorance and prejudice is a right to be defended, without regard to the ignorance and prejudice and without the howler copping any howls back.

Paraphrased, it would seem that this smothering of free speech that is behind the support for Herr Hitler .. 

Yet many people support Herr Hitler's right to express a view, even if they do not agree. They feel Herr Hitler is a breath of fresh air in an environment that is so politically correct, it's stifling.

Now as it turns out, no one is smothering the Bolter, the Kruger, the stenographer, the Hansonites, Herr Hitler or any of the rabid ratbag right wing commentariat that litters News Corp, radio and now television,  or their right to be outrageous.

But why should the fetid breath of hot prejudice be dressed up as fresh air? Why isn't it that the bigotry that is stifling?

And so to Caroline Overington today, who offered up the pond that Abbott gobbet ...


Ah, the old "as a mother" defence gets another outing ... 


Along with that peculiar notion about Twitter tending to lean left. Where did that come from?


Ah, it came from the steaming pile of woeful paranoid reptile fear and loathing about being an irrelevant bunch of angry tossers pitching to an old fart demographic.

Left wing bias? It's Twitter!! It's driven by opinion! Is there a rocket scientist in the house?

But please, do go on, now that the pond understands that being a bigot doesn't mean someone should be called a bigot ... because, you know, mother ... motherhood ...


Ah, the old belief in freedom of speech. Which is why the Nine network routinely has so many Muslim commentators freely speaking their minds as hosts of the morning show, drumming up teh hate against News Corp and angry white folk,  as opposed to blonde mothers, hallowed be thy freedom speaking mind, being allowed to share their prejudices, though strangely and suddenly, it seems social media was then littered with a wave of support for Kruger ... not to mention that great Amnesty man Philip Ruddock helping out ...


There's a lot more, including Q and A, a show the pond refuses to watch, and its efforts to produce heat rather than light ... but we did catch this contribution in an ad break for The Bourne Supremacy ...



Infested? There's an infestation? 

The pond usually talks that way about the Sydney cockroaches that infest the kitchen.

Or the reptiles and the reptile mindset that infests News Corp. Strictly in a light hearted post-ironic way of course.

How did that "infests" get through? What an appalling, offensive show it is ...

Well with the heat far outstripping the light, and with due credit to News Corp and the Bolter and the homophobic Tony Abbott for feeding the Hansonite in us all, the pond thinks it might soon be time for a holiday ...




12 comments:

  1. Prattling Polonius the 2ndJul 19, 2016, 3:36:00 PM

    What makes her views more newsworthy than mine, or my next door neighbours,'or Joe Blow from Bourke. What are her qualifications on anything.
    In this democracy, sadly the views of people like her,radio shock jocks and columnists are considered to be the leading edge we must respect and follow as their God given right to free speech,(which it isn't because they get paid for it) whilst the rest of us have to run the gauntlet of opinion comment site moderators.
    Sonia says she is not a racist but then nobody ever does say that.
    I just say Sonia Who?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wholeheartedly agree, PP2.
      I commented a day or two ago along those lines.
      As someone once said "Opinions are like arseholes; everybody's got one"

      Delete
  2. Hi Dorothy,

    ‘The word "torture" doesn't appear in our orders. We've always spoken of interrogation as the only valid method in a police operation directed against unknown enemies. As for the NLF, they request that their members, in the event of capture, should maintain silence for twenty-four hours, and then they may talk. So, the organization has already had the time it needs to render any information useless. What type of interrogation should we choose, the one the courts use for a murder case, that drags on for months?’

    Colonel Mathieu - The Battle of Algiers

    ‘Should we remain in Algeria? If you answer "yes," then you must accept all the necessary consequences.’

    Colonel Mathieu - The Battle of Algiers

    It is quite amazing that those that point out France has one of the highest proportion of Muslim citizens in the West and that this is solely the reason for the recent spate of terrorist attacks, cite this fact in splendid historical isolation. No analysis of how and why these people ended up ‘immigrating’ to France and little thought is given to why there may be simmering resentment and social exclusion resulting from a messy end to a decolonisation war.

    The Algerian War (1954-62) was about as bloody and brutal as any conflict can be. Bombings, massacres and the use of torture by both sides.

    By the time De Gaulle decreed a ceasefire and a referendum as many as 1 million people were dead (estimates vary) but the bloodshed didn’t end there. Tens of thousands of Algerians died in subsequent purges and in France, 5000 died in the “cafe wars” between the FLN and rival Algerian groups.

    In addition the OAS (Organisation de l'armée secrète) with it’s motto of L’Algérie est française et le restera ("Algeria is French and will remain so") carried out bombings and targeted assassinations in both France and Algeria. In March 1962 the OAS set off an average of 120 bombs per day with targets including hospitals and schools.

    A year later 1.4 million refugees had fled Algeria and joined the exodus to France.

    It’s over fifty years ago but such violence resonates even today and colours the views and attitudes of many young disaffected French Muslims, especially in light of France’s recent involvement in the Syrian Civil war (another former French colony).

    Still it’s a great film;

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_Algiers

    DiddyWrote

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks DW and yes, a great film too ...the French Apocalypse Now, and for those who don't need subtitles ...

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-7j4WVTgWc

      Plenty of other selections available on YouTube with and without subs ...

      Delete
  3. Thanks DW. A film? I thought it was history!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It can't really be history until it's been a movie, Anony; just think Audie Murphy.

      Yes, thanks to DW for reminding us that things almost never just happen - there's always connections and causes and outcomes. And since the Algerian 'freedom war' was around 50 to 60 years ago, there'd be a lot of French persons who have never heard of it. And those who have are most likely not going to say much, if anything at all.

      And I wonder if it is even taught in French schools nowadays. For a comparative example, how many Australians have ever heard of the 1830 "Black Line" in Tasmania ? I was taught about it in early secondary school Australian history over 60 years ago, but who else here has even heard of it ? So it goes, and so the past is 'reconstructed'.

      Delete
    2. Too right GB!

      'The aboriginal natives of this colony are and ever have been a most treacherous race', he wrote on 15 April 1830, though he still welcomed attempts at friendly parley; but, though he forbade the capture of 'inoffensive' natives, a notice of 27 August 1830 reiterated his determination not to 'relax in the most strenuous exertions' to drive all others from the settled country. In October 1830 he decided to try, by a comprehensive operation, to drive them into Tasman Peninsula, for he told Murray on 20 November, 'the hope of conciliation cannot be reasonably entertained'. Five thousand men took part and Arthur left his wife in child-birth to direct operations; but only two Aboriginals were caught and on 26 November the Black Line, which cost £30,000, concluded in failure.

      http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/arthur-sir-george-1721

      And click on the link to George Augustus Robinson, another helpful rogue not well enough known ...

      Delete
    3. Obviously, DP, they should have built a wall.

      Delete
    4. Yep, that's the one, DP. Fun, wasn't it.

      And who needs a wall, Anon, when you can commit a handy little genocide instead.

      Delete
  4. Kruger is certainly giving credence to the disparaging blonde joke.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Battle for Algiers was screened, i've heard tell, for the Coalition of Invading Iraq and near ruining it. After they had gone in.
    Head desk.
    It's an astonishingly prescient film.

    ReplyDelete

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