Monday, May 20, 2019

In which the pond downs tools …


Actually there’s a pretty good case for being a quitter, especially if the comparison’s to a dickhead, dropkick, narcissist, relentlessly egotistical, remarkably negative, id-driven, tone-deaf, sniping, wrecking and undermining loser … who doesn’t know when to leave, and is always the last one at the party braying at something or other in his usual gibbering, righteous way … and so eventually has to be evicted, and tossed out into the street, and yet somehow, unimaginably, still manages to see this as some kind of triumph, and promises to hang around even more …


The pond wished it could be as comprehensively up itself as the onion muncher, but now he will endure at the pond as a reminder of the power of delusion … for sadly, at least for itself, though possibly not others, as noted through the past week, the pond has decided to down tools …before it too drifts completely into onion muncher irrelevance …



The poodle gone, the asbestos woman gone, and now the onion muncher … and many others, including Lord Downer's spawn … and it was time for the pond to go too.

All that said, the main reason is a deep sense of boredom, tedium and ennui …

The pond is so over the reptiles, in much the same way that the country seems completely over any claims of accuracy in relation to the lizard Oz’s Newspoll.

How they can return to reporting that poll with a straight face will take all of the reptiles' insouciant cheek and capacity for stupidity ...

The pond at first tried to cope with the sensory overload of alienation.

First the pond cut out the Terror, and the likes of little Timmie and the Devine and Akker Dakker, and the Bolter, and discovered it didn't miss them at all. So that was what it was like to stop beating your head with a hammer?

Thankfully the pond never had to endure the parrot …

What to make of him turning up looking so gay in his mashed avocado jacket, and rabbiting on about climate science, with everyone else on the panel looking embarrassed, and realising that they’d actually invited the mad uncle down from the attic to spice up the night?

But while cutting back on the reptile diet helped, the lizard Oz itself is just more of the same tabloid Murdochian drivel, though perhaps dressed up with more pomposity and self-regard and sense of self-importance. Could anyone, apart from the onion muncher, be more up themselves than Major Mitchell or nattering "Ned"?

The pond looked forward and could see only more endless repetition, whether it was the reptiles berating comrade Bill or celebrating SloMo.

As it turned out, there’ll be more berating of someone other than comrade Bill - the pond can claim it warned the Labor party of Bill’s lack of appeal, but the pond’s not in the party, and the few party members the pond has encountered have never shown any interest in listening to the pond. (Still, a few scores in the extended family feud have at last been settled).

Now Albo, even if he scores a chance, has likely already missed his chance. He didn't have the ticker when it mattered, and the image of a Marrickville 'Bomber Beazley' haunts the pond.

Once again the party has managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and the pond never underestimates its capacity to keep on with this miraculous strategy.

Of course things will happen in the future that will be of interest. But the pond realised with dread, that whatever the events of the day that precipitated a story, for the next three years, the pond could already predict the response from every reptile, the familiar angles and the rote learning of lines, and the concatenation arising from the murmuration of the whirling, whirring lizards of the Oz.

Dinkum clean coal, climate science as an excuse for world government, the wonders of the Donald, the suffering of Xians, the so and thusness of Brexit, the march of Gramsci through the institutions, the need to watch out for Islamics, the joys of Western Civilisation, the dangers of cultural Marxism and socialised medicine, the importance of private schools, etc., etc., etc., or if you will, yadda yadda to the nattering “Ned” yadda nth degree …

The thought of watching the reptiles channel the likes of Malcolm Roberts produced an eerie sense of déjà vu all over again. The pond will pray to its imaginary friend for the deep north’s climate denialist fantasies to come true, and with a bit of luck, the rest of the reef will be wiped out by the next summer.

But while calling on fire and brimstone to descend on the reptiles is still fun, that’s not enough to stop the pond giving up the game.

The main reason the pond is stopping is a deep sense of existential ennui, boredom and tedium. Oh wait, did the pond just repeat a sentiment already expressed?

Well that’s like listening to the chattering of the parrots blathering on about snowflakes, political correctness, the inner city 'leets (from Surry Hills of all 'leet places) and most horrendous of all, 'identity politics', as if somehow their identifying with Clint Eastwood rambling around talking to a chair wasn't a form of identity politics …

They'll still be there for years, regurgitating and repeating in unison all the usual climate denialist, Ramsay Centre, white nationalist, fundamentalist Xian, homophobic nonsense that can be read almost every day of the week, over and over and over, to the point where the pond can sense its IQ decreasing by ten points in a single hour of reading, helping to explain why there are people in the country moronic enough to vote for Clive Palmer - didn't that work out well for the reptiles, cash in the paw and Labor defeated - or for Pauline Hanson and her cohort of hot cock, bitch, little tit, fuck a lot better fellow travellers, or gorgeous George, rewarded fro being the member for the Philippines, or the mutton Dutton,  celebrated for his gulags …

Yes, no matter what monstrous stupidities they might have committed, they love being stripped of their workers' entitlements in the deep north …and now dear imaginary lord, it's time to strip them of the reef.

There’s other practical reasons. The pond is tired of getting up early in the morning to observe the reptiles in their herpetarium, happily crapping away on their hot rock, when the pond would like to be having a winter sleep-in before going on with a normal day’s business.

It also has to be said that blogging isn’t what it once was, with the hits down, but who can blame stray readers for avoiding what is, what must be, in the end, an endless repetition of tedium and ennui-inducing, yawn-producing, repetition? Given that the topic is the reptiles, and the pond has always been specific in its content, here's no way to escape that sense of somnambulistic nodding-off ...

Oh wait, the pond has already said all that, and more than once, even if the repetition does conjure up what it’s like reading the reptiles …

… as when they’re having a series of brain farts about climate science without ever having actually stepped away from their computer screens and joined experienced observers noting events in the real world.


Besides, the action has turned to the likes of Twitter, which has the advantage of brevity, and the disadvantage of brevity, resulting in shorthand flashes of wit, and a tedious inability to say anything useful or meaningful because of the brevity. As for Facebook, don’t get the pond started, or it might have to resume blogging for a year to cover the enormity of its crimes.

An anecdote will illustrate the turning tide.

Just before the pond’s version of Don’s party got underway - and it has to be said, with much the same resulting howls of horror - the pond went for a cliff-side walk by the sea.

There was an island in the distance, surrounded by a golden glow of light. It was magic hour, and if there’d been any DOPs nearby, they’d have been rushing with cameras to film the vista.

The sea was magical, the cloud-strewn sky a dusk dream, and on the cliff edge there was a young woman sitting in a Buddha pose, at the edge of the rocks, perfectly positioned to drink in this stunning landscape. It looked, for a moment, as if she'd achieved, or was achieving, enlightenment.

Instead she gazed relentlessly at her phone’s screen, never lifting her head, tapping away, perhaps messaging, perhaps Twittering, in any case, wittering something away …as if what was before her held no charm at all ...

And at that point, the pond knew that young people were a different country, and this was no country for older folk. The pond couldn’t help but remember that Leunig cartoon showing one of his characters pointing to a setting sun on the TV screen, while outside the actual sun was setting …(well an actual cartoon sun, if there’s a pedant reading).

As it was for the telly, so it is for the phone.

And finally, it has been slowly dawning on the pond that all this attention to the reptiles is in some way enabling them, suggesting that they might be of interest, when really, much like the onion muncher they celebrated for years, they’re actually a kind of dinosaur … as irrelevant to that girl on the cliff as the pond is … for who amongst the under-thirties has ever picked up a tree-killing newspaper, when they can instead stare at a small screen?

Well the pond is done and dusted, though, like Sean Connery, it is happy to don a wig, and never say never again. There might be occasions when the antics of the reptiles chanting and carrying on like ratbags might be enchanting enough for an occasional comment, but the pond is unlikely to return to daily blogging … so, if the pond returns, it will only ever be as a momentary indulgence and for personal pleasure.

The pond first posted a blog way back on 20th July 2008, and here we are on 20th May 2019, and that’s way too long to be in the company of reptiles.

The pond is tremendously grateful for the feedback and the comments of diligent readers, many of them much more informed, insightful and intelligent than the pond, but which has turned the pond into a learning experience for its writer for years …

The pond admits that while reading and enjoying, of late it hasn’t been commenting on the comments, but did someone mention an overall feeling of fatigue, as the day’s other business called?

The pond is also extremely grateful, and hopefully hasn’t offended anyone too much for the borrowing of images, most notably the immortal Rowe and the infallible Pope, though there have been many others. It was only ever done as a tribute and a homage, and is one of the main reasons that the pond never sought to monetise the site. It’s one thing to borrow an image and celebrate its genius, it’s quite another to try to make money off it. The pond apologises, but also gives thanks to, these conscripted contributors to the pond.

And now in that spirit, and with best wishes to all, the pond is downing tools, or if you will, the pond will now stop downing clowning tools, fools, reptiles, the deep north, dumb cluck Clive and Pauline voters, and all the other loons that gave the blog its title.

Is there anything else? Well in keeping with the reptile spirit, and just to get in early, and to celebrate pagan rituals dressed up in Xian form, Merry Xmas to all, may the force of angry old white nationalists shouting at clouds, and telling you to get off their lawns be with you, and what good luck that there’s this final Rowe to help say farewell with a vision splendid …

Long may he tweet his splendid visions here



And thank the long absent lord, he left the pond with one splendid last onion muncher vision, as if knowing that the pond would love it…



You're welcome, have a nice day, and don't you bother coming back now, ya here?

52 comments:

  1. Goodbye dear pond. Many thanks for your wonderful wit and humour.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Actually there’s a pretty good case for being a quitter..."

    Nay, nay DP, say instead that one is an honourable retiree.

    But then we have Peta Credless on the Muncher: "I think he was out of step with his electorate."

    Goodness gracious, Peta, what could possibly induce you to think that ? Was it perhaps that "the electorate's" delusions were washed away by Tones persistent surrender to his own totally loved delusions ? Not to mention his rampant dishonesty and all-round stupidity ? The wonder is that it took all of 25 years and if that isn't a totally convincing show of electorate folly, I can't imagine what would be.

    I know of three Rhodes Scholars in Australian politics: Hawke, Turnbull and Abbott, and what can be said about any of 'em ?

    "The pond is so over the reptiles..."

    Yeah, I think we can all understand that, DP, they are stunningly tedious, dull and monotonous. But then, the human race does appear to be subject to seven-year itches (or 10 in this case), and if the "brief renewal of conditioned instrumental learning after the extinction of reward" should ever get up and bite you, please don't hesitate to resurge.

    "Well that’s like listening to the chattering of the parrots blathering on about snowflakes, political correctness, the inner city 'leets (from Surry Hills of all 'leet places) and most horrendous of all, 'identity politics..."

    And "cultural marxism", DP; don't forget the cultural marxism.

    "Instead she gazed relentlessly at her phone’s screen, never lifting her head..."

    I remember a scene described in E M Forster's 'The machine Stops' with one of the main characters in an aeroplane flying over the Himalayas, looking out of the window and exclaiming something to the effect of "There's no charm or inspiration there" (too lazy to try to look it up and be accurate, but that was the gist). Thing is though, I think I agreed with her.

    "...so, if the pond returns, it will only ever be as a momentary indulgence and for personal pleasure."

    Oh yes please, DP, pleasure yourself often !

    "And thank the long absent lord, he left the pond with one splendid last Onion Muncher vision..."

    Oh yes. Is there any way to put that permanently into the top banner spread (just for those times when you may wish to pleasure yourself again) ? It is just really so very expressively representative of the wider herpetarium.

    But it has been a joy, DP, and, or so they keep on telling me, "'tis far better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all".

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Dorothy for the dirty work you did on our behalf.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Why is it I keep thinking of the ending of 'White Heat'?
    https://youtu.be/OjzKiEs_pHI?t=64

    Thanks for all you've done, Dorothy.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Diorothy
    You will be missed by so many who tune into your commentary and I know I will miss your incisive observation on the corruption of our democracy by the likes of not only Murdoch but other right wing apologists that have access to our air waves and media.
    So I do Thank you for your hard work.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Except for being a little too kind and forgiving towards the creepy uncle of Warringah, you’ve been a daily source of mirth and revelation, DP. I’m readying myself for the stages of grief as you ride into the west. May your quitirememt be querulous and cantankerous. The reptiles did not deserve you.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dorothy
    Thank you for the hard work. I will miss your insightful and humorous take on the activities of the Murdoch reptiles and other right wing nut jobs. Hopefully your retirement will be of the Dame Nellie Melba kind.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Dorothy,
    Thank you so much for your work & comments over the years.I appreciate it must have been hard to wade through such propaganda & complete bullshit that the Aus puts out on a daily basis. Personally, I would never have known how demented the mentality of it's contributors because I swore myself off anything Murdoch in the early 90's. Alarm bells were raised when Thatcher sent in the police to quell the Wapping strike in the 80's, it's been a very dirty game since then. And we are hearing that Lachlan might have more extreme views. Hopefully, he will fuck the business case, he has form in this regard. Thanks for the many LOL's you have given me.
    Please continue to post your thoughts on an irregular basis.
    Regards from Perth

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Hopefully, he will fuck the business case"

      I'd consider that an odds on bet, Unk. He hasn't got a single thing right so far. Does everybody remember One.Tel ?

      Delete
  9. Dorothy Parker,
    As they say, all good things come to an end. You have given us one of the most entertaining and educational blogs ever. Media, arts, film, history, philosophy, politics, humour ....and loons. Thank you!

    “The sea was magical, the cloud-strewn sky a dusk dream, and on the cliff edge there was a young woman sitting in a Buddha pose, at the edge of the rocks, perfectly positioned to drink in this stunning landscape. It looked, for a moment, as if she'd achieved, or was achieving, enlightenment.

    Instead she gazed relentlessly at her phone’s screen, never lifting her head, tapping away, perhaps messaging, perhaps Twittering, in any case, wittering something away …as if what was before her held no charm at all ...”

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DgBJonNi3pA......with one comment.
    She was probably texting her broker.....market up 107pts. In first 30 mins. :)

    I remember making comment years ago that I believe the Pond will be an invaluable resource for anyone looking for insights into Australian political history and the role of the Murdoch media. I’ll stand by that comment.
    You note that some of us educated you, which may be true, but I think you, Dorothy, have been the much greater educator......with plenty of slapstick bonus.

    Bless ya cotton socks DP!

    I am so glad the Pond closed with one last Onion Muncher.......the perfect bookend for the decade!

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MefNV-C

    Cheers. The fool from no.15.

    ReplyDelete
  10. If you don't comment on our comments, at least I hope you read them.

    A fitting end, I think, as the reptiles will surely disappear up their own fundaments through irrelevancy after the result on Saturday.

    Can't say Labor didn't try, but it seems a fatal political mistake in Oz politics to show your hand.

    Bread and circuses, Dorothy, bread and circuses. That's what seems to get the electorate enthused. You might think a blog like yours fits right in with those sentiments, what with your withering insights, but when the people are timid and scared by their own shadows, nothing that you or I can say is likely to change anything. We end up crying all over our keyboards.

    So here's a toast to a warming climate, a great big Adani mine, even more inequality, flatlining wages, destruction of the environment, continuing to ignore our First People, more graft and corruption, more sideshows, more stunts, and what looks to be a whole raft of new loons taking up conservative positions. Let the SloMo era begin. What a perfect end and a perfect start.

    Thank you Dorothy. You've made the journey bearable. I have enjoyed many a morning slowly consuming your lizard observations and lizard commentary for the past ten years or so. Now I think I will just have to stop consuming reptile and other shit altogether. It is not healthy, and there is no longer any joy in laughing at them. It's really now, with the planet cooking away, far, far too serious.

    Of course if you do decide to come back, you will be warmly welcomed by me and many others.

    Much affection
    Mercurial

    ReplyDelete
  11. ... wipes a little tear from the eye.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep.....it’s not like we just lost the Argus or something.
      https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/71777190

      With no more Pond, can anyone offer a suggestion of a remotely comparable blog?
      Sniff! Wipes nose on sleeve.

      Delete
    2. Urban Wronski has just published a summary of the election campaign. He's got a bite, but he doesn't do daily.

      https://urbanwronski.com/

      Delete
    3. Many thanks Anon:
      A very good analysis.....and bookmarked.
      “The Morrisons look as if they’re about to start of family game of Twister. But let’s stay on message. Who needs day care? Here’s living proof that even a daggy dad can breed like a cabbage aphid and still get to run the show.” Cheers.

      Delete
    4. I used to deliver, and sell, the Argus for a couple of years before it folded - back when everybody read dead-tree newspapers and a newsagency was a license to print money. I even read bits of it a few times (can't remember a word of it though after 62 years).

      The Argus Building in the CBD (cnr Elizabeth and La Trobe) was just left vacant and slowly rotting for many decades. Too valuable to leave empty forever, though.

      Delete
    5. Yeah, Urban is promising, but he's no Dorothy. But when he says of Abbott: " your brazen politicisation of the public service lives on" is that right ?

      And did or didn't I catch a promise from ScoMo that he was going to extract AU$1.6billion from the Federal Pubserve in so-called "efficiency savings" to finance some of his "promises". Since that would require bulk pubserve layoffs, that'd probably "politicise" 'em no end.

      Delete
    6. Indeed you did GB, although I imagine, if watching Senate estimates is any indication, the PS has been fine combed to death these last 6 years, as was the ABC, thus I doubt resistance from a cohort of yes men and women is likely.
      Nothing has changed since Abbott was installed and he immediately set about putting military types such as Cosgrove,Campbell and Molan into primary roles and it has been ongoing across all departments, no doubt.

      Larry Marshall/CSIRO is one that immediately comes to mind......a nice partner for Melissa Price when looked at through the prism of climate change.

      As Mercurial noted above, there looks to be a whole raft of new loons taking up conservative positions, so an emboldened ScoMo show will make the next few years a nightmare.

      Delete
    7. Yes and yes, GB. The last six years has got a lot worse in PS land. This is a mix of the maturation of deliberate strategy (where political appointments are not merely common but universal, and penetrating deeper down the structure) and the passage of time - the last of my generation are getting out now (though I have more years left than I care to contemplate, having boarded the not-really-gravy-more-gravox-with-corn-flower train as a third career), and they will be replaced by people who have no experience of when it was not, universally, a politicised shit hole.

      I was told more than 20 years ago, by no less than PS Minister Peter Reith, that my notions of dedication and service made me a relic, but I have stubbornly persisted in undermining the system by giving frank and fearless advice, providing value for taxpayers' money and eschewing political expedience since then, just to show him. Its the long game, but I'm sure it will pay off one day :)

      BTW, I might have just totally breached the PS's oppressive restrictions on online comments (Rugby Australia have a lot to learn about muzzling your employees), but I'm getting so I don't really care much.

      Delete
    8. bah... -flour, of course.

      Pedant to the end...

      Delete
    9. To my recall, FD, the Federal Pubserve was considered well and truly 'politicised' - though by osmosis rather than deliberate intent - by the time Gough Whitlam formed his first government and began a 'cleanout'. For which he was roundly criticised as himself having 'politicised' the PS. So I guess I'm more of the opinion that Tones the Muncher 'abbottised' the PS rather than 'politicising' it.

      Perhaps we would be better off with a more USA system with a clear public process for appointing the PS "top" and a defined limit of how far down the hierarchy that can go.

      As to frank and fearless advice, I don't expect your dedication to that did your career any good - there hasn't been all that much of "frank and fearless" since Nugget Coombs has there ? - but then mayhap there were others doing that, at least occasionally, too.

      And corns do have flowers (tassels) you know.

      Delete
  12. Tom Lehrer retired when Kissinger received the Nobel Peace Prize, citing the death of satire. And now the Loons have yet again convinced the turkeys to vote for Xmas, so it seems fitting that you too withdraw DP. Thank you for your efforts over the years and I wish you a (relatively) stressless and fulfilling retirement.

    zoot

    ReplyDelete
  13. 'Thank you' is too easy to say. But thank you. I'll really, really miss your contributions.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anon: I think you, Dorothy, have been the much greater educator.

    Ditto, without doubt. Thanks and all the best, Dorothy. It's been a pleasure reading your work over the years.

    ReplyDelete
  15. We all knew it was such, but the way you put it...
    Thank you so much for your thoughtful, incisive observations.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks, Dorothy. Your insights almost reconciled me to my Tamworth experiences, and almost did "more than Milton can To justify God's ways to man." Fare well.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm not sure who u are, but I have loved reading your comments for many years. I will miss u big time, enjoy ur new lot in life......

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks for many years of sustained insight and wit. Intelligence will be sorely missed in the New Australian Loonocracy. Rarely shall we see the Pond's like again!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Angus Taylor is a Rhodes Scholar. He is not PM yet but he is trying.
    Many thanks Dorothy
    John C

    ReplyDelete
  20. Many many thanks. I'll miss the daily commentary.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Thank you for the many years of sanctuary you have provided to this stray mind.
    All the best DP.
    Louis

    ReplyDelete
  22. As others have commented, you've been a constant source of wit, spark and joy in a world of loonary.

    Will miss my morning dip in the pond.

    All the best and thanks for the laughs.

    ReplyDelete
  23. To quote Terrence Mann in "Field of Dreams"
    This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come. I was the East Coast distributor of 'involved'. I ate it, drank it, and breathed it. Then they killed Martin, Bobby, and they elected Tricky Dick twice, and people like you must think I'm miserable because I'm not involved anymore. Well, I've got news for you. I spent all my misery years ago. I have no more pain for anything. I gave at the office.
    The "Pond" has been your office and you gave a helluva lot
    Good luck

    ReplyDelete
  24. More terrible news! Loon Pond has been a fixture of my life for 10 years, the regular roundup from la la land was an invaluable benchmark of rightwing nutjobbery. Thank you so much DP, his noodlely blessing be upon you.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Brilliant job DP. We'll all miss the best media commentator in the country.

    ReplyDelete
  26. You have been an endless source of unexpected, half-forgotten or never-known delights Dorothy, with your wit and insight and wryness. I came here for the reptiles, but I stayed for the koans and the classic films and the lesbian erotica.

    If readership has dropped away, it is only that many of us feel that same sense of ennui you mentioned once or twice. It's often said that the hardest choice is to know when to retire, and I think you've chosen your moment with your usual good judgement; still the best, but with the reptile taxonomy (or perhaps pathology) complete, is there any more to say?

    So the dogs will go on barking, but the caravan will go on moving. It's been a fantastic ride-along with you Dorothy.

    And to the all commenters here, who have only made the Ponds offerings more delectable, but especially DiddyWrote and Mercurial and Via and, of course, the tireless GrueBleen, thank you and goodnight.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And the cartoons too !

      And thanks to you for your frequently "provocative" input, FD, I always enjoyed reading you (and DW and Mercurial and via collins, Jersey Mike et al).

      Delete
  27. Thank you.
    And good night

    ReplyDelete
  28. "GrueBleen - And thanks to you for your frequently "provocative" input, FD, I always enjoyed reading you (and DW and Mercurial and via collins, Jersey Mike et al)."

    Right back at you, GB. I will miss FrankD's, yours and most of all Dororthy's musings. Jesus, I sound like the other Dorothy at the end of The Wizard of OZ saying how she'll miss the Tin Man, Lion and Scarecrow.
    Dorothy, you can tell me to take a hike but when one has your talent it's a crime not to use it. There is no doubt you have a book in you, perhaps a literary road trip across Oz, ala Mark Twain's travel books combined with your own perceptions rendered in your purest Gonzo mode?
    Don't just dismiss the thought, get 'er done. Please.
    As for your readership, every day I forward your latest to 5 people in 3 countries, including a federal Canadian senator, a West Point prof plus a Scottish Nationalist garbageman and his wife Krazy Kate. So your stuff does travel, as Kate sez, "you give the forks to all the Nobs everywhere." I'm not sure what she means with the cutlery but I get the sense.
    It's like Jazz or The Pond:
    "If you have to ask, as the poet said, you'll never know."
    Quo vadis now, baby?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Tin Man, Lion and Scarecrow ? Strewth mate, that was the first movie I ever saw in a picture theater at the ripe old age of about 4 1/2 - which was about 8 years after its screening in the USA. The Wizard scared me half to death at the time

      Otherwise, nice of you to say as you did, and glad that your overseas "DP Club" members enjoyed the wonderful words of this Dorothy ... which aren't all that far removed from the words of the other Dorothy:
      Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
      There's a land that I heard of,
      Once in a lullaby

      (From memory)

      Anyway, just in case anybody really wants to credit our "Where the bloody hell are ya" Pentecostal with making miracles, here's a few words about little (dis)honest John Winston Howard:
      Remarkably for a politician governing during a long boom, each election saw Howard come from well behind, needing to pull ‘a rabbit from his hat’ to use the expression that became a cliché by the time Howard’s time drew to a close.

      That comes from an article praising Bob Hawke:
      http://clubtroppo.com.au/2019/05/17/rip-bob-hawke-a-repost-from-2008/#more-32854

      Anyway, fare thee well, as my ancestors were wont to say, and maybe, with a lot of luck, DP will resume her true calling in the not too distant future.

      Delete
  29. I will admit to boredom. The repetition of reading the same thing over and over again was bearable for only so long. Reading a 1000 words a week blaming the ABC for everything can only get one so far in the end. The extremist who owns Corpse knows this will wear some of us down but not his employees.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Dear Ms Parker,
    Thank you for all the effort and all the laughs.
    Getting up at sparrow fart every morning, donning the gas mark and wading into the foetid drivel emanating from Murdochia was a heroic task.
    Obviously, three or more years of triumphant scribbling in lizard tongues is more than any human being should attempt to endure.
    Loon Pond has been a treasure that helped keep me sane. Now I will have to take responsibility for my own mental health and a bit like you, I have decided to switch off politics as it is going to be tedious beyond all measure.
    May you have many happy times snoozing under the doona.
    All the best.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I always wondered whether the reptiles ever read Loonpond. It’s not hard to imagine Henderson doing an internet search for any mention of his name, then holding a grudge for the rest of time. But then you would have expected him to retaliate. Maybe he’s only got as far as settling accounts from the 1950s, and it will take time to get to DP.

    No doubt the blog was hard work, but it seemed like the words flowed out spontaneously. So much wisdom and wit in a single sentence. The opposite of a reptile gnawing away interminably at a stale old topic.

    Thanks DP.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Dot, thanks for you time and effort. I very much enjoyed your work and it became an essential part of my day. All the best.

    Matt

    ReplyDelete
  33. So... The Australian loses another reader.

    Travel well DP.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Hi Dorothy,
    Dunno if this has shown up in your Twitter feed...
    https://twitter.com/davpope/status/1131174285177810944

    All the best from me, too.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Maybe I'm "the last one at the party braying at something or other in his usual gibbering, righteous way"!

    I too lapsed in my visitations here, as the lizard commentary and repetitiveness became overwhhelming. I was always here in spirit though.

    I must second this suggestion;

    "There is no doubt you have a book in you, perhaps a literary road trip across Oz, ala Mark Twain's travel books combined with your own perceptions rendered in your purest Gonzo mode?
    Don't just dismiss the thought, get 'er done. Please.". Pretty please?

    And one last request. YOUR list of your / their greatest hits and misses. As this site WILL be studied. Your greatest hit list can then be referred to ad infinitum, as surely as the sun comes up, your commetary will be applicable for the foreseeable future.

    Thanks, thanks and thanks again Dorothy.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Well, if you're downing tools after such a long dedicated mission, you deserve a break. It has been an outstanding service so much-needed as Chairman Rupert attempts to control the world.

    The series has been both a work of art and an important historic record how the Murdoch empire has corrupted our centuries-old democratic system of government. It was never quite as good as either the Athenians or the Romans imagined or hoped it would be. But it was better than most alternatives. But as Plato noted many millenia ago it can be debased by demagogues. Rupert has used his media empire precisely for that purpose.


    Civilisations arose without democratic institutions in ways that many found acceptable. Various Chinese dynasyies survived without it. But judging by the Judge Pao legends they survived best with in independent judiciary to preserve some form of accountability.


    Another seems to be clear, which runs very counter to Neoliberal theory is that an advanced civilisation needs a powerful, educated merit-based bureaucracy to ensure the whole thing functions effectively and its people fed, clothed and housed. If Rupert lives long enough to make himself emperor he will need that, but in all probability won't recognise the need for such support.


    I was around in the early days of The Pond. I engaged in quite a bit of dialogue in the manner of GrueBleen in later times. I eventually semi-retired from that, as ageing and an earlier battle with lymphoma (successfully overcome luckily) have sapped my staying power. I'm now finding it easier to cope with the shorter form like Twitter.


    But I've long been one of your greatest admirers and believe you provided a service desperately needed.


    I wish you joy on whatever the future holds for you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well I for one enjoyed your various comments, GD.

      Delete
  37. Best wishes and good health to you, Dorothy. You will be missed.

    ReplyDelete
  38. I don't know if you're still checking out your 'awaiting moderation' queue, DP, but oh my ...
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/29/ramsay-foundation-may-cut-ties-with-centre-for-western-civilisation

    ReplyDelete
  39. I'm very late to the (farewell) party so you may never see this DP, but I'm one of those who gradually stopped clicking, for the same reasons mentioned above. I do remember finding the site though, many years ago and being thoroughly entranced with your wit, style and intelligence. It was also great to find someone else in the world who felt about the Reptiles as I did (nothing's changed there).
    Anyway we're pretty much done for now. The aspirationals have shown how us what they aspire to and apparently it's been mediocrity, all along.
    I'm getting older and I have my fingers crossed my pension doesn't disappear before I do.
    Tune of the moment (even though it's old):
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE1ct5yEuVY (sorry for the enforced ad).
    Good luck with all your endeavours, and thanks.

    ReplyDelete

Comments older than two days are moderated and there will be a delay in publishing them.