In which assorted reptiles are offered for entertainment purposes only ...

 

The pond was mortified to see that it broke the very first rule suggested by Van Badham on ways to deal with cults, as noted in the Graudian here:

1. Disinformation experts recommend an “information hygiene” routine to prevent unwittingly spreading cult propaganda. People often share incendiary material with the intention of mocking or challenging its assertions – but platforms like Facebook regularly shear off contextualising comments. If you must mock, mock in your own words or memes; don’t ever republish the original to a wider audience.

Admittedly she was dealing with QAnon, which is pretty out there, but "don’t ever republish the original to a wider audience"??!! 

That's the pond's entire business model when dealing with the cult of the reptiles! Why it's like asking an herpetologist to cut off her far right arm.

Sure, the pond does mocking, in a mock turtle sort of way, but it's the readership who delight in, and do, the mocking and the diligent pointing out of errors, and provide the pond with valuable tips on other herpetological studies, and besides, there are music links to exchange when the reptiles get truly boring ...

The pond tried to put Van Badham's advice into practice. Killer Creighton was again on the loose ... LIVE...

 

 

So how should the pond respond, what should the pond do? Ignore him, and he'll go away? Refuse to print a word of his nonsense, and instead re-run that piece in the Saturday Paper, here, as a way to contextualise him?

…You might think these gossamer threads of bullshit would be swept away by subsequent events, that the bong-rip reasoning of “everyone dies, man” would look embarrassing after almost a million pandemic deaths. Wrong. Only an amateur columnist trips over trivialities such as real-world invalidation. Here, the lightweight divisional champion is The Australian’s Adam Creighton. Resoundingly wrong and out of his depth, it’s redundant to say Creighton has no experience in these complex areas, akin to saying a crayon has no experience driving a formula one car.
But rarely is such inexpertise combined with such conceit. On social media, as well as in his columns, Creighton has produced an unbroken skein of not only misinformation, but also misunderstanding about Covid-19, some sourced from crackpot international blogs. “Under 60, in good health? Crossing the road is more risky,” he inveighed in April, underestimating the virus’s risk by a factor of 35, according to economist John Quiggin’s calculations. Creighton later repeated the lie that the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributed only 6 per cent of Covid-19 deaths to the virus itself – a false factoid originating with the QAnon conspiracy (which, characteristically, he claimed not to have heard of).
Creighton has been frequently schooled by economists and public health specialists but has learnt nothing. Replying to the columnist on Twitter, one of these economists, Chris Edmond, a professor of economics at the University of Melbourne, pointed out that “it takes … some awesome degree of self belief to think you know better than experts in not one but two disciplines”. In a sense, it is the belief itself that is the real service being provided. This style of commentary can’t be called “writing” or “thinking” in the traditional senses – it’s an industrial item, in the same category as seafood extender or filler foam, something to be extruded at volume. Research and consideration would only gum up the production line….
…When these people do occasionally endorse forms of fiscal harm, it’s under the most telling circumstances. In 2017, during France’s most recent presidential election, Creighton’s tune was very different. Mentioning en passant that the outside prospect of a Muslim winning one day was “not especially gratifying”, the columnist endorsed Marine Le Pen. His choice, he admitted, would plunge Europe into chaos – “a financial crisis that would make 2008 seem mild” – but it would be necessary to uncouple la République from international finance: “It would be the price to pay for longer-term prosperity.” That choice of dynamic tradeoff is indicative: lockdowns to save lives are fascism and destroying the economy; but actual fascism is great, and worth destroying the economy for.

Okay, the pond didn't like doing it, but it's done, but how long can the pond go on doing this? There was more useless advice in L'Age here on how to deal with cults.

Checking sources: Who or what is the source and what is their level of access and accuracy and reliability? Has the source provided accurate information before? What is their mission, their history? Did they give supporting information? Where is this information coming from? Is it old information that is being rehashed?

It's the lizard Oz? Is there any need to go further, or say any more?

Seek experts: See what people who have studied and worked in the field are saying. Look at a fact-checking site. QAnon has promoted conspiracy theories about child trafficking – if you are concerned about child trafficking, seek out organisations and experts who have been working in this field. What do they say about the issue?

Seek experts? The lizard Oz has promoted endless conspiracy theories about climate science, but there's no point confronting them with experts. That's the entire point of being a paid-up member of the kool-aid drinking chairman Rupert cult. They think they're the experts and people should be consulting them.

Look, right now, there's a big story breaking in the USA about the Donald and his tax returns. Sure it only confirms what everyone knows, that he's a crook and a con artist and also a really bad businessman, so what does the bromancer, the alleged foreign affairs editor of the lizard Oz, get up to today?

 

 

More comrade Dan bashing, and already the pond had the feeling it was on a car trip with the infallible Pope ...

 

 

But Killer Creighton and the bromancer weren't the only ones, because there was also a classic 'get 'em coming and get 'em going' moment ...

 

 

You see how it works? There's Killer Creighton urging on the killing fields, and there's other reptiles tut-tutting and doing a body count and finding it hard on the stomach ...

And still no mention of the Donald's tax returns, and the high comedy it offers.

 

 

But what's the use of a link if it's paywall affected?

It's with deep regret that the pond must continue to wittingly spread cult propaganda, pleading as its excuse that it's for "entertainment purposes only."

But how about a compromise. Look at the pathetic mob of sheep the reptiles offered up this day ... 

 

 

...none of them mentioning the Donald and his taxes, none of them interested in the latest fundamentalist Catholic and the comedy she presented ...

 

 

That's the NY mag, so as the pond's readership flees in droves, how about a compromise ... with the pond picking the most boring columnist it could find ...

 

To contextualise ... this is one boring old fart telling other boring old farts to go away, though there's no apparent reason for Dame Groan to hang around either. Even worse, Dame Groan commits the worst reptile crime of all ... cancel culture!?

You see, if old ex-PMs want to hang around, boring the socks off everyone, that's their business, just as it's the pond's right to ignore or mock them ...

Should the pond urge the cancelling of Dame Groan? After all, the reptiles cut her back to a penny a word, so it's not so easy to see why she bothers to keep scribbling on ... shouldn't she do the decent thing, and cancel herself?

 

Sure, close friends should  have a word to this has-been, but on and on she blathers about others blathering, and so the virtuous circle of blather is complete ...

 

Florid language is now a thought crime? But anything chairman Rudd said at the tail of that gobbet is surely matched by Dame Groan in her last few pars in this final gobbet ...

 

Indeedy, if the pond was given a chance to call this square dance, "bizarre and error-laden interventions",  and "simply desist", and "such poor judgment" and "unnecessary controversy" would trump "cruel assault" for Dame Groanian floridity ...

But what harm was done, Van Badham, in showing Dame Groan in her full splendour (and not even in the grass)? Sheesh, talk about incendiary material. The only worry was the readership dropping off like flies. Would they even have the strength left to exchange a few music links?

Might the pond at least try a little comedy, because elsewhere in the reptile rag, the arse-licking was something fierce ...

 

 

It goes without saying that the notion of SloMo and digital as one is pure, distilled essence of two ... because once a luddite, always a luddite, and SloMo was there to witness Malware destroying the NBN on instructions from the onion muncher ... and besides ... here's a better illustration to go with the piece ...

 

Oh if only they'd used dear sweet innocent pure dinkum Oz coal, instead of that dreadful fibre ...

 

Even other reptiles could find comedy in all this florid transformational blather, so much floridity ...

 

What a Malware disaster the DTA has been. And now it reports to Roberts? Doom after disaster. Doesn't the Rolex-loving Robert speak in tongues, and think the rapture will arrive long before we need any digital transformation? Isn't being a Pentecostal the only reason he's still in a gig ... because as a rapture mate of SloMo's. he's shown a remarkable ability to survive many ministerial transformations. Even back in 2018, they were doing a litany of his transgressions at Independent Australia ...

But the pond digresses, and we should get back to the last comedy gobbet, offering a transformational rapture ...

 

Oh yes, it's all go, go, go, until the pond decided to make its bonus for the day the lizard Oz editorialist ...

 

Suddenly all that florid talk of transformations, and rampings up, and new ways came back down to earth with a reptile serving of cold comfort, an old family favourite where it's hard to spot the difference between the fish and the reptile...

 

 

Yes, it's time to kill off businesses that are past their use-by date and have postponed the task of getting their staff retrained and redeployed. 

Why, the pond knows for a fact that a few businesses think they need to keep on killing trees, when the entire point of giving away those pulped trees at airports for free has been lost thanks to the virus. Instead they reach out with grasping hands to get hold of government taxes on tech companies who know better how to reach and audience and retain it ...

And if you think there's high comedy and even higher, rank hypocrisy in the next gobbet you might be right ...

 

Yes, and don't forget to slip News Corp a few quid while you're at it, just a tidy little subsidy to tide them over so they can go on with their tree-killing ways ...

And now, just before going to print, the pond checked back, and still nary a mention of the Donald and his taxes, or even his expenditure on hair above the lizard Oz fold, and so the pond had to resort to the immortal Rowe for a comment, with more comments here ...

 

And so, whatever the advice on cults that the pond began with, so far as the reptile cult is concerned, the pond must remind readers who made it this far that it's strictly for entertainment purposes only ...

 

And reading the reptiles? Can it get any sillier or more pointless on any day of the week, in any week of the year, in any year until the rapture comes?