Here's the problem in a nutshell. Australia simply doesn't have enough loons of the quality to be found elsewhere.
The United States still leads the world, while down under we lack not just the quality but the depth. Partly it's the population advantage the States has, but it's also an attitude problem.
We've even shipped abroad some prize cranks, some of the best exponents of conspiracy theories and lies and misinformation the world has seen.
Blessed with the chance to have our own William Randolph Hearst in the back yard, he flees the country and makes whimsical appearances in columns such as Rupert Murdoch has a thing for women aged 66. But what could be in it for them? Sorry Marion Davies, farewell Rosebud ...
All that's left is for the keen Keane to scribble in Crikey How Rupert Murdoch surpassed his father, and created a democratic nightmare, while his spawn, in settling Crikey's legal costs, had the cheek to insist its GoFundMe defence funds be sent to the Alliance for Journalists' Freedom, without even a hint of irony ... (sorry about the paywalls).
It's not just in the likes of high tech that we draw the short straw. While Ronan Farrow was making out like a bandit with Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule, noted yesterday in the pond, John Hendrickson was more than able to match the feat with Vivek Ramasway's Truth for The Atlantic ...
...Ramaswamy is the author of Woke, Inc., a book-length takedown of corporations that champion moral causes along with profits. The treatise was a New York Times best seller and is now part of the American culture-war canon. His first company, Roivant Sciences, netted him hundreds of millions of dollars by bringing a Wall Street ethos to biotech: Drug patents were prospective assets. Another Ramaswamy venture, Strive Asset Management, markets itself as a place where return-on-investment outweighs all else, including concerns about social issues or the environment.
That afternoon’s flight was a short hop, Columbus to Des Moines. As the private jet barreled west, Ramaswamy sipped a Perrier and scribbled his thoughts in a large notebook. It was on a flight like this, he told me, where he sketched out his 10 “truths”:
"God is real. There are two genders. Human flourishing requires fossil fuels. Reverse racism is racism. An open border is no border. Parents determine the education of their children. The nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to mankind. Capitalism lifts people up from poverty. There are three branches of the U.S. government, not four. The U.S. Constitution is the strongest guarantor of freedoms in history."
“I just wrote down things that are true,” he said flatly. “It took me about 15 minutes.”
Ramaswamy doesn’t consider himself a culture warrior; he insists that he is merely speaking the truth. He presents his ideas as self-evident, eternal truths. I asked him if he believes that truths can change over time. For instance, what did he make of the fact that most white Americans used to view it as a “truth” that Black people were genetically inferior—that they weren’t fully human?
“I don’t think that’s true,” he said.
“It is true,” I said. “That’s partly what justified slavery.”
“But it was a justification; it wasn’t a belief,” he said. “Look at emperors—Septimius Severus in Rome. He was Black. He had dark skin. They viewed dark skin as the way we view dark eyes.”
This is how a debate with Ramaswamy unfolds. He’ll engage with your question, but, when needed, he’ll expand its parameters. If that fails, he’ll pivot to thoughts on the existence of a higher power. “I don’t think that human beings ever accepted that Black people were not created equal in the eyes of God,” he said. (His favorite president, Thomas Jefferson, believed exactly that.)
Here’s where else he’s gone in his quest for the truth. He has tantalized audiences with the idea that Americans don’t know “the truth about January 6” and has argued that those who stormed the Capitol have been lied to and “suppressed.” He argues that people who identify as transgender suffer from a mental-health disorder: “I think there is something else going wrong in that person’s life, badly wrong,” he has said. He calls race-based affirmative action “a cancer” and vows to end it “in every sphere of American life.” He endorses using the military to secure America’s borders, brokering a deal that would cede a huge chunk of Ukraine to Russia, and defending Taiwan from Chinese aggression “only as far as 2028.” His grandest vision might best be described as the inverse of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal: a demolition of the federal government—FBI, CDC, DOE, ATF, IRS—gone.
That afternoon’s flight was a short hop, Columbus to Des Moines. As the private jet barreled west, Ramaswamy sipped a Perrier and scribbled his thoughts in a large notebook. It was on a flight like this, he told me, where he sketched out his 10 “truths”:
"God is real. There are two genders. Human flourishing requires fossil fuels. Reverse racism is racism. An open border is no border. Parents determine the education of their children. The nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to mankind. Capitalism lifts people up from poverty. There are three branches of the U.S. government, not four. The U.S. Constitution is the strongest guarantor of freedoms in history."
“I just wrote down things that are true,” he said flatly. “It took me about 15 minutes.”
Ramaswamy doesn’t consider himself a culture warrior; he insists that he is merely speaking the truth. He presents his ideas as self-evident, eternal truths. I asked him if he believes that truths can change over time. For instance, what did he make of the fact that most white Americans used to view it as a “truth” that Black people were genetically inferior—that they weren’t fully human?
“I don’t think that’s true,” he said.
“It is true,” I said. “That’s partly what justified slavery.”
“But it was a justification; it wasn’t a belief,” he said. “Look at emperors—Septimius Severus in Rome. He was Black. He had dark skin. They viewed dark skin as the way we view dark eyes.”
This is how a debate with Ramaswamy unfolds. He’ll engage with your question, but, when needed, he’ll expand its parameters. If that fails, he’ll pivot to thoughts on the existence of a higher power. “I don’t think that human beings ever accepted that Black people were not created equal in the eyes of God,” he said. (His favorite president, Thomas Jefferson, believed exactly that.)
Here’s where else he’s gone in his quest for the truth. He has tantalized audiences with the idea that Americans don’t know “the truth about January 6” and has argued that those who stormed the Capitol have been lied to and “suppressed.” He argues that people who identify as transgender suffer from a mental-health disorder: “I think there is something else going wrong in that person’s life, badly wrong,” he has said. He calls race-based affirmative action “a cancer” and vows to end it “in every sphere of American life.” He endorses using the military to secure America’s borders, brokering a deal that would cede a huge chunk of Ukraine to Russia, and defending Taiwan from Chinese aggression “only as far as 2028.” His grandest vision might best be described as the inverse of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal: a demolition of the federal government—FBI, CDC, DOE, ATF, IRS—gone.
That's some mighty fine reading, and there was more ...
...During one of his “truth” monologues at the Lincoln Dinner, Ramaswamy told the crowd, “We can handle the truth about what really happened on January 6.” As the bus rolled north, I asked him: What is the truth about January 6?
“I don’t know, but we can handle it,” he said. “Whatever it is, we can handle it. Government agents. How many government agents were in the field? Right?”
Then, suddenly, he was talking about 9/11.
“I think it is legitimate to say how many police, how many federal agents, were on the planes that hit the Twin Towers. Maybe the answer is zero. It probably is zero for all I know, right? I have no reason to think it was anything other than zero. But if we’re doing a comprehensive assessment of what happened on 9/11, we have a 9/11 commission, absolutely that should be an answer the public knows the answer to. Well, if we’re doing a January 6 commission, absolutely, those should be questions that we should get to the bottom of,” he said. “‘Here are the people who were armed. Here are the people who are unarmed.’ What percentage of the people who were armed were federal law-enforcement officers? I think it was probably high, actually. Right?”
I pressed him on the comparison, and suddenly, the bold teller of truths was just asking questions. “Oh yeah, I don’t think they belong in the same conversation,” he said. “I think it’s a ridiculous comparison. But I brought it up only because it was invoked as a basis for the January 6 commission.”
But is he actually confused about who was behind the 9/11 attacks? It was hard to get a straight answer from him. “I mean, I would take the truth about 9/11,” he said. “I am not questioning what we—this is not something I’m staking anything out on. But I want the truth about 9/11.” Some truths, it seems, can be proudly affirmed; others are more elusive. (Asked to clarify Ramaswamy’s views on 9/11, his spokesperson pointed me to a 1,042-word tweet from the candidate, in which he suggested that the U.S. government covered up involvement by Saudi intelligence officials in planning the attacks.)
And so on, and so it gos, and there are dangers, because as you read, you might chance on a link to another story in The Atlantic, and discover yourself reading Elaina Plott Calabro's A Star Reporters' Break with Reality ...
Lara Logan was once a respected 60 Minutes correspondent. Now she trades in conspiracy theories that even far-right media disavow. What happened?
What happened? The United States happened, and we're struggling to keep up.
Even Huff Post, no longer a major player, recently offered up a piece by Jennifer Bendery, The Unbelievably Bonkers Conspiracy Theorist Running For Governor Of North Carolina.
He's not just running for Guv, he's currently the Lt Guv, and he's nuttier than the pond's great aunt's Xmas cake ...
...In lesser-noticed social media posts, Robinson has said that news coverage of police shootings is part of a media conspiracy “designed to push US towards their new world order.” He and his wife both liked a since-deleted Facebook comment that stated, “WWG1WGA are my ‘Identity’ letters,” a reference to the QAnon rallying cry “Where we go one, we go all.” In October 2018, on a day when authorities intercepted pipe bombs intended for President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and CNN, Robinson suggested on Facebook that they had done it to themselves. “If you can’t beat ’em, bomb yourself,” he wrote.
He followed that with another Facebook post claiming, “This entire ‘bombing’ story is faker than a $20 Rolex sold on a New York City sidewalk.” Months later, another post on his Facebook page parroted the conspiracy theory that the pipe bomb incident was “manufactured” and “fake.”
Robinson is also a regular proponent of conspiracies claiming the music industry is being run by Satan and the Illuminati. He has called Beyoncé’s music “satanic” and described Jay-Z as “demonic” and sent by Satan to turn people away from Jesus. He suggested that the 2014 Boko Haram kidnapping of schoolgirls in Nigeria was orchestrated by billionaire Democratic philanthropist George Soros, a frequent target of antisemitic attacks by Republicans.
This Republican state official has also routinely pushed the “New World Order” conspiracy theory, which involves forced depopulation programs, a secretive ruling class of reptiles and “elite globalists” on a satanic mission to bring about the “end times.”
In one instance, Robinson warned on Facebook that the reality-TV shows “American Idol,” “Dancing With the Stars” and “Chopped” are a sign of an impending New World Order. He said they remind him of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s “Show Trials. Where people were lined up and judged then executed.”
What's even better is that this prize loon is in with a chance to become de guv ...
Everybody feeds off this sort of stuff. The Atlantic yarn was soon bobbing up in locations as diverse as the Graudian, Vivek Ramaswamy condemned for 9/11 and Jan 6 conspiracy theory remarks, and Esquire, Everything In This Paragraph Should Disqualify Vivek Ramaswamy From Being President...
Honest to god, this is not that far removed across the field of love from Marianne Williamson.
Honest to the long absent lord, there's not the time to contemplate the absurdity of Marianne Williamson, or for that matter, the barking mad RFK Jr., celebrated in Forbes with RFK Jr.’s Family Denounces Claim That Jews, Chinese Are Immune To Covid: Here Are All The Other Conspiracies He Promotes.
How is it possible to compete? Some might conjure up the likes of Mark Latham, who did some truly weird things on social media, and who has now fallen so far even Pauline has no time for him ...
But his departure from One Nation didn't even cause a ripple on one of the few dedicated promoters of conspiracies down under, the lizard Oz ...instead this was what was on offer at the top of the digital page ...
As for news of Latham, the pond had to turn to the immortal Rowe ...
It was the same below the fold, a bunch of dismal third rate hacks hacking out the usual reptile hackery ...
Never mind that bit of Bita suggesting that funding was urgently needed to help rescue struggling children, that was cancelled out by the far out Fahey suggesting funding was a waste of time ... and as for Tom and 'here no conflict of interest' Simon, the pond was well over them ...
There was one minor consolation. Paul Barry had been welcomed into the reptile hall of fame, as he deserved ...
Barry might contend that splash is a misrepresentation, but in fact he did dispute the 'false information' label. Such a goose, ripe for a reptile plucking ...
And so to the truth, the cri de coeur from the pond about the lack of conspiracies, and the lack of reptile contenders down under.
No Killer Creighton - surely in there with a chance against the likes of RFK Jr - no bromancer, no dog botherer feuding with petulant Peta, no decent conspiracy theories to match up to the US players, just this day the tedium of a climb up the Everest known as nattering "Ned"...
Followed by a word salad ...
Well the infallible Pope also senses ...
Perhaps it was too soon to turn to cartoonists for help, but how else to make it to the end, because along the way we'll surely see "Ned" reverting to his old trick of reproducing the thoughts and reports of others ... and guess what sort of blather it will be
Where's the depth and the breadth of the loonery? To revert to Vivek for a moment, there he was in WaPo with Vivek Ramaswamy runs as Trump 2.0 — an outsider with extreme proposals (paywall):
Billed as “America First 2.0,” an argument that Trump did not go far enough in passing his policy agenda as president, Ramaswamy’s platform — which leans heavily on executive actions — includes raising the voting age to 25 unless certain requirements are met, ending affirmative action “in every sphere of American life,” shutting down the FBI, and trimming 75 percent of executive branch employees to reduce the size of the “administrative state.”
“It shows, frankly, a historically unprecedented disregard for the powers laid out in the Constitution, which are that the president is supposed to execute the law, not just create new ones willy-nilly,” presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky said of the plans. “This is unprecedented in its disregard for that power sharing structure laid out in the Constitution.”
On Thursday in New Hampshire, Ramaswamy unveiled the details of his plan to shut down the FBI, as well as the Department of Education and National Regulatory Commission, surrounded by charts covered in red strike marks and arrows. The next day, he was back in Iowa hosting an event that rhymes with the pronunciation of his first name: “Lunch Break with Vivek.” He recently followed in Trump’s footsteps by releasing a list of possible Supreme Court nominees if elected, including Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).
How could "Ned" compete with that?
He doesn't even try. Such was the tedium of this all day humbug doing his usual humbug - won't someone think of the rich? - that the graphics department decided to insert snaps in the text. Deploy when triggered ...
The pond was certainly triggered by those snaps of Jennifer Westacott, little Johnny and Petey boy ... talk about a dinosaur wandering back to ancient times ...
Dear sweet long absent lord, the pond had an acid flashback to Russell Morris ...
Come and see the real thing
Come and see the real thing
Come and see
There's a meaning there
But the meaning there doesn't really mean a thing
Come and see the real thing
Come and see the real thing
Come and see
I am the real, thing
Oo-mow-ma-mow-mow, Oo-mow-ma-mow-mow
Oo-mow-ma-mow-mow, Oo-mow-ma-mow
Oo-mow-ma-mow-mow
And so on, and whether it meant anything might depend on your understanding of whether ...
Sorry, it's the only way the pond can endure Ned's blather these days ...
The pond knew it was coming, and luckily the pond had been saving up a few Wilcox cartoons for this moment ...
And then it was just a short gobbet to get to the "Ned" summit yet again ...
How many times can the pond say that it's made it to the end of the ramblings of a pompous, portentous old dotard following the company line, and not wonder about the meaning of life?
Sure he's calling for a new world order, but without the first clue what that might mean to a dinkum conspiracy theorist. He's such a clueless hack, as if we haven't heard the mantra of cutting taxes for the rich a zillion times before ...
If the reptiles are doing to shape up, they need to embrace the new world order ...and that means getting rid of pompous tired old self-important hacks of the "Ned" kind, and instead beginning to import brand new up to date conspiracy theorists by the truckload ...
In his pursuit of 66 year old women, has Chairman Rupert taken his eye off the ball, and are the reptiles down under losing their mojo?
And so to end with an infallible Pope, a few days old, but still with a fragrance that's appealing ...
Good old Noodlenuts Neddy: "It means an unhappy country. That may become Australia's fate if leaders are too reluctant to lead and the public is too divided to mandate a new traljectory." Butt, BG, but, we "mandated a new trajectory" just a little over a year ago: a trajectory away from the world of Abbotts, Turnbulls and Morrisons and their looney lackeys, and towards Albanese and his government oriented mates. But what is left for them to privatise this time around ?
ReplyDeleteThen we get a regular mindset exposition: "...the demographic time bomb - fewer workers to support older, retired people." But doesn't Neddy read his own paper ? This bit by Patrick Commins ? "Australia will be spending less on aged pensions as a share of the economy in 40 years time as a doubling in our retirement savings pool more than compensates for a rapidly aging population." Say what, did Keating actually do some good after all ?
Our ‘Ned’ was born in 1947. At that time, sometime western singer, Carson Robison, was polishing his monologue ‘Life gits tee-jus, don’t it’, to be released as a record in 1948, to great success. Like ‘Jabberwocky’ something made it easy to remember, and most of my coevals could recite it, drawing only on occasional playings on our local radio station.
ReplyDeleteEven though it remained on radio for several years, it seems the much younger ‘Ned’ did not absorb any of Robison’s message then, and no one has been able to bring it to his attention now. (There is a choice of ‘YouTube’ presentations, just search with ‘Life gits tee-jus’)
Essentially, Ned, mate - if the Business Council is offering a solution - they have not truly analysed the problem.
No garnish of throwaway lines like ‘as everyone knows, the GST rate is too low.’ makes this any more appetising (thank you Dorothy for your kind use of ‘garnish’ recently). Rent-seeking might be a national occupation, but it is self-delusion to claim it is in the national interest.
The BCA paper is readily available, but, in fact, is a pretty ordinary document. Yes, it runs to almost 200 pages, but that is fleshed-out with odd observations (like the GST treatment of meringue cases) and lots of Groan Graphics to show Australia performing poorly against a (changing) mix of other nations. It tells us that all options for tax ‘reform’ should be on the table - then, next page, lists things that must NOT be an option, like those nasty ‘super profits’ impertinences. I searched in vain for any mention of ‘resource rents’. I suppose they thought it better not to trigger any recognition of that in whoever (journos?) might actually try to read the document.
"There is a choice of ‘YouTube’ presentations": yep, and here's a true 'classic' one:
Deletehttps://youtu.be/KpBavevjYCY
Now, back to the mainline: "as everyone knows, the GST rate is too low". Well of course it is, every BCA spruiker knows, if the GST was raised immediately to 15%, on its way to 20% soon after, then all sorts of income and earnings taxes on the wealthy could be reduced significantly, and the stage 3 tax cuts could be doubled instead of being scrapped.
DeleteAnd wouldn't that be just great ?
Sheesh Chadders, reading both the report and "Ned"? That's Marvel Comics stuff. Perhaps others would like to match you ...the latest is here ...
Deletehttps://www.bca.com.au/seize_the_moment
... and the word salad is strong ...
The challenge is twofold. Together, all of us – business, governments, unions and civil society – must build on the community’s appetite for reform by speaking openly and honestly about the choices we face. Then, we just need to get on with it.
We believe now is the time to embark on carefully considered, staged and practical change that will position Australia for decades of prosperity through enhanced productivity, competition and resilience.
We hope this document will prompt conversation, debate and ultimately action.
The BCA stands ready to work with governments and key partners across the nation to move the country forward. We know every Australian will be better for it.
The pond was immediately reminded of its favourite lines, to be used whenever the situation demands. Much has been done, but much remains to be done. (You could possibly add 'While we have done much doing in the past, there is still much doing to be done in the future ... let us roll up our shirtsleeves, or in the case of short sleeves, our ties, or perhaps our stockings, and with a clarion cry, move forward, crying who will hold their manhoods cheap while fighting on BCA day)...
Well, as we are recalling the classics - the BCA could use this
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxBtGuu9BVE
Truly classic, Chad, I still have that one on vinyl.
DeleteIf only I had a dollar for every time the reptiles said 'now is the time to...', I'd be quite rich.
DeleteHow much more do we persevere wth shills like Ned pretending that the BCA has any motivation beyond promoting the interests of its members?
ReplyDeleteAt the very least they might want to use a spokesman a little less soporific than Ned. The chance of anyone making it through one of his epic drones, let alone then being sufficiently conscious to be receptive to the claims of the BCA, must be pretty slim.
Mention of “The Real Thing” brought to mind the song’s producer, Ian “Molly” Meldrum. Perhaps the BCA could engage him as a spruiker in place of Ned? He’d appeal to a younger (ie, under 75) demographic, and almost certainly communicate in a much more fluent and coherent manner.
Do yourself a favour.
A much more fluent and coherent manner ... the pond would like to have been able to steal that one.
Delete