This is the winding down week for the pond, in preparation for the Xmas holydays ... and so the pond is pleased to announce that the next week will feature the pond's own version of the hunger games ...
Only one unhinged reptile will make the cut each day, and the pond will judge the reptiles to see who it considers the most unhinged of the day...
Red cards will still apply ...there are some reptiles so unhinged it would be unfair to let them rant - say Dame Slap on the Lehrmann matter ...
But otherwise there will be plenty of chances for the reptiles to play the hunger games, while the pond does its Donald Sutherland impression ... yes, he's loyally been shrieking in the pond's masthead for years now about the arrival of the reptiles.
The pond will survey the field and might even offer the odd quote from a loser reptile, and of course those wanting to whine, whinge or moan about a favourite reptile missing out can take it up in the comments.
The pond will also continue to play the field. Usually the pond does that to lessen the tedium of reptile double banger offerings, but how could the pond miss out referencing a good Hydeing of the When it comes to the UK’s asylum plan, Rwanda is definitely having the last laugh kind ...
...Jenrick’s character arc has covered a remarkable amount of ground in fairly short order, taking him from a remain-voting centrist nicknamed Robert Generic to a guy who ordered the painting over of a Mickey Mouse mural at an asylum centre for children. Purely on the basis of looking into his eyes multiple times on Google images – the only true character test – I can confirm Robert would collaborate with an occupying force in a heartbeat, then, after the liberation, would kill someone and frame them posthumously with his crimes. Conduct your own investigation by all means, but I dare you to conclude otherwise.
And there's cultural analysis of the kind offered by by Victoria Scott's A Cultural Critique of the Tesla Cybertruck, in part ...
...Whether Musk truly believes society is near collapse—or if it is truly about to collapse—are immaterial. What is true is that a majority of people—across virtually all demographics and ages—agree life in America is getting worse, and we must steel ourselves for the grim future ahead. More Americans are pessimistic about the future of the country than optimistic. Almost three-quarters of Americans believe, at least somewhat, that “the country is falling apart.” This is reflected much closer to home, as well; polling shows that a quarter of Americans fear being attacked in their own neighborhood.
And our vehicles reflect these anxieties. More than half of vehicles sold today in America are trucks and SUVs; this fueled a new all-time high for the average weight of a new passenger vehicle in 2022, which hit a staggering 4329 pounds. Pickup buyers, more frequently than other types of vehicle owners, say they enjoy their trucks because they are “powerful” and “rugged”. Most new vehicle buyers rate vehicle safety as a top priority in their purchases, and larger vehicles are indeed safer for occupants than small ones (although they have vastly more negative externalities, such as tire particulates and dead pedestrians).
So automakers have given us what we demanded, and the stylistic language has changed to match: the overarching trends of this decade thus far is to make our vehicles broader, heavier, boxier, and more militaristic in nature, as rounded lines don’t project power. The Cybertruck—which Musk stated at its launch “will win” in an “argument” with other vehicles—simply follows all of these themes to their logical endpoints.
A bulletproof three-and-a-half ton stainless-steel truck equipped with “Bioweapon Defense Mode” designed to slam through other cars is the perfect vehicle for a society where over a third of people are scared to walk around at night.
I moved recently from a rural town in Idaho to the heart of Seattle, a change I’d been longing to make for ages. When I told my mother I was finally relocating, she told me to avoid walking outside in my neighborhood, because she had heard it was dangerous. She has not been west of the Mississippi River at any point in my entire life. She is simply an avid Fox News watcher.
The Cybertruck is the perfect vehicle for her. It is the perfect vehicle for a culture where everyone is afraid of their neighbor. Musk’s bulletproof wedge-shaped machine is the physical manifestation of America’s fear, and whether it is good or bad, we deserve it.
That would usually be enough to get the pond past three reptiles, a partridge and a pear tree.
And the pond will also pause for the odd oddity, such as Mike Johnson Compares Himself to Moses at Christian Nationalist Gala.
The pond has to find some excuse for the cartoons ...
Mike's a one man cartoon machine straight from the long absent lord ...
Irresistible ...
And comments are still invited on any topic under the sun, or emanating from the beak ...
But the hunger games week means this Sunday is the last of the double banger/reptile bonus issues for the year, and a nanosecond's pause to consider what's on offer will explain the wisdom of winding down with a reptile version of the hunger games ...
Now the pond has already explained why it thinks the reptiles are banging on about anti-semitism locally ... a chance for some dinkum Islamophobia and a chance for Polonius to do more ABC-bashing, and above all, a chance to ignore what's going on in another place ...
The pond isn't going to repeat assorted stories of the horrors of ethnic cleansing, mass displacement and mass punishment, and assorted war crimes.
It's enough just to watch as Polonius dodges and weaves and ducks the carnage ...
And so as always carnage elsewhere is reduced to Polonius prattling on about the ABC ...
Indeed, it is transparently impossible to be a critic of Israel in the lizard Oz, with the reptiles worshipping Benji and his far right mob of fundamentalist theocrats intent on wiping Gaza from the map ...
And that's why the pond is keen to start on its version of the hunger games, because in any sane world, nattering "Ned", playing the same game as Polonius, would be the first to get the cut ...
Here one key aim is to use anti-semitism as an excuse to bash Labor, which has already resulted in Wong embarking on an epic voyage of futility down the barking mad far right rabbit hole of Israeli theocracy ...
The pond would love to change the topic ...
... but that's just as depressing ... though maybe not as depressing as "Ned" avoiding the carnage ...
Actually it started with the consignment of Palestinians to an open prison, while apartheid was instituted through the land, and now this ...
Sorry, the pond had promised itself not to go there ... but that's what reading "Ned's" natter will do to you ...
It's astonishing to be able to ignore what's actually happening in Gaza, and how the pond yearns for a distraction ...
But the remorseless "Ned" plods on, never knowing when to shut up, never knowing the words "enough already ..."
In a rational world, it would be possible to realise that a vast number of Palestinians weren't alive when Hamas seized power, and that collective punishment is a war crime ...
Yet "Ned" is immune to the cultural, political and moral dimensions of war crimes, and instead seeks solace in celebrating the deeds of war criminals, and deplores those deploring war crimes ...
...it has to be possible to empathise with Israel’s desire, its need, to be rid of the Hamas monster next door – while still counselling that it is taking the wrong path in Gaza. My most arresting conversation this week was with a formerly high-ranking figure in the US military. He believes that Israel must think not only tactically – hitting the monster – but also strategically, tackling the conditions in which the monster has been bred. In his view, tackling the physical entity of Hamas matters, but so too does the larger “resistance narrative” of which Hamas, like Hezbollah, is a manifestation. To be truly safe, he says, Israel needs to defeat that narrative and the idea at its core: namely, that there can never be peace between Israel and the Palestinian people.
Dispelling that idea would require Israel to offer Palestinians hope: a political horizon that would include the possibility of eventual statehood and an end to occupation. And it would mean fighting a very different war, one that would signal to Palestinians that Israel’s fight is not with them as a people but with Hamas alone. No more 900kg (2000lb) bombs flattening whole neighbourhoods and blanket artillery fire, but rather small teams of infantry, moving quickly, street by street, even house to house – followed by support troops, a “humanitarian wave” bringing food, water and medicine, and turning the electricity back on. That approach might risk a greater number of Israeli casualties, but slowly, says the former commander, Israel would dispel the belief that it is an implacable enemy with whom Palestinians can never be reconciled – and such beliefs matter. “The most important terrain on the planet is the six inches between the ears,” he says.
It may be too late – and such an approach would certainly require new Israeli leadership – but this is a view that Israel needs to hear. It understands the pain, the violation, the country suffered on 7 October, it sympathises with its people, and yet it fears that Israel, by its actions, is not slaying the monster that terrorised it that day – it is feeding it.
Why can't "Ned" make a leap of the imagination? Why is he reduced to incessant baying at the clouds about anti-semitism?
Truth to tell, he's just as myopic as the current far right mob of fundamentalist theocrats intent on ethnic cleansing, bereft of pity, humanity, compassion and empathy ...
Did anyone send out a brief survey to count the amount of rampant Islamophobia in the lizard Oz? Not just now, but over the years of migrant and furriner bashing?
Of course not ... the reptiles are beyond the valley of the one eyed ... and always seize upon images that suit their purpose ...
The pond has asked it before and will ask it again ... when will the reptiles discover other images to accompany the Islamophobia?
It's not as if there aren't a few out there in the ether ...
Meanwhile, "Ned" ploughs on in his usual plodding, pompous, portentous way ...
It's extraordinary that the reptiles have paid very little attention to war crimes in Gaza, not just by Hamas but by the Israeli government, and have used the excuse of anti-semitism to avoid gazing at the horror ...
It's extraordinary that the reptiles have paid almost no attention to the rampant Islamophobia within their ranks ...
It's extraordinary that the reptiles pay almost no attention to a humanitarian crisis designed to as a form of mass revenge verging on the psychotic ...
It almost makes the pond yearn for the old days when a certified war criminal could be seen as an honoured statesman ...
Well the pond has tried to distract, but come Monday, this piece would have been the first to get the chop in the pond's hunger games ...
There are some 2 million people plus in the Gaza strip, being subjected to relentless bombing, collective displacement, collective punishment, disease, hunger, death, dire injury, and a broken humanitarian and hospital system.
Is nattering "Ned" politically and morally equipped to see what's happening?
Nah, he's just your average pretentious reptile bigot, full of humbug and pompous bile ...
And so to lighten the mood by contemplating another approaching apocalypse ...
And after the week or so of the hunger games, the pond will be hitting the road, immortal Rowe style ...
Ah yes, we've all been there ...
Henderson’s column needs to be renamed; it’s not a media watch dog, but an ABC watch dog. He does sometimes hit out at the Guardian and the Nine group as they pass by, but most of the time, the old, little terrier limps to the fence barking A...B...C...woof! Wiki gives some advice for dealing with barking dogs, but Henderson is so set in his ways. Lachlan won’t send him to the pound, because, sure the neighbours think the dog’s a pain in the neck, but they all recognise Henderson is past it and not much of a threat as long as he remains behind the Murdoch fence.
ReplyDelete"And so as always carnage elsewhere is reduced to Polonius prattling on about the ABC ..."
ReplyDeleteRemember the reptile "logic": if I don't ever mention it, then it never actually happened. A policy they've always implemented, and never so much as now.
"And comments are still invited on any topic under the sun". OK DP.
ReplyDeleteYou can't red card what is not reptile reported. And Newport Beach is definitely under the sun.
Missing reptile article headline:
"Prosperity Gospel proof of the Wages of Sin"
Lede:
"Lifestyles of the Blessed & Famous: Preacher Homes Sold in 2023 - Hillsung Edition"
"Marty Hench's narrative adventures are a way into the feeling of living in a corrupt oligarchy.
"There are other ways into that feeling, of course. Take Barry Bowen's "Lifestyles of the Blessed & Famous: Preacher Homes Sold in 2023" for The Roys Report:
https://julieroys.com/lifestyles-blessed-famous-preacher-homes-sold-2023/?mc_cid=9678383b64
"If a picture is worth a thousand words, then carefully staged realtor drone shots ganked from the Redfin listing for a "pastor"'s $3.5m mansion in Newport Beach is a full-on sermon about the corruption of the Hillsong megachurch:"
https://www.redfin.com/CA/Newport-Beach/503-30th-St-92663/home/12363926
Via
https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/09/gallimaufry/#marty-hench-rides-again
Another reptile omission -
Delete"the hidden homosexual,
forever hunting for love among the twenty somethings"
- "It's rather too much to expect me to make up for your omissions!"
...
"You can make this all clear to Biddy when she comes, and she'll make it clear to my mother."
(Thanks and apologies to Henry James)
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/20085/20085-h/20085-h.htm
"The demons that drive Alan Jones"
By Chris Masters
October 21, 2006
"OVER time I thought of Alan Jones as leading seven lives - not one of them his own. Read on and you will meet them all. There is the
-blokey, foul-mouthed ex-football coach;
-the courtly, non-swearing charmer of older women;
- the farmer's (miner's/union official's/teacher's) son;
- the thwarted prime minister;
- the ombudsman of Struggle Street;
- the Oxford orator; and
- the hidden homosexual,
forever hunting for love among the twenty somethings.
"The masking of his homosexuality is a defining feature of the Jones persona. Jones's apparent self-belief that, on the one hand, he is damaged and, on the other hand, special, goes a long way to explaining an unusual personality. It informs consistently curious behaviour, his private self frequently intruding on the public self."
Sadly (now) Moribund Herald
Great stuff anons, and while the pond long ago abandoned what are now the Nine rags, that's got to be worth a link and a few more quotes ...
Deletehttps://www.smh.com.au/national/the-demons-that-drive-alan-jones-20061021-gdone7.html
By 1973 Alan's impassioned support of some and lack of empathy for others became too great an issue to be ignored. There was deepening anxiety about continued late-night excursions to Jones's room. Chris Simkin was often in the room with Alan until late at night. "I was in there for hours. The door was never locked." Simkin says they used to watch The Ernie Sigley Show on television.
Scott Walker, another constant visitor, began to feel violated. "If you had muscle strain he would insist on strapping your legs. He would take you into the shower and tell you to take your clothes off. I was shattered with awkwardness. It was weird and uncomfortable and seemed voyeuristic."
Housemate Brian Porter says: "I never saw a breach of fiduciary duty. I never saw evidence of predatory behaviour. But he was manipulative and voyeuristic. He would love watching athletes on television and film. He saw the beauty of the human form in full flight. He loved the strength, the freshness and the vitality of boys."
Disquiet about Jones's attachment to some boys grew during a term break when one of the masters found a letter, written by Jones to a boy, that had been left behind in a classroom desk. In it Alan spoke of thinking about the boy late at night, expressing his love. While love letters to boys were hardly appropriate, neither were they regarded as smoking gun evidence of misbehaviour.
The innocent explanation was that Jones's letters were Byronesque exhortations of love and inspiration. Jones has spoken of his belief that males should not feel ashamed of expressing love for one another. "You mean so much to me," one boy remembers him saying when Jones drove him home. The English teacher often made a feature of his sensitivity, telling boys he was too affected by human suffering to teach history.
Nevertheless the discovery of the correspondence was one more reason to be shot of Jones. The majority of the housemasters penned a letter of their own. Addressed to headmaster Stanley Kurrle, the letter spoke emphatically of concern about Jones's influence and control over some boys, describing it as "bad, very bad". To these masters Jones had become a baleful presence, to one an Alcibiades, a charismatic and devious peddler of loyalty...
And racing past the toilet episode to the closer ...
The massive contrast between Alan Jones's professed honesty and his actual behaviour does not seem to matter. He was always good at fooling people willing to be fooled. And three to 4 hours of radio a day for all those years become such a blur. The truth is just more ephemera. As long as he keeps talking the inconsistencies are swept along in the sheer volume of verbiage: his editorials and opinions must now number in the tens of thousands.
Alan Jones supports democracy as long as it does what it is told. He wants laws that are strict but can be adjusted like bookmakers' odds. He wants commanding decisions and he wants process and consultation. He wants strong competition as long as it isn't too strong for local competition. He speaks up for the virtues of civilised debate while using words like weedkiller to wilt his opponents.
And, of course, his opinion is not for hire. As long as there is conviction in your voice, you begin to convince yourself. As Alan Jones understood from his days at Toowoomba Grammar, what matters is being someone. What matters is who is talking, not what is said.
"good at fooling people willing to be fooled..." Yeah, well, that describes much the greater percentage of humanity, doesn't it. But how else to explain his apparent ability to attract passionate "followers" and keep most of them year in and year out.
Delete"his opinion is not for hire" No, but it is for sale for a sufficiently sizable amount.
DeleteImagine if Ernie Sigley read this on Jones and did a routine at Blacktown RSL! The crowd would be beying for Jones' "breach(es) of fiduciary duty"!.
DeleteThis paragraph by Chris Masters must surely be one of the greatest in Australia's sordid nooz... evah!
"Jones supports democracy as long as it does what it is told. He wants laws that are strict but can be adjusted like bookmakers' odds. He wants commanding decisions and he wants process and consultation. He wants strong competition as long as it isn't too strong for local competition. He speaks up for the virtues of civilised debate while using words like weedkiller to wilt his opponents."
Boy Oh Boys.
How amnesiac are we.
How complicit.
How corrupt.
We are used and abused by our duplicity, politicians and profiteers. "Sell us some more Jonsee."
Glosophate for "weedkiller"Jonsee's" Toaster chaff bag.
Teh.
I'd pay to exhume Ernie Sigley just for the Black Town Weedkiller Show.
MC? Julliar of course.
I'd pay the exhume Ernis Sigley, give him a scotch or five whilst reading above, then let him rip at the Black Town RSL Weedkiller show.
DeleteWitch MC? Juliar or course!
And Masters'masterful paragraph must surely be one of the greaest ever in Australia's sordid newz rags...
"Jones supports democracy as long as it does what it is told. He wants laws that are strict but can be adjusted like bookmakers' odds. He wants commanding decisions and he wants process and consultation. He wants strong competition as long as it isn't too strong for local competition. He speaks up for the virtues of civilised debate while using words like weedkiller to wilt his opponents."
Teh! Watch out for ankle hi low"breaches of fiduciary duty."
Brought to you by Maquarie W... and hardly normal.
Australia and amnesia. A dangerous mix.
Anti semitism has nothing to do with the present crisis, what people recognise is the cruelty that is being perpetrated on the existing population of Palestinian people their land is being taken over by a foreign invading force propped up by very powerful nation.
ReplyDeleteIs it not the case that both America and England have set this conflict in train and will not back down from this and are the root cause of today's mess. I remember Bill Hartley on many occasions appearing on the ABC argue the injustice of the way Jews were taking over Palestine. But because there was so much guilt ridden memory of the holocaust he was criticised when in fact what he was arguing for was a justice for Palestine.
Neddles: "Retiring 3AW radio veteran Neil Mitchell said: 'Sadly, in my last days on radio, I'm starting to feel I don't understand much about this country." Sadly, Neil, you never did understand much about "this country".
ReplyDeleteNed again: "It [conflict in Gaza] is destroying trust between Israelis and Palestinians, leaving Gaza in ruins..." Yeah, right; just exactly how much "trust between Israelis and Palestinians" did Ned fondly imagine there was ? Exactly how much have the Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel ever really trusted each other ?
Mitchell has got carried with his self importance he is no better than the other right wing clowns that populate the airways.
DeleteI do not know what land these commentators come from but they certainly haven't got the history of how the Jews were given rights to take over Palestine by an occupying power in England.
ReplyDeleteThere's Ned and co., and there is the real world: "Israel’s failed bombing campaign in Gaza" https://insidestory.org.au/israels-failed-bombing-campaign-in-gaza/
Joe Thank you for that reference a most interesting.
Delete"Although Israeli leaders claim to be targeting Hamas alone" - that might be remotely so if every Gazan - including the women and children - were all committed Hamas "terrorists", but of course that's not even remotely true.
Delete"Israel is hardly the first country to err by placing excessive faith in the coercive magic of airpower." Yair, just ask the Germans about the success of the 'Blitz' which started in September 1940, and then ask the 'Allies' about the success of the 1000-bomber raids later in WWII.
And here's just a little bit of the magic of media:
DeleteIsraelis aren't seeing the devastating pictures Australians see from the war in Gaza. They're watching a sanitised war
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-10/israel-gaza-media-watching-a-sanitised-war/103206528
For all those who remember laughing at Bjornagain Lomberg's "finance research into new technologies" as a "solution" to global warming, you might find this of some interest:
ReplyDelete‘Magical’ tech innovations a distraction from real solutions, climate experts warn
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/10/climate-experts-warn-against-focus-technological-solutions-cop28