The pond is mad as hell and isn't going to take it anymore.
There was Charlie Lewis in Crikey (paywall), purporting to offer a definitive analysis, an anatomy of an heroic culture war ...
Sure, Captain Spud was a fearless leader and deserved his place at the top. But where were the lizards of Oz, where were the reptiles? Hadn't they played a part in the trenches? If this was going to be an anatomy lesson, w hat about the brains of the outfit?
Instead, there was Charlie, up to January 10 and not a single mention of the lizard Oz. Next up came the Terror invoking the woke word and so admittedly well worthy of a place...
But no mention of the lizards of Oz ...
Then Charlie mentions Chris Minns calling the move odd, and alleged indigenous advocate Warren Mundine saying its disgraceful and they can pack up and bugger off and Captain Spud posting on Facebook about peddling woke agendas and trying to cancel Australia Day, while turning up on 2GB to call for his boycott and suggesting that like Qantas they're pandering to the PM ...
Next Jacinta Nampijinga Price turns up on 3AW and backbencher Henry Pike joins the crusade and on 12th January Aldi joins in, sending Barners off to Sky News endorsing the call for a boycott.
And thus far there has not been a single mention of the heroic, assiduous work of the reptiles in helping the cause. Not one. They've been excluded, erased, cancelled, sent to the Crikey cornfield.
Despite the reptiles doing the hard yards, Charlie has shunned them worse than the Amish on a bad buggy day.
The rest was a litany of exclusion. Tony Barry in the AFR, the News Corp Newswire doing a vox pop, and on January 14th the Terror and the Currish Snail talking of a crisis ...
What's that got to do with being able to buy cheap trinkets?
Next came a bit of vandalism on 15th January, and idle talk of how January 13-17th certain politicians had been paying for ads on Facebook promoting the crusade. Dan the man Tehan gets an honourable mention for helping with the dirty work and Andrew "the pastie" Hastie also talks of leets and unelected bureaucrats and corporate leets, and still not a mention of the lizards of Oz.
Not a single one, as if they're totally irrelevant when it comes to a record of a vital national debate!
Instead all the credit goes to a potato relaxing in a garden chair ...
The shame of it, and today the pond anxiously scanned the top of the digital edition to see if there was a mention of the crusade ...
Not a single one? Was the crusade over? Had the reptiles decided to pack their bags and bugger off? Time was a wasting, there was still seven days to go before Oz day would be over and attention would have to shift to the campaign to cancel Ēostre. Quick, run, Sammy and reptiles, run ...
Meanwhile, there was just Lloydie of the Amazon, reporting on a science scandal, and knowing who was just right for a quote ... the Riddster of the IPA ...
Physicist and former James Cook University professor Peter Ridd said the judgment was further evidence that there was a “big problem” in the institutions of science. He said there had “never been a better example of how science had been corrupted”.
Strange, no mention of the IPA there ... and yet ... dammit, he's an adjunct fellow doing vital work for Gina ...
While on the matter of climate, a little further down in the business section, Eric Johnston caught up with Suncorp ...
But what caught Suncorp’s Steve Johnston off-guard were all the signs were pointing to this year being hotter and dryer as an El Nino weather pattern started taking hold of Australia’s east coast.
Johnston was speaking to The Australian as he returned to Brisbane after attending an insurance roundtable in Cairns this week. The event was hosted by assistant treasurer Stephen Jones and included locals and emergency services to help co-ordinate the response to recent cyclones and flooding which hit the region and beyond over Christmas.
The Suncorp boss says both official forecasts and the insurers own numbers had expected the El Nino conditions to deliver a materially drier start to the summer season. This hasn’t been the case, with flooding and storm events right up and down the east coast over the past six weeks.
“It’s unusual to have a cyclone so early in the season. It’s not unprecedented — but this is an El Nino system that is behaving like a (wetter) La Nina in the past two months,” he says.
While damages are likely to run into the tens of millions of dollars, with more than 40,000 claims lodged across the industry from three states since Christmas, the most recent storm events are classified as mid-sized events in insurance measurements.
So this means they are unlikely to impact important reinsurance pricing alone. But they will certainly add to the compounding risks over the longer term, given the higher frequency of severe weather events.
“It’s becoming more complex and more challenging,” he says. “To the extent that you do or don’t believe in climate change, the reality of it is that events are becoming more frequent. And when they do happen, they seem to be becoming more severe”.
Thank the long absent lord it still remains a matter of faith and belief.
None of that blather about the scientific method and the science, it's a matter of whether you're a believer or not, and thanks to the reptiles of Oz, the pond knows that climate science is just a religion, or worse a cult, full of false gods and idle heresies ... and yet for some reason, the pond believes that insurance prices are likely to rise. Such is the power of belief ...
Meanwhile, down in the comments section ...
Our Henry perched at the top of the digital edition in the much prized and desired far right slot, and given another mention down below?
There was nothing for it but to give the punters what they expect on a Friday ... you know, Stalinists and commie plots and such like ...
Carry on lizard Oz editorialist ... remember, in Gaza, we have come to conquer, there are no people who are uninvolved ... think of it as a game of soccer and never mind the body count, vastly enhanced since then as the ethnic cleansing, the collective punishment and displacement, the genocide goes on, and the acquisition by way of murder of the West Bank continues with increasing pace ... and as for that bleating about solutions?
Now there's a man and a cause the reptiles can get behind ...
And now to refresh the palate, and give it a good cleansing, why not end with a moan from cackling Claire...
And get ready for a dose of AI, because you're all gunna be made slaves to the machine, perhaps in a post office in the UK ...
Yes, it was all just so the pond could end with a flurry of cartoons. Harden up vulgar youff, that's the way it goes ...
The Hole in the Bucket Man may well have set a new Personal Best in patronising lecturing today. Not only is he talking down to the reader, but to whole nations and international courts. Perhaps he could next advise the British Government, which is currently desperately attempting to ignore the impact of the European human rights treaty so they can deport refugees to Rwanda? I’m sure that a few words from Our Henry would convince all parties that the whole treaty is null and void.
ReplyDeleteAh yes Rwanda. I have been following it and concluded that it is a script for a comedy series - given an airing to gauge public reaction; a Brexit production. You have to admit, it is fantastic. I think this [link below] is another Brexit production script being aired - again fantastic entertainment. AG.
Deletehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/18/eu-citizens-entry-britain-spain-europeans-uk-border
If we go with a definition - set out by the United Nations, so immediately suspect, but let that pass - that genocide is the ‘denial of the right of existence of entire human groups’, can we expect the Henry’s careful consideration of what has happened to indigenous inhabitants of the country subsequently called ‘Australia’?
DeleteAlmost everything done by whitefellas in this country - including some things that were, within a larger context, well intentioned - denied the right of existence of the indigenous people who were here on the 17th January 1788.
That included - steady denial of rights to continue to live on the land in ways of their choosing, to maintain their identity. If there is some doubt about allegations of deliberate introduction of disease to those people, it is true that they have never received group and individual health care of quality equivalent to what white fellas have had at various times over 236 years.
In later time, the official doctrine was that their ‘group’ was not to continue to exist as it had - it was to be integrated into the dominant culture that developed from January 26 1788. We are still in that phase of ‘denial of the right to exist’, as when a former Prime Minister - born in England - called separate existence in largely separate settlements a ‘lifestyle choice’ - but a choice that should be removed, because - it did not suit the economic structures that had been imposed from England.
Among the measures identified as ‘genocide’ in various investigations since Lemkin made the word familiar, removing children from their culture, clan and or parents, appears frequently. The apologists - easily identified for their appearances on the ‘Limited News’/Quadrant/Spectator/ADH axis - do not deny that children were removed, frequently, in this country - but they always assert that it was done ‘for their own good’. The Henry has not shown a let-out in the UN definitions that covers that rationalisation.
There is so much evidence of other official action - often in statutes - working to deny the right of this group to exist. In several states the life of indigenous you could be declared to be subject to a ‘protector’ appointed by the government. In Queensland, the practical effect of that was that you would work for minimal net pay, with no prospect of being able to buy back any of the land that your forbears had been legislated off, or of being able to give your children benefits that might have improved their own prospects in life.
The very process of establishing a family was subject to rulings on who you could not marry, no matter how strong your feeling for that person.
The Axis I referred to above includes ‘Quadrant’. Of recent time an increasing proportion of what it publishes (until recently, funded in part by a government) had been denial of much of the known history and culture of the indigenous inhabitants. I have pointed out the sweeping generalisations of several of these writers which fail, not just because of my own observed experience, but because of the simple observation to anyone that - if they were so uncaring of the sources of their food - they would not have maintained a continuous existence for - can we agree on 40 000+ years?
Again, in actual accusations of genocide, the deliberate denial of the history and culture of the human group whose existence is threatened, is a frequent accompaniment to the more direct interventions in their lives. It is intended to reduce empathy amongst any of the dominant group, and to remove cultural justification for the preservation of the threatened group. It is the equivalent of the writings now being quoted in the public exchanges (hardly debates) in which Arabs denigrated Jews as vermin, and Jews were every bit as inventive as Arabs, in demeaning literature.
But I am sure we can look to the Henry to explain away any stain of potential genocide in Australia.
In your usual form Chadders ...the pond has grown lazy, leaving it to those in the comments section to do the hard yards ... and should the pond hold a competition for most patronising reptile du jour?
DeleteBut how would one choose between them, DP ? They all appear to be so much alike - with the possible exception of The Bolter, but then he's not a certified 'reptile' is he.
DeleteYes Claire, young kids shouldn’t be made to feel guilty- at least about trivialities like the dispossession of Indigenous folk. After all, my generation was taught at school that Aborigines were basically a dying race, so why mention them at all? Instead kiddies should be made to feel guilty at school about more important things, like not being able to rattle off the Ten Commandments, flubbing their times tables, colouring outside the lines and forgetting the main agricultural products of each State. With any error accompanied by a rap across the knuckles with a ruler, of course. It was good enough for us - toughen up, modern young wimps!
ReplyDeleteGuilty about not being able to rattle off the 10 Commandments ? Hmm, now I attended a number of government schools in Victoria without ever being guiltified about whether or not I could rattle off the Commandments; so in what schools would that happen ?
DeleteAll part of the joys of a Catholic primary school education, GB; those nuns were a tough and stern lot! Though looking back, I feel some sentiment regarding some of them…. No nostalgia for the whacks with the ruler or the feather duster, though!
DeleteWhat?!? A rare sighting of Lloydie of the Amazon and it’s not highlighted on the digital front page? Whatever are the Reptiles playing at?
ReplyDeleteAt being Ridd of Lloydie ?
DeleteCould not follow what Ergas was on about. To begin, he says there’s a distinction between war crimes and genocide. Well, yes, but is he saying Israel has committed war crimes or not? Given Stalin went after anyone who he viewed as a threat to his power the most relevant aspect appears to be that he was a Leftie, especially as Stalin did not achieve changing the convention and I guess it takes the focus of the fact that it was a right-wing political party in the form of the Nazis which carried out the Holocaust.
ReplyDeleteErgas provides zero evidence that the convention’s definition was changed. Just because Lemkin was the first to coin the term genocide does not mean he was the only one who could be right about anything to do with the term or the convention; surely it is better to put the life of nations in the objective basis of law than to leave it in the hands of politicians like, say, Stalin? Given that the South African case is about the Palestinians being the intended victims, then should the case fail it seems Stalin might get his way after all, not against Israel, but Palestine.
Using the events of World War II and especially the Holocaust to argue Israel to do what it likes to defend itself and to conduct a war in any manner is actually defiling the memory and courage of all those who died during the Holocaust atrocities.
So while there is no evidence the aid is being misdirected to Hamas for terrorist purposes, The Australian’s editor thinks a left-wing Australian government should limit any humanitarian aid to Gaza, but does the Ed think any medical aid for the hostages might be used by their Hamas captors rather than given to the hostages and that aid should therefore be limited?
Talking about 'war crimes' versus 'genocide' it is worth remembering that jews weren't the only inhabitants of German death camps, there were lots of Russians and Romanis as well. Was 'the siege of Leningrad', for instance, a war crime, an act of genocide, or just a bit of normal war conduct ?
Delete"In June 1941, Germany and its allies invaded the Soviet Union and carried out a war of extermination with complete disregard for the laws and customs of war. "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_atrocities_committed_against_Soviet_prisoners_of_war
How would we know?
ReplyDeleteDot would be locked up on day 1.
Limited News doesn't mention the elephant - of Israel catching up to China.
"Israel now ranks among the world’s leading jailers of journalists. We don’t know why they’re behind bars"
https://theconversation.com/israel-now-ranks-among-the-worlds-leading-jailers-of-journalists-we-dont-know-why-theyre-behind-bars-221411
The pond takes that as a compliment. Not just Israel, likely Florida, Texas, Queensland (joke, joke, only if Captain Spud got hold of the pond), not to mention any of the fundamentalist theocrat states, not limited to Israel, but also Iran, India, Pakistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc, and also of course all the authoritarian dictatorships, including but not limited to the sociopathic Vlad the impaler and dictator Xi ... and so on and so forth ...
DeleteBTW, that's a very interesting link ...
China’s top spot is hardly surprising. It has been there – or close to it – for some years. Censorship makes it extremely difficult to make an accurate assessment of the numbers behind bars, but since the crackdown on pro-democracy activists in 2021, journalists from Hong Kong have, for the first time, found themselves locked up. And almost half of China’s total are Uyghurs from Xinjiang, where Beijing has been accused of human rights abuses in its ongoing repression of the region’s mostly Muslim ethnic minorities.
The rest of the top four are also familiar, but the two biggest movements are unexpected.
Iran had been the 2022 gold medallist with 62 journalists imprisoned. In the latest census, it dropped to sixth place with just 17. And Israel, which previously had only one behind bars, has climbed to share that place.
That is positive news for Iranian journalists, but awkward for Israel, which repeatedly argues it is the only democracy in the Middle East and the only one that respects media freedom. It also routinely points to Iran for its long-running assault on critics of the regime.
The journalists Israel had detained were all from the occupied West Bank, all Palestinian, and all arrested after Hamas’s horrific attacks from Gaza on October 7. But we know very little about why they were detained. The journalists’ relatives told the committee that most are under what Israel describes as “administrative detention”.
Claire Lehmann doesn’t want children to learn that they could have an influence in politics. No, leave political power to the political activists at The Australian, who will set even adult voters right about issues such as the Stolen Generation, climate change, Western culture and even the meaning of Australia Day. Let the kids learn who has the power – not them, that’s for sure. As for accepting the things we cannot change, we can rest assured that we will never change reptiles.
ReplyDeleteYoung people concerned about right and wrong, good and bad - perhaps it's the best time to talk about it. Clare et al are worried about Greta Syndrome.
DeleteSuch a shame, much better in a Catholic school where they can learn about guilt and shame and occasionally fear and loathing of molestation, and discover the notion of impure thoughts, and such like and be haunted for the rest of their lives ...
DeleteHenry seems to be arguing that because Hamas attacked Israeli citizens - I won’t say unprovoked because Israel’s ongoing treatment of Palestinians is definitely provocative (Israel would not tolerate such reciprocal treatment) - then Israel has a right to defend itself by attacking / subduing Hamas. Well ok - but that does not translate into Israel’s attack on Palestinians; military operations and blockades of water, power, food, medical treatment and even just somewhere to stand, looks genocidal to me, using the UN definition. There appears to be no attempt by Israel to foster democracy or rule of law among Palestinians, thereby providing an alternative to rule by Hamas. In fact it is well reported that Bibi saw the ongoing threat of terrorism by Hamas as an ideal justification for his support of policies of aggression against Palestinians, hence the illegal occupations of the west bank - hence more ongoing provocation.
ReplyDeleteAs Henry is so keen on history, the ‘west’, of which Henry is so proud, realised that after WW2 it must reconstruct and restore lawful society in Germany, as well as going after the Nazis who had led the Germans down the path of genocide. Going after the Nazis was no easy task and has taken many years, because you are going after terrorists. Israel, Netanyahu and Henry should realise this - going after Hamas will be slow and difficult, but there is no justification for going after all Palestinians. As with Germany prosecuting Nazis, a restored Palestinian society may well assist the hunting down of the Hamas terrorists. There are definitely signs over the past years of some neighbouring Arab states considering ways of accommodating the State of Israel which is a big step forward from 1948; it seems that the biggest obstacle to progressing this is Netanyahu and his political supporters.
I know that we are all wasting our time - the lizards have their orders and are not listening, never listening - still there has to be a debate, a reasoned counter-argument - or we may all end up with Trump, the Conservatives and a Liberal-National Coalition (again) - and we all know how well that has turned out. So thanks DP for highlighting the inanity and negativity of Australia’s largest media organisation. AG.
It's never a waste of time AG, we must keep raging at the reptiles and the dying of the light ...
DeleteTalking about 'reconstructing' Germany, we should do more to publicise our own contribution (along with Canada etc.):
DeleteAustralia is still reckoning with a shameful legacy: the resettlement of suspected war criminals after WWII
https://theconversation.com/australia-is-still-reckoning-with-a-shameful-legacy-the-resettlement-of-suspected-war-criminals-after-wwii-217378
Lesson(s) (un)learn'd: righteous Starmer-Sunak anti-antisemite neolibs/neocons, doubleplusgood; leftie-Labo(u)r/pro-human(itarian)s uberbad.
ReplyDelete