The (spoiled) children have the wheel
March 5 2007
When I first arrived here in 1971 there were a number of things
that just stood out and smacked me in the face.
The wide sweep of Sydney's beautiful harbour; the rudeness of
the Customs' officials (who confiscated my James Joyce book because they were
pretty sure he had written something that was banned); the jostle of many-nationed
faces in Circular Quay - and the lack of flags.
I'd had enough of flags and pledging of allegiance and bumper
stickers (America, love it or leave it).
It was refreshing to see a city so unapologetically flagless.
And meet a people so candidly cynical. And turn on the radio without an endless
flow of anger-fuelled shock-jock stupidity.
No moral majority. No Christian conservatives insinuating their
way into politics. None of the adolescent celebrity chasing I was so used to.
No real problems to speak of.
I dated a Liberal chap who took me to see John Howard speak.
Howard
was a little man with a funny voice who was treated courteously because he'd
flopped so badly, so often. That's how good those days were.
Now - many years later, the harbour remains, the customs
officials have probably retired and moved to Noosa, the flags make an
occasional, embarrassing appearance at riots and the airwaves are (still)
relatively free of the bordering-on-psychotic-anger that drives much of the US
media.
I can get riled by Andrew Bolt's blind rambling dopiness, take
offence at Howard's stenographer-in-chief Greg Sheridan and even raise a 'hmpph!'
at the bitch-slap journalism of Janet
Albrechsten - but these people are amateurs.
Benign, rank beginners in comparison Murdoch's best and brightest in the
States.
Because I am convinced we'll see her dragged away kicking and
screaming to the nut-house any day, I'll start with right-wing pin-up
screecher, Ann Coulter.
Oh my oh my, where to start with Ms Coulter?
"If we're so cruel to minorities, why do they keep coming
here? Why aren't they sneaking across the Mexican border to make their way to
the Taliban?"
"My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to
the New York Times Building."
"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to
Christianity. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians.
That's war. And this is war."
"Liberals hate America, they hate
"flag-wavers" they hate abortion opponents, they hate all religions
except Islam (post 9/11). Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like
liberals do. They don't have the energy. If they had that much energy, they'd
have indoor plumbing by now."
(please note that 'liberals' in the US are actually what we'd call Labour - or
perhaps Democrats)
Enough. Enough. This week she called presidential hopeful John
Edwards a faggot. The conservative audience gave her a standing ovation. Come
to think of it, she's called Bill Clinton and John Kerry fags as well so,
perhaps, as someone said 'her gaydar's on the fitz or she simply can't think
of any other really really bad names."
She reminds me of that half bullying, half-crybaby sort you
probably came across in school - you know the one. She stands in the playground
shrieking at the top of her voice 'You're dirty sticky iky poo!"
Best left behind closed doors...
Next we have a pair of truly bizarre on-air personalities who
have, in their own way, reshaped anger mismanagement on air.
Bill O'Reilly -
"I just wish Katrina had only hit the United Nations
building, nothing else, just had flooded them out, and I wouldn't have rescued
them." on his show, Sept 14 2005
"You know what’s really frightening? You actually have
an influence on this presidential election. That is scary, but it’s true.
You’ve got stoned slackers watching your dopey show every night and they can
vote." to "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart, Sept. 22, 2004
I've been to Africa three times. All right?
You can't bring Western reasoning into the culture. The same way you can't
bring it into fundamental Islam."
And my favorite:
"Why, if children suffer no psychosocial deficit from
being raised by same-sex parents, wouldn't nature then make it that anybody
could get pregnant by eating a cupcake?"
Why indeed Mr
Falafel man?
However, even the man who mistakes a loofa for a falafel can't
hold a candle to the overweight and decidedly creepy
Rush Limbaugh
"I mean, why didn't these morons leave New Orleans before the hurricane?
I'll tell you why: because they wanted to rape and loot! That's just the way
some people are! And if they're black--if the rapists and looters are
black--it's not George Bush's fault! We've had these problems ever since the
Emancipation Proclamation. Once the whites leave town, all you've got is
overwhelming lawlessness. That's not racism, Mr. Snerdley; it's a proven,
demonstrable fact. Have you even seen a ghetto in Greenwich, Connecticut? I
rest my case." [12 September 2005]
And on Abu Ghraib:
"This is no different than what happens at the Skull
and Bones initiation, and we're going to ruin people's lives over it, and
we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really
hammer them because they had a good time.... I'm talking about people [abusive
US soldiers] having a good time. You ever heard of emotional release? You
heard of the need to blow some steam off?" [3 May 2004]
And then there was his breathtaking
attack on Michael J. Fox.
I honestly don't think there's much more to be said.
Except - these guys make John Laws and Jonesy sound real friendly.
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