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Post by angra on Sept 30, 2012 11:45:31 GMT 10
The Tele's behaving half-decently and getting stuck into Alan Jones and the young libs over the Gillard comments. www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/jones-says-gillards-dad-died-of-shame/story-e6freuy9-1226484128451But methinks these are crocodile tears, considering the Tele's history of publishing vitriol and abuse about Gillard's government. On a par with the UK Sun expressing contempt for the publication of nude pics of royals, when they did the very same themselves a few weeks earlier. Ahh - the Murdoch righteousness!
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Sept 30, 2012 12:05:53 GMT 10
Yeah, the outrage does seem a big conspicuous. Why only now? Is this really any different to the sort of stuff he says about Little People? (I do have to ask, because I'm not a regular listener - my recollection from many years ago is that he did get stuck in to people in an unhinged fashion, and he didn't seem to mind being personal)
All that happened this time is that he said things about the PM's family, and he did it in a context that embarrasses the opposition. So they all have to line up and, on the count of three, condemn condemn condemn. It needs to be measured, though - nobody wants to tick off the king of AM radio.
It's nice to imagine that this is a shark-jumping moment, but I doubt it. He'll do the contrition routine and it'll be forgotten in a week. One week of appropriate finger-wagging, and it won't be mentioned by anyone senior in either party ever again.
He might have to drop the hessian sack routine, though.
I was listening to the latest "Science Talk" and they were having a chat about the appalling ignorance of basic science on display on Fox. A bit of a chuckle.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Sept 30, 2012 12:06:26 GMT 10
Sorry - "chaff bag" routine.
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Post by angra on Sept 30, 2012 12:12:05 GMT 10
And remember - this is from a man who was arrested for an act of indecency in a public toilet in London - most evidence of this seems to have been conveniently erased from the internets. But it's still there if you search.
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Post by angra on Sept 30, 2012 12:48:33 GMT 10
MoC - spot on. The apology has been made. Wait a few days and it will be back to business as usual.
I don't understand why anyone listens to AM talk-back radio. I can't even find it on my dial. How come Jones seems to have so much power and influence?
I had the misfortune of hearing him speak at a Rugby fund-raiser some years ago. I didn't know who he was at the time, but after a few minutes I sussed.
I've never heard such a boring, self-aggrandising, egotistic and basically ignorant speech in all my life. I had to walk outside for a breath of fresh air.
And he went on for 60 minutes! talking basically about how he knew everything and anyone who didn't take his advice was a loser or a communist. And this was about Rugby!
God give peace to his ex-students from Kings.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Sept 30, 2012 13:00:47 GMT 10
Hmm. It's mentioned on a couple of wiki pages. In fairness, the charges were all dropped. Think what you will about that ... but don't post it ;-)
An aside:
I used to commute on a bicycle, at all hours of the day and night, past a certain public loo in the adelaide parklands. The social attraction of the place was ... somewhat bleeding obvious. Most weeknights, (mostly) expensive cars could be found conspicuously parked beside it. The odds of them being there for any other purpose were as remote at the spot was from anything nearby that would have been of any interest at that time of night. I used to just chuckle about it - I was pretty fit, I tended to ride my MTB pretty quickly and it wasn't a particularly threatening scenario.
Years later I took a walk on hong kong island, quite late at night before flying home the next morning from a work trip. I took the famous cable car from Central up to the observation deck and headed off. It's pretty well populated up there, and I just followed the road up. I walked for about 40-50 minutes, things started to get a bit more sparse, the buildings all had high walls, and I came across a playground. It had a toilet block ... and there was a conspicuous row of expensive cars parked outside. I shook my head and decided that it was time to head back :-)
I don't get it, myself.
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Post by angra on Sept 30, 2012 13:16:57 GMT 10
MoC - acknowledged. But there is some background to the charges against Jones being dropped, involving some high-level influence from the High Commission and important media interests. An ordinary Joe wouldn't have been so lucky.
The UK laws at the time were pretty archaic. Whatever you do - don't frighten the horses! Oscar Wilde was similarly caught.
But I find it interesting that most references to the Jones case on web sites from the time have disappeared. Surely there can't have been any censorship?
Someone who sets himself up as an authority in judging others should be careful of what's in the closet. It might come back to bite you. That's my point.
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jreidy
Junior Member
Posts: 60
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Post by jreidy on Sept 30, 2012 14:49:05 GMT 10
I heard part of Jones' apology press conference today, and I think I can see how the right will spin it, they will condemn the comments (of course) but then say he was man enough to admit it was wrong and apologize. Apparently there is a recording of the speech so the coverage can progress onto if it was on or off 'the record'. This should tidy up things nicely.
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dag
New Member
Posts: 1
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Post by dag on Sept 30, 2012 23:57:17 GMT 10
Search Youtube for Chopper V's Alan Jones.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Sept 30, 2012 23:57:57 GMT 10
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Oct 1, 2012 9:58:14 GMT 10
Massive overreach. Wrong and stupid. www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-01/roxon-calls-for-jones-employment-to-be-reconsidered/4288740Attorney-General Nicola Roxon says Jones has gone too far and his employer should be looking at his pattern of behaviour.
"I would have thought the broadcasters would be considering whether such a pattern of behaviour is sensible any longer," Ms Roxon said.
"Of course (his employment) should be considered. It's not the first time Mr Jones has made inappropriate comments." If you're going to go after somebody's livelihood[1] you need to have a better reason than "he said something I didn't like". Well done, guys. You've taken an overpaid, nasty old chauvinist and turned him into a victim. I had given this a week, but I think he'll be a useful victim by wednesday, and there will be demands for the government to apologise (not from him, obviously - this scam needs several players). [1] The gubbmint doesn't actually have the power to do anything to jones, but that's beside the point. The sentiment was wrong, and the appearance is all his backers need to create the story.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Oct 1, 2012 11:04:13 GMT 10
I give this a fortnight. www.facebook.com/SackAlanJonesHeading toward 15,000 "signatures", and another here with nearly 8000: www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/all-companies-which-advertise-on-2gb-get-alan-jones-to-apologise-make-a-contribution-to-gender-equalityA quiet wager: Not one of those people listens to alan jones. And they're unlikely to _really_ change their shopping habits for longer than, let's say, next weekend. Sponsors actually pulling their ads is interesting. I guess they score some creds for doing the right thing (marketing is supposed to help the company, not hurt), but let's see how many head back in a month (that's not meant to be threatening - I'm just curious) If people really did care about the country being made stupider by angry bozos polluting the airwaves with Wrong, these guys wouldn't be on the air at all. The underlying market for angry and stupid goes a lot deeper, and it's more long-term.
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Post by angra on Oct 1, 2012 14:08:42 GMT 10
Blot's bitching about Fairfax using silly-looking pictures of Jones. Of course this is all part of a socialist hate media campaign against righty nut-jobs.
Not that News Limited have ever been guilty of that sort of thing against their pet hates.
Next we'll have another list of 'left' and 'right' comments from the ABC.
Anyway, I defy anyone to find a 'normal' looking picture of Jones.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Oct 2, 2012 9:04:46 GMT 10
I was wrong about jones being a victim by wednesday. He's managed it by tuesday.
An observation from this weekend's bozo-storm: The federal liberal party is much, much better at keeping its hands clean while participating in a character assassination. During the whole gillard smear campaign, all the parliamentary libs had to say was the highly-defensible "she has questions to answer", and the occasional response to a leading question. They were able to acknowledge the attack and tacitly approve of it without ever actually having to participate. Was it coordinated? Oh, I suppose it's possible that it wasn't. It's also possible that there's a teapot halfway between earth and the moon.
The ALP botched it on the weekend by doing what the libs are very careful not to do themselves - they actually went on the attack. Abbott wouldn't have done that. He would have left it to the tele and the australian, and he would have had a few measured statements on cards for when the obvious questions are asked. Now jones can claim that it's all a federal government plot against him. Oddly enough, in this instance I don't think it is. I don't think punch-gate was either. I think the ALP should have stayed right out of it and left to the genuine grass-roots response.
Right now, I think the federal liberal party is much better at smearing and character assassination. They've got it down to a refined process. Ok, it helps that they've got that 70% advantage, and backers with the front to appear all hurt and shocked when they're called out.
What I wonder, though, is how anyone can find that this media-political character-assassination alliance represents anything "conservative". The last 5 years have seen a stream of unhinged personal attacks against individuals (politicians and otherwise - the personal attacks on flannery and climate scientists have been astonishing), wrapped in a "it's all about the policies" routine. We've seen media personalities effectively wagging the political dog, and there isn't a principle to be seen in any direction. Why would an actual conservative see anything appealing in that?
It's also interesting to see our alleged tradition of "free speech" being twisted to mean that there should not ever be consequences for saying things. At least ... not for those on one side of politics, the "defenders" of free speech (defamation suits don't count). It's just peachy for fairfax and ABC employees to get the sack for tweeting something stupid, but it's just unacceptable for a light of redneck radio to face any sanctions at all for joking about the death of elected political leaders or sticking the knife in when a family member dies.
And yes, I also think bob ellis' comments were every bit as obnoxious.
Ok - off to work.
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Post by angra on Oct 2, 2012 10:20:42 GMT 10
MoC - from the completely unrepresentative group of my friends and family (some of whom listen to Jones and think Bolt is a clear-minded intellectual), most people are just pissed off with the whole business, and condemn pollies of all persuasions as bull-shit artists who aren't to be trusted.
Good ole Ozzie cynicism - which may just be the saving of us all.
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