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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Oct 2, 2012 19:21:25 GMT 10
Andrew bolt asks the entirely sensible ... Call this a war?While we’re in a civil war about what one broadcaster told some university students over dinner, a more trivial dispute is occupying an autistic giant revelling in its new strength:FOUR Chinese government ships are in territorial waters around disputed islands in the East China Sea, the Japanese coastguard says.
The four maritime surveillance ships entered the waters shortly after 12:30pm (1330 AEST) today, the coastguard said, adding that it was telling the ships to leave the area. True, conflict between China and Japan are small beer compared to what Alan Jones said about Julia Gillard.... Um .... nobody is calling "this" a war. I've had a quick look and I can't find even one instance of the word "war" being applied to the crazy-uncle food fight. Other terms not being used include "grand prix", "cyclone" and "pictionary" I'm not sure how to explain why bolta's asking a rhetorical question about a claim that hasn't actually been made. Maybe he just couldn't think of anything better? But as for china v japan arguing over the senkaku islands ... yeah, interesting times. Two nationalistic countries fighting over something neither one is really all THAT fussed about. But, just now, that's not a "war" either. I do know one thing, though. I'm sure glad we have a PM who hasn't taken sides ... against china.
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Post by twobob on Oct 3, 2012 10:54:13 GMT 10
I've read these posts with amusement. The simple fact that advertisers are distancing themselves from jones and that jones is also copping some heat for his part in inciting the cronulla riots means that gloriana is feeling pretty uncomfortable at the moment. That in itself is uplifting. Longer term the fleabag will lose a lot of credibility because of this. His ability to sway anyone not already rusted on is gone and apart from preaching to the converted so will be his appeal as a speaker. The controversy surrounding him will make him a pariah and longer term the outrageous comments that he has made will be all that remains of him. In short over time this man will be remembered as a particularly unpleasant member of humanity, and that makes my day.
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Post by angra on Oct 3, 2012 20:09:35 GMT 10
Did you know that 2GB - home to such luminaries as Jones, Hadley, Price and Bolt, was founded by Theosophical Broadcasting Station Pty Ltd, owned by interests associated with the local branch of Theosophical Society Adyar?
Well known for woo woo and outrageous religious beliefs (Madame Blavatsky produced spiritual ectoplasm from silk sheets, and just check out Annie Besant's tricks).
"Blavatsky portrayed the Theosophical Society as being part of one of many attempts throughout the millennia by a hidden Hierarchy to guide humanity – in concert with the overall Intelligent Cosmic Evolutionary scheme – towards its ultimate, immutable evolutionary objective: the attainment of perfection and the conscious, willing participation in the evolutionary process. These attempts require an earthly infrastructure (such as the Theosophical Society) which she held was ultimately under the inspiration of a number of Mahatmas, members of the Hierarchy."
So are Jones, Hadley, Price and Bolt etc. Mahatmas?
Be afraid.
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Post by angra on Oct 7, 2012 2:32:53 GMT 10
The poor little multi-millionare - the battler from struggle street - loses his $250,000 Mercedes.
What a pathetic joke.
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Post by tewiremu on Oct 7, 2012 18:16:13 GMT 10
Poor poor Alan.Maquarie's Russell Tate introduces so many fake Jones justifications it becomes dizzying to read. Mr Tate said the threats to boycott Jones show were coming "almost entirely from people who do not listen to Alan Jones or 2GB at all – probably never have done and never will."
So what? Does this mean that no-one outside the broadcast range of 2GB is allowed to be outraged? That only Jones' spittle-flecked baldy old demographic gets to vote on his behaviour? They did not have the right to "decide for our listeners who and what they are going to hear on the radio station they choose to listen to, and on the other hand decide for Australian-based companies which media outlets they will or won't use to advertise."
How very clever: it's all our fault after all. No, we don't decide for listeners or advertisers: we exercise our choice as consumers to boycott those companies that choose to advertise with Jones/2GB. It is up to those firms to do the maths and work out if they stand to lose or gain by advertising/not advertising. I love it when the Free Market turns round and bites the Conservatives on their pudgy arses. "What we are seeing here is 21st century censorship, via cyber-bullying
Rubbish. No company has a right to demand people spend money with them. If the customer has a reason for withholding patronage, the company can act on it or ignore it. This is just a stupid right-wing cliche, a popular one in the Boltiverse too. The decision obviously comes at a very significant short-term cost to MRN. It is an insignificant price to pay for our audience to be able to listen to what they choose to listen to, and for Australian companies to advertise where they choose to advertise.
"We're being gagged, I tells ya! Prevented from nasty, misogynist bullying insult that our listeners love!" My heart bleeds for you.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Oct 7, 2012 19:04:08 GMT 10
Mr Tate said the threats to boycott Jones show were coming "almost entirely from people who do not listen to Alan Jones or 2GB at all – probably never have done and never will."
I think he's probably right. And that should be some comfort to the board of the station, because it means that this will blow over sooner rather than later. I'm surprised that it hasn't dissipated already, actually.
But it would seem that the "threats"(?!? have there actually been any actual threats?) are coming from people who might buy products and services from the people who make 2GB profitable. That's a different fettle of kish. And it is ever so slightly possible that some of those advertisers genuinely did think the comments were outrageous and didn't want to be associated with jones any more.
They did not have the right to "decide for our listeners who and what they are going to hear on the radio station they choose to listen to, and on the other hand decide for Australian-based companies which media outlets they will or won't use to advertise."
Has the level of advertising actually dropped low enough yet that this has become a question of whether 2GB can afford to keep running? If not, then nobody's deciding "what they are going to hear".
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Oct 8, 2012 10:50:55 GMT 10
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Oct 8, 2012 13:38:03 GMT 10
You gotta be kiddingHow despicable is Mercedes-Benz?
Days before Alan Jones made his nasty crack at the Prime Minister's father, Mercedes-Benz decided to cancel its advertising contract with Jones' station:Mumbrella has learned that the Mercedes Benz Sydney dealer group gave a month's notice of ending their advertising arrangement, as per the terms of its contract with 2GB on September 19 - three days before Jones made his offensive comments Jones on 2GB this morning said Mercedes-Benz actually made that decision even earlier - two weeks before his comment:Jones said Mercedes-Benz actually withdrew their advertising before his comments about the prime minister's father were published. Erm, guys, that doesn't mean that it wasn't in response to statements made by allan jones. He's been doing it for a while, you know. The "wrecking the joint" comments were made weeks before that, and it's response to THOSE comments that's been calling for advertiser boycotts. I'm not saying that's why mercedes did what it did, but I don't think we should be making out all this only just happened. I'll wait to hear a statement from benz, but I don't see any reason why we should assume their reasons weren't genuine. One thing to bear in mind: McCarthy is also president of gay and lesbian radio station Joy 94.9.
Joy 94.9, when it talks politics, does so from a position on the far Left. McCarthy himself concedes:
People will assume I'm left-of-centre...
No doubt McCarthy is exercising a professional judgment. But I would like to know to what extent that judgment could be clouded or influenced by his political views.
What Mercedes-Benz has done by its shameless posturing is to lend credence to an internet campaign to censor a man not so much for one tasteless comment made at a dinner (and apologised for) but for his anti-Labor political views. Labor and its allies want Jones neutered as a political force, it seems to me.
I don't say that is McCarthy's aim. But that is its effect.
RWDB makes a further point:
For the Mercedes Benz company to question anybody's morals represents the height of chutzpah.
In 1944, almost half of Daimler Benz's 63,610 employees were civilian forced labourers, prisoners of war or Nazi concentration camp detainees. (Source: The company itself) I suggest Australians who value plain dealing and free speech boycott Mercedes-Benz. If you agree, please let them know of your stand. Wow. So it's about The War now? So ... let's get this straight ... until now, these were good aussie companies being attacked by cyber-bullies. Now, one of them is conspicuously german, it's JUST LIKE HITLER and should be BOYCOTTED!!!1! And I can't help but wonder if bolt's curious emphasis on the man's "left-of-center" views (quoting half a sentence is always impressive) is significant. So all that freedom stuff goes straight out the window and it's ok to call for boycotts ... again. Does bolta believe anything that he writes? Like the last lot, I expect that the three-pointed star will find this onslaught (nay, "cyber bullying") a bit like being bombarded with cotton buds. (edited to fix some bizarre characters that replaced quotes)
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Post by angra on Oct 8, 2012 15:13:47 GMT 10
Presumably to be consistent Blot will also now be campaining against Ford and General Motors as well.
"Quite a bit of the financing for Hitler and the Nazis came from affiliates or subsidiaries of many U.S. citizens and firms, Henry Ford’s help began in the twenties, and were simply included in with payments from American I.G. (Farben) and General Electric which started as early as 1933. The Standard Oil (New Jersey), American I.G. (Farben) and I.T.T. subsidiary payments through Heinrich Himmler continued up to 1944. Walter Teagle, a close Roosevelt associate and backer, as well as an NRA administrator; along with banker Paul Warburg (his brother Max Warburg was on the board of I.G. Farben in Germany), and Edsel Ford were the directors of the American I.G. (Farben) board.
J.P. Morgan Bank, Guaranty Trust, Chase Manhattan Bank, at least three Wall Street houses (Dillon, Read; Harris, Forbes; and, National City Company for sure), Standard Oil (New Jersey), Du Pont, Dow Chemical, General Motors, Ford Motors, and General Electric (A.E.G.) of the United States helped or profited in some manner. G.E. (A.E.G) rounded out its support by technical cooperation with Krupp, which seems to have been aimed at restricting the U.S. development of tungsten carbide. I.T.T. held a 28 percent interest in Focke-Wolfe aircraft, American Ford owned French Ford and Ford Werke of Belgium and profited from supplying the German Wehrmacht with cars and trucks through out the war. Standard Oil's most egregious role (beyond profiteering), was with technical aid to Nazi development of synthetic rubber and synthetic gasoline through a U.S. research company under the management and control of Standard Oil.
Then the Ethyl Gasoline Company, jointly owned by Standard Oil and General Motors, was instrumental in supplying vital tetra-ethyl lead assistance to Nazi Germany with the clear knowledge that the tetra-ethyl lead was for Nazi military purposes. I also believe that the dividends to both GM (from Opel) and Ford from their European subsidiaries continued all through the war years too, through the Swiss and the Swedes. That may have been justified as "weakening" the Germany economy and strengthening our own at the same time however. Everybody it seems took advantage of the situation and had fingers in the pie.
The most embarrassing, it would seem to me, is Henry Ford Sr. sending Adolf Hitler a personal monetary "birthday gift" every April 20th through 1944. 1938 was the year he was awarded that medal by Der Fuehrer, and Henry sent something like 10,000, or 20,000 Reichmarks to Hitler through Swiss or Swedish banks every year. Even during the war years, he managed to continue the practice. There was a running joke in Detroit that Hitler had ordered thousands of tanks from Ford’s plant, but didn’t make painting or delivery arrangements. He said he would call ahead on the paint scheme, and pick them up on his way through town."
Yahoo Answers.
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Post by Matthew Of Canberra on Oct 8, 2012 18:50:50 GMT 10
You can add IBM, too. There was a big fuss last year when tenders were sought to build some sort of transit system in (I think) california. State MPs, perhaps ever so slightly encouraged by the losing bids, wanted to pass a law requiring bidders to publicly reveal the extent of their involvement in NAZI atrocities. The leading bid? Why - it was from a subsidiary of the french railways, and it was way, way out in front. It's just an opportunistic excuse for nationalism. And these very same people will get extraordinarily shitty if anyone dares to bring up a US' company's past involvement in, say, defoliating vietnam, or producing napalm. I can't believe that anyone who wants to be taken seriously would actually bring up a company's involvement in arming the german state 70 years ago in the context of a fairly trivial advertising dispute. I hope nobody tells him what subaru and mitsubishi got up to back then, or his head might asplode. Heck - let's all have a chat about those netherlander waffen ss volunteers. That'd be a lark. This is either history, and we put it behind us, or it isn't. Trying to have it both ways is not particularly upstanding. And I recall the level of vitriol heaped by one herald sun columnist on certain folks who called for a boycott of israeli companies linked to the IDF. Sheesh. I wish there was a catchy word for criticising germany. "Anti-something". As for: (UPDATE: My wife complained that an update in which I mentioned Mercedes-Benz recall notices was a bit mean, and I should not be tempted to descend to the company’s depths. So I’ve removed it.) Wow. Standards?! And anyone can look at recall notices any time they like. Just go to www.recalls.gov.auHave a look at the kids' toys section. It's a ripper. I sometimes send recall notices to friends for fun. A colleague's car burst into flames one night, for no apparent reason. He's still bitter, and still blames a component that was sourced from a certain german car company. A company, incidentally, that has had a bit of a problem recently with its cars ... getting a bit hot :-) (still, can't be worse than a ferrari 458) I will wet myself with glee if somebody reveals that bolta drives a german car. That will be very funny indeed. ALL of the big ones are linked to the nazis somehow. BMW, Mercedes and the whole VW conglomerate. Personally, I don't care. I think germany's paid enough, and no country is constitutionally more self-conscious about its own history. I can't bring myself to read through the comments. If that's the whistle he's blowing, the dogs should be vomiting up some pretty smelly responses.
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Post by angra on Oct 9, 2012 9:23:57 GMT 10
There's some interesting role-reversal in the Sydney papers this morning.
In the SMH we have Henderson coming out of the right corner swinging into the leftie stooges who have stirred up the social media campaign against Jones "Freedom to preach..." To be fair they also carry Birmingham's scathing criticism of the hypocrisy of the Jones camp. And the report about Turnbull saying Jones is getting a taste of his own medicine.
The Tele is caught between a rock and a hard place, as they seek to defend their reporter who was the one who broke the story. They have s similar piece to Henderson with "The Twits hiding behind their keyboards", but also "New media's power against Jones".
So both papers seem to be having a two-way bet.
One conclusion to draw is that old media just hasn't seem to have 'got' the new media, and once they stir up a hornet's nest, sit back in shock and say 'Hell - where did THAT all come from?' and then go back onto the old faithful ploy of blaming the lefties.
Interesting times.
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Post by angra on Oct 9, 2012 9:37:09 GMT 10
MoC - re Mercedes. The German companies were at least being patriotic (from their point of view). By contrast to Mercedes, the US companies who kept their fingers in the pie of German industry during the war were just flat out traitors.
And 'we' were happy to round up German technology and scientists and put them to our use (operation paperclip, V2 technology, Werner von Braun etc.) after the conflict, rather than prosecute them. You could make a good point that the US Apollo programme would not have got off the ground without the history of slave labour at Peenemünde etc.
Reminds me of certain Western arms companies who kept Saddam equipped with western arms right up to the first Gulf war. Even marketed to him by a certain D. Rumsfeld.
I think about the only conclusion to draw is that the motives of capitalism and the free market transcend any ethical or nationalistic concerns, as long as there's a buck to be made.
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Post by angra on Oct 9, 2012 10:01:19 GMT 10
Then there's this, about the West's little flirtation with eugenics... hnn.us/articles/1796.html"Hitler and his henchmen victimized an entire continent and exterminated millions in his quest for a co-called "Master Race." But the concept of a white, blond-haired, blue-eyed master Nordic race didn't originate with Hitler. The idea was created in the United States, and cultivated in California, decades before Hitler came to power. California eugenicists played an important, although little known, role in the American eugenics movement's campaign for ethnic cleansing." And before I accuse myself of being obsessive about Western hypocrisy, read this article by Monbiot... www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/08/empire-torture-kenya-catastrophe-europe"Colonised and coloniser, empire's poison infects us all Ideas that underpinned Britain's imperial project led not only to torture in Kenya, but war and catastrophe in Europe." The expose of the extent of British torture and oppression against Kenyans and others (Google Diego Garcia and see what happened to the local inhabitants) deserves a thread of it's own. And the surface is just being scratched.
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Post by angra on Oct 9, 2012 12:32:51 GMT 10
You realise the NT News (brilliant world-shattering front-line paper) quietly dumped Bolt's opinions column after numerous complaints?
Crocs wha-HAY!!!
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tssk
New Member
Posts: 45
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Post by tssk on Oct 9, 2012 15:28:47 GMT 10
I take it no-one has watched last night's Media Watch Special on Alan Jones yet? www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s3606393.htmtl:dr crowd, apparently Jones has actually been done wrong here in this instance. Distastful comments were aired in a private forum which shouldn't have been recorded without his consent. I can't believe this but he's got a point.
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