Open letters are the hissy fits of our times, petulant and tedious expressions of collective outrage. It is also by some considerable measure the laziest form of protest.
In other words, the terminally aggrieved could take to the barricades but that would mean having to walk all the way to the barricades, standing around, feeling uncomfortable and what if it rained? It’s much easier to simply put names to a letter someone else had written in strident agreement with its contents.
There is one particularly egregious example of the open letter that caught my eye last night. It comes from the Columbia Journalism Review and is allegedly an open letter from the American press corps to President-elect Donald Trump.
As if journalists weren’t despised enough by the community, along comes this haughty expression of well … a journalist’s basic job description albeit dripping in sanctimony and self-importance. It even includes the grammatical venal sin of writing ‘you’re’ as ‘your’. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Full column here.
Thanks on your gibbering lessons on KGB involvemement further back JB.Still laughing possibly 100 metres away from my house these spies you say. I will watch any strange cars and people accross the road followed up asking them if they are spying on me , or just positioning themselves later to have a peep through my bedroom window waiting for me and my mrs to play games in romantic times.
Great news seeing American stock markets surging crashing through the Dow 20 000 barriers .Since Trump won , it has surged 9% in America and up 11% here . We hearing Ross Greenwood stating American companies already gearing up for change having Americans getting behind the new government .American people we must give credit being very resilient proud people whoever is in government . Lets now stop all this bitching an whinging on the election.The game is up , leave all the gutter stuff back in your own home .Just get over it you whinges.
Lets get behind this new administration , if not, as Paul Hogan says , we just shoot ourselves in the foot.
Cheers.
Lots of work coming up for US steel manufacturers if there’s any left.
It will not take too long to ramp up production. The US produces around 30m tonnes a year
Steel Production in the United States averaged 7949.47 Thousand Tonnes from 1969 until 2016
There’s only just over 300 meters of the Dakota Access pipeline left to lay.
Has the second one he announced started Dwight?
No. The Canadian company building the Keystone XL never got approval (thanks to Tom Steyer’s millions in DNC donations). But they have said they will resubmit the application forthwith.
How about this grubby Centrelink robo-debt fiasco starts targeting politicians, after all it’s taxpayer money they like to steal.
I see a growing number of Human Services (what a joke) staff have had a gutfull. Not a bit surprised because a friend of mine has just resigned her long held senior position there after months of facing the wilful destruction of the welfare net in this country & the soul-sapping daily anxiety of being unable to help these people, many too uneducated or too poor to know how to defend themselves.
Says a lot about the Libs born to rule criminality that they think nothing of bashing a pensioner trying to put food on the table or taking from the disabled, our most vulnerable citizens, because they generally can’t fight back like you or I.
They’re often too old, too ill or just too frightened.
Did you know that a single days travel allowance for a politician in Canberra pays more money than a Newstart recipient must try to live on for a fortnight? It’s so wrong but nobody seems to notice how skewed that is.
Everyone by now knows that the two-faced Abbott/Turnbull government is a complete failure, however, if Turncoat wants to turn that around, all he’s gotta do now is use the robo-debt notice software on his corporate tax-dodging friends & donors. That’d rake in billions.
Oh, he will also need a spine cos he’s a dead set weakling.
Regards, Bella
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/23/wall-sts-elation-turns-to-concern-after-trumps-first-bizarre-weekend.html
GOOD NEWS! – If the pic on the front page of today’s Australian is anything to go on, Victorian police have caught the kid who has been spreading Skittle pox. Top work!
It seems to me there has been a steadily rising, easy tendency to bash the cops in the media of late. Not the easiest, predictable, set in concrete, job I would think. And as TBLS has suggested, the prevalence of Ice has only made it worse (ditto for emergency health care workers at all levels; amongst other frontline professions).
The other kids chucked the fat one out as a decoy when the chase got too hot.
Happy Invasion Day, everyone! I will be clear-felling a native forest, barbecuing scores of wombats and abusing blacks in celebration! It’s what we all do, isn’t it?
I am pleased to say I hope my husband and I ruined someone’s Aus day today, he took exception to the young girl at the Woollies check out chatting to us while she put our shopping through, I was fuming.
Obviously spends a few days in the gym, probably drives a humongous 4X4 Ute and his wife was very quiet, we stood him up and my husband was called a Richard Cranium for his pains but there you go, went to get the supervisor after we paid because I was worried he’d have another go at the poor girl.
Too many bullies these days who think they can get away with it.
Good work, Tracy.
Very good work Tracy. I wonder what it is that makes these people tick?
There’s a couple of wallabies in the neighborhood that seem to be BBQ size. Must be an immigrant close by.
Oh, wait!
A rash decision; they may have needed to eat him later.
🙂
Well this is embarrassing…….
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/centrelink-debt-scare-backfires-on-labor/news-story/9834217a0daa8a2f249ba65415ccb037
You prove this theory with every comment “People are accessing only the news sites and social media feeds that reinforce and amplify the views they already hold”
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/slaves-to-online-echo-chamber/news-story/cb839d8e7270a59aa0619d190f5df65b
Trudge gave the figures this afternoon. 3/4’s of Labors example owe money. Hope you aren’t shooting the messenger JOH.
echo, echo, echo chamber.
Well, it would be embarrassing for NewsCorp, if such a thing were possible. It has been running this non-story across all its mastheads today — by sheer coincidence, I’m sure — while studiously ignoring the stories everyone else is covering about the internal revolt by Centrelink’s own staff administering the scheme. This is on par for the tabloids, but even this Oz story is egregiously partisan, using purple prose more suitable to a Bolt opinion piece in an article that is supposed to be a news story.
The only actual news it contains is that the DHS claims some of the people who have complained about debt notices actually do owe money. Well, they would say that! They give a handful of cherry-picked examples, no overall figures.
It is utterly predictable that the Murdocracy would come to the aid of Tudge on this one, but I doubt this effort is going to save the scheme.
Why is it a non story? Labor tried to make political mileage out of this and they did not do their research. That’s incompetence by the mob supposedly holding the government to account. That’s a story in anyone book. Ask yourself this question why did none of the Fairfax papers run it.
How about this grubby Centrelink robo-debt fiasco starts targeting politicians, after all it’s taxpayer money they like to steal.
I see a growing number of Human Services (what a joke) staff have had a gutfull. Not a bit surprised because a friend of mine has just resigned her long held senior position there after months of facing the wilful destruction of the welfare net in this country & the soul-sapping daily anxiety of being unable to help these people, many too uneducated or too poor to know how to defend themselves.
Says a lot about the Libs born to rule criminality that they think nothing of bashing a pensioner trying to put food on the table or taking from the disabled, our most vulnerable citizens, because they generally can’t fight back like you or I.
They’re often too old, too ill or just too frightened.
Did you know that a single days travel allowance for a politician in Canberra pays more money than a Newstart recipient must try to live on for a fortnight? It’s so wrong but nobody seems to notice how skewed that is.
Everyone by now knows that the two-faced Abbott/Turnbull government is a complete failure, however, if Turncoat wants to turn that around, all he’s gotta do now is use the robo-debt notice software on his corporate tax-dodging friends & donors. That’d rake in billions.
Oh, he will also need a spine cos he’s a dead set weakling.
Regards, Bella
Bella,
Labor designed and implemented the data matching system not the Coalition. If people owe money they should pay it back, if they don’t they contact Centrelink. How do you propose we stop welfare fraud?
I don’t give a flying fig who designed robo-debt Razor the powers that be today need to pull it down and fix it.
I love the ” if people owe money they should pay it back” part.
Razor please take off your conservative hat for one minute and try to understand that if those poor & I do mean GRINDINGLY POOR people DON’T OWE ANY MONEY, they are still sent a debt collector demand and are forced to pay it immediately.
This goes way beneath contempt for the little people by the arrogant elites who would rip-off anyone they can in lower society rather than acknowledge, out loud, that the rich will never fiddle with any negative gearing ‘rules’ lest they’d be a bloody red cent out of pocket.
They disgust me.
How do YOU propose we stop politician fraud? Same for Negative Gearing? Same for Elite Tax Evasion?
Same for Off-shore Tax Havens?
Ask Turncoat to explain the latter.
Fix the whole box & dice of dodgy evader schemes & we would blow the deficit to kingdom come AND be in surplus for years.
But hold on, there’s those ‘seven ways with mince leaners on welfare’ still taking $280@ fortnight so let’s keep turning the screws til they get it that we HATE the disadvantaged.
Hear, hear, Bella.
Todays headline from the SMH:
“Australian of the Year achieved feat ‘better than the moon landing’ “.
Well helloo, of course he did! Why is the SMH still peddling this extraterrestrial urban myth? Anywho, well done that man. Here’s hoping he may be able to do something with Malcolm’s spine.
Have a good day one and all.
Nail Biting game of Bradman last nite. had it all…the tie…the bad decision off the arm, a deciding extra over until
finally the 6ixers won with 22 off one over for a win. The Heat walked off to bat looking like they had already lost. Looked like they didn’t want to have a dig Bald.
Professor Alan MacKay-Sim announced as Australan of the year.
Hallelujah! A deserving recipient, a world leader in his chosen field of paraplegia mobility among others. No dispute on merit, no political inference. Great choice.
Agreed The SJW were a dismal failure
Isn’t he one of those “scientists”? Aren’t they the ones pushing that climate change hoax to establish World Socialist Government? Nope, this is definitely a Left-wing put-up job!
Not his brand JOH. He doesn’t get funded by George Soros and crew.
Why don’t we ask Professor MacKay-Sim what he thinks about AGW? The thing about scientists is they all use the same methods.
Seeing as you always insist on explicit evidence for my comments (not that you ever accept it), I hope you have some proof of your dark-web claim that the world’s climatologists are in the employ of George Soros. Don’t forget to include the demographics.
Bloody great to see Lou. The PC crowd didn’t win this one!
Hi Jack,
You probably will not post this given the legal ramifications, but I have to get this out of my system.
The Bourke Street Mall murderer (who ever that may be) – he needs cruel and unusual punishment. My view is that a death sentence is warranted, but the timing is not given – he wakes up every day, not knowing whether a gun (or needle or noose) will be applied that day. He has sentenced families to a lifetime of grief (which in its own way is cruel and unusual punishment), especially those who have lost a kid.
Not having a kid of my own, but now having a delightful 18 month old grandson around the house just shows me how precious kids are. They are so innocent, full of life and do not deserve the treatment that some give out to them. Other cases include parents/step parents bashing kids – these people do not deserve humane treatment, given what they have dished out themselves.
It is difficult to disagree in this case, Trabvitch but as a principle, capital punishment is immoral for the primary reason a society needs to be and be shown to be that it is better than its worst members.
Hard to justify that “need”, not to mention the huge cost to those that lost loved ones Jack. And besides, societies in all their varying stripes, have been meting out all sorts of cruel punishments and deaths to their worst citizens for hundreds of years without destroying their cultures.
What weasel words, as if you have the authority to speak for victims of crime. Never mind listening to them, you are happy to presume they all agree with you.
I was not intentional misleading or ambiguous at all, I was offering an opinion in an opinion piece. And regardless of whether (all) victims of crime agree with me, or the death penalty, or not, since when has universal agreement been required in matters of law or law enforcement. And since when have you been given the authority to proscribe what is immoral in a society? It is not only the victims of crime who are the victims of crime but society as a whole.
You know what they say about opinions, Milton. Yours is particularly worthless, spouted from an armchair and exhibiting a stunted emotional response to a serious criminal incident. I’ve heard it all before from a whole collection of dangerously ignorant half-wits. You can get yourself a soap box and head down to the local park if you insist on pursuing it.
I can assure my comment was a dispassionate response, and I’m not interested in pursuing anything. Though I would suggest that a lot of our problems are caused by a whole collection of dangerously informed half-wits.
Soap boxes and park corners are not my thing. I’ve certainly enjoyed this experience, many thanks. Go well, Jack. And the crew!
Ok, sorry if I was a bit rough, Milton. I get a bit testy on this topic. You may have noticed.
I think morally it’s a great thing but in practicality it’s hard enough to get juries to convict if they think they are sending someone away for life let alone the dirt nap.
I think you are being a bit hard on old Milton JTI. Victims of crime react in many different ways to those who have offended against them. Generally it depends on a whole range of factors with the most important one being the type of crime. Yet that is not always an indicator, people can become enraged over a stolen phone yet others can forgive the murder of a child. If Miltons response is emotionally stunted then there are a hell of a lot of emotionally stunted people out there from all levels of society. Many of them in the 4th estate! JTI I understand you have dealt with people who have been offended against horrifically but that in itself is a trap. I used to think unless you’ve been there and done that then your opinion was nought. Well time has taught me when it comes to complex questions such as the death penalty and sentencing in general, it’s not the case. After all isn’t morality something that should be decided upon by a particular culture and not just those who claim a particular right through experience. Anyway my 2cents.
Hope your Australia Day was a good one.
I don’t like the death sentence….they get off too easy. I like passing the death sentence but THEN never handing it down. They wake up with the big question every day of their lives. There is the cost to consider. It costs a fortune to maintain a prisoner until he dies.
I like your thinking there Bassy!
Yvonne.
I believe I can help. Perhaps “Avon” suggests that you are a cosmetics salesperson, vis-à-vis covering up blemishes.?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66IWgU9AAis
However it could be an esoteric joke of which I am unfamiliar. I only know of one “Avon” joke which seems unrelated but I’ll relate it.
“Knock knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“Avon. Your bell’s f*cked”.
Best wishes. I hope I have been some help.
Thanks JB. I’d day the former. Surprised at Bassy really though. Never mind – takes all typed.
I wonder whether uses to cover his blrmishes
Sorry sitting o. A bush beach. Meant to say I wonder what he uses to cover his blrmishes -zinc cream extra thick? and sign myself Yvonne
CORRECT:-you win…”Avon calling”
Ok then Bassy. I might not always agree with – although I sometimes do – but I certainly never disparage anyone with some weird non-de-plume.
If it was affectionate, I forgive you :). Otherwise my real name really is Yvonne – and I would prefer to be called Yvonne. OK? x
But I like Avon…you can call me anything you like. Its OK.
You may like Avon – I may not. I have the flyswatter on hand Bassy. Now buzz off…….
Perhaps Mr Insider Australia too needs an “Oval Office” akin to the one in the White House where right now POTUS Trump is beavering away in full glare of the “selected” Media? Imagine how “riveting” it would be to see on our TV’s daily PM Turnbull signing Executive Orders etc mmmm yairs. Well the thought was there anyway, anything to improve the “theatre” of our Government.
Turnbulls oval office looks amazingly like a toilet bowl but a toilet bowl accomplishes more in a day than the turnip could in a lifetime
Indeed Robin but you have to give credit to the ‘turnip” he certainly has a robust agenda.
HB – your suggestion re our present PM’s working enviromnet and office lay-out needs more thought. Rather than an “Oval Office”, perhaps a pear-shaped office would be more appropriate .
Agree 100% Carl and of course what would it be he would be signing, with very little of any consequence passing in Parliament under Malcolm!