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Alan Jones: A rat from the feral right

People like Alan Jones, Ray Hadley and Andrew Bolt worked out long ago that there is money in hate-filled rants.

They are the peddlers of verbal violence and dishonesty and the most vigorous defenders of free speech because it gives their vitriolic nonsense legitimacy.

With the use of free speech, the bigots and hate-mongers such as these seek to influence those in the community who are susceptible or like-minded.

It says something about the moral sickness of a supposed enlightened society when people like Jones and Bolt et al – members of the exclusive Rats of the Feral Right Club – want the right to abuse each other, in the name of free speech, enshrined in law.

To make big money in NSW talk back radio one has to be more outlandish, more tantalising, more seductive, more flirtatious, more provocative, more outrageous and more offensive than your opponent and have a desire to maintain a brutal dominance.

That’s exactly what Jones has done for 35 years. He would not have survived in Melbourne. We are not easy victims of filth.

Bolt can only maintain a small television audience and without The Herald Sun and his syndications he would be little known. Jones has also been a flop in the medium of TV.

I often speculate about how much better a society we would be if people took the risk of thinking for themselves unhindered by the unadulterated crap served up by the Murdoch media and its money for outlandish comment spewing from the mouths of men like Jones.

All they do is politically prostitute themselves in the forlorn hope of being relevant.

Let’s have a brief look at some of Jones’ history.

Thirteen years ago the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found that the broadcaster 2GB and Jones had broadcast material (specifically comments made by Jones between 5–9 December 2005) that were “likely to encourage violence or brutality and to vilify people of Lebanese and Middle-Eastern backgrounds on the basis of ethnicity.” They were talking about the Cronulla riots.

Yet our Prime Minister said this of him:

“You’ve always spoken your mind to everyone, including me, and we’ve had one or two disagreements, but you’ve always done the right thing for your country.”

To hear our leaders from the Prime Minister down give such effusive praise to a man so divisive that he would set Australian against Australian – and not give it a second thought – was sickening.

Later, Jones was “convicted of breaching the Children’s (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW), by broadcasting the suppressed name of a juvenile witness in a murder trial.”

It didn’t stop Tony Abbott from gushingly tweeting this when learning of Jones’ retirement from radio:

 

We continue …

In 1998, Jones claimed on-air that rugby league referee Bill Harrigan was biased. Harrigan sued Jones for defamation and, in 2001, was awarded damages of $90,000.

Yet Nine chairman Peter Costello said Jones had a “unique” place in Australian media.

He is guilty of lying about climate change “…human beings produce 0.001 per cent of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” he said.

Yet according to advertising guru John Singleton, Alan Jones is the “best broadcaster in the world.”

He has retired suitably, on another lie, perhaps? That being that ill health has forced him out. The truth is that his advertisers had had enough. They deserted him in there droves. The SMH reported that after:

“He was forced to apologise after telling a Sydney Young Liberal fundraiser in 2012 that Ms Gillard’s father “died of shame”, commentary which caused the broadcaster to temporarily suspend advertising after more than 70 companies walked away from the breakfast show.

A jacket made from chaff bags and signed by Mr Jones was also auctioned at the event. Mr Jones had previously said on air that Ms Gillard should be “put into a chaff bag and thrown into the sea.”

Then there were the comments made by Jones about New Zealand’s Prime Minister Ms Ardern last year when he said that Prime Minister Scott Morrison should “shove a sock down her throat” following Ms Ardern’s warning at a Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu that Australia “will have to answer to the Pacific” on climate change.

And let’s not forget his aggressive treatment of Opera House chief executive Louise Herron telling her she should resign.

A fair dose of misogyny, I should think.

He lied about the Grantham floods. In doing so he defamed many ordinary people especially members of the Queensland-based Wagner family. They received 2.7 million in damages.

He has the dubious record of having had more complaints upheld by the communications watchdog than any other radio presenter. He has had to make more apologies for his lying and insults than John Farnham has made comebacks. Each time his audience has increased.

He leaves a litany of lying as long as Tony Abbott’s.

It includes lying about the NBN roll out and police blockading truckies during his infamous and failed Convoy of No Confidence in 2011.

Other than the 35 years he has spent in radio he has been a teacher where his apparent liking for teenage boys has been well-documented, as has the notorious moment in a London toilet.

He has been a speechwriter for Malcolm Fraser, a political candidate and coach of the Australian national rugby team for which he was awarded an Order of Australia in 1988.

Also well documented was the cash for comment revelation in 1999 that he sold his opinions for millions. He should have been sacked on the spot. But he was protected by those that he made millions for and by an audience with short memories

But what is it that occupies the minds of men that they need be so malevolent in their thinking? That the power of persuasion with reasoned thought and debate no longer suffices.

What is it in the backgrounds of people that causes their narcissism and their inability to accommodate difference or equality?

Is it the sins of the fathers that invite their racism? In the media, is it loyalty to the despot?

Why is it that the megalomaniac Alan Jones with his vile gutter speech attracts a huge listing audience?

Why is there this preponderance of right-wing attitude? This alignment to neo-conservatism and nationalism? Why have we allowed ourselves to be saturated by extremism? Why do those who feel unrepresented and unheard think their problems will be reconciled by the likes of Jones?

Perhaps the answer can be found in materialism. Or in an entitlement society. Maybe it’s those elements of Christianity who believe in a gospel of wealth.

Perhaps the deliberate assassination by the political and religious right of science has something to do with it. Maybe it’s the death of truth, as we know it. Jones, after all, thought climate change was a hoax.

Maybe it’s the preponderance of right-wing propaganda in our media. There are, to my knowledge, no left wing shock jocks. Whatever it is why are they so feral about it? Well I’ll have a bit of a stab.

With the media I believe it is the threat of annihilation and in turn, profit. Social media and the advent of bloggers are now threatening their power and influence.

But the mystery to me is why the middle and the deprived classes of society think their lot will be improved by listening to the vile thoughts of Alan Jones.

I’ll leave this with you. Do watch:

My thought for the day

The original intent of free speech was to give a voice to the oppressed and to keep governments honest. In the United States, the first amendment is now used as a justification to incite racism, validate hatred and promote both religious and political bigotry.

 

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31 comments

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  1. Ken

    Alan Jones no longer doing his horrible radio show is great news.

  2. Cool Pete

    Well, my belief is that radio stations keep shock jocks on because they’ll say the most outlandish things because it will get a public reaction.
    I knew a man once who proved that being in the top 1% of MENSA means bugger-all as he was, 1) a climate change denier, 2) a Botty supporter, and, 3) a supposed mate of Alan Jones. With Alan Jones receiving an AO for services to rugby, one thing that is consistently said when a rugby coach dies is, “He told you what you needed to hear rather than what you wanted to hear.” Well, a mate of Alan Jones would have told him what he needed to hear over the remark about Julia Gillard’s father and that was, “You were bang out of order, and you need to apologise. And apologise doesn’t mean saying that if you have to eat crow, it’s best to eat it when it’s hot. It means, “I shouldn’t have said what I said and for that I can only say, “I’m sorry.”” Instead, this fool sent him a message saying that Fairfax media were trying to remove his platform and clamp down on his freedom of speech!
    I encountered someone on twitter, who was a Botty supporter (he had his picture as himself smirking with Botty) and a so-called proponent of small government and free speech (read: neoliberal idiot who wanted the PIVILEGE to say what he wanted without consequence) and was someone I viewed as a despicable being.

  3. Terence Mills

    One very practical reason not mentioned for Jones’ snap decision to retire from AM Radio may very well be that the Nine/2GB Defamation Insurers declined to give further cover for Jones which would mean that Nine/2GB would have to pick up the tab or that they would seek to transfer all liability to Jones personally in any future defamation actions.

    It’s usually about money at the end of the day !

    And let’s not forget that Jones has been building up his appearances on Murdoch television, Sky-after-dark, and whilst he’s not very good on television – he doesn’t realize that you actually have to look into the camera from time to time – he is certainly among like-minded right wing nut jobs.

  4. AdeleC

    “Australia is a party to seven core international human rights treaties. The right to freedom of opinion and expression is contained in articles 19 and 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).“
    https://www.ag.gov.au/RightsAndProtections/HumanRights/Human-rights-scrutiny/PublicSectorGuidanceSheets/Pages/Righttofreedomofopinionandexpression.aspx#1what. Pretty poor that our media do not know and honour these Covenants and nobody has held them to account

  5. Henry Rodrigues

    The ‘retirement’ of this son of a bitch is a moment when all those who nurtured him, paid for his ‘services’, defended his ‘right’ to say whatever he wanted, extolled his ‘virtues’, awarded him recognition and medals and still praise his so-called media skills, should ask themselves whether they would like their own children to follow in his footsteps.

    Come on you hypocrites, stand up and declare your true allegiances. This son of a bitch should be bundled into a chaff bag and dropped into a sewerage processing plant. That’s what should have been done the day he was born.

  6. John O'Callaghan

    Am glad Jones is gone but he still has influence. … the video in this article said it could not be played..

  7. wam

    You ask:
    .”..malevolent in their thinking? That the power of persuasion with reasoned thought and debate no longer suffices.”
    For all my life, lord, sex, violence, and fantasy, supported by spin, embellishment of outcomes, visual patches of real or contrived (zooming in on the eyes searching for tears) pain and suffering, photo ‘angles;(the pre-photoshopping) innuendo sold advertising .
    These activities have become endemic and are now a natural part of truth.
    Reasoned thought and debate still suffice in the auditorium and in some sections of education but never in religion. In the past there may have been incursions into reasoned debate in parliament but the christian, business and american lobbies, ably supported by the speaker’s rulings, in the chamber. This government’s use of gagging techniques have killed any worthwhile debate to such a degree that . The executive has no need for debate and :
    Katina Curtis, AAP Senior Political Writer … The Morrison government has declared it has better things to do than sitting in … Australia is alone among similar democracies in having dumped so much of its parliamentary time ”
    Reality shows that 30 second simple bullshit rules for as long as it sells. The rabbott showed that much ado about nothing can last day after day for weeks months years.
    Poor old labor not only has no ability to undertake such actions but also they have no understanding how to expose the bullshit and to top it off their representative on the morning show is ex-leader mark latham..
    ps
    Waltz, the pursed lips of jones makes a tv career less likely except as a short term attraction for”advertising money”

  8. ajogrady

    Alan Jones will always be remembered as the creator and beneficiary of the grubby cash for comment scandal. A person prostituting himself to the highest bidder. A mercenary looking for a payday. A man who never let facts destroy a good public rant. A man with no morals who used and abused ” struggle street”. His ratings show that if there is a battle between good and evil then the evidence surely points to evil is winning.

  9. Phil Pryor

    Jones, dogshit with a larynx; Bolt, an anus for a skull; Hadley a complete (or incomplete) idiot posing as adult… This is a trio among others (I follow none of this shit so am not expert) who deprave, slant, corrupt, alter, reduce, invade, inflict, pollute, abuse. Why do we have them? Perhaps they imitate the great source of superturds and airwaves of offal, USA media. Murdoch the superTurd became a Yank Wank to get into bigger poses and more cash. USA media figures include tiny descendants of the Mussolini/Goebbels/Trump types, loud, overbearing, eating at your (limited) intellect to replace thought with propaganda, slogans, dogmatic assertions, inner turmoil, superstitious rubbish, all for a F—–g load of cash, a Big Pose, Domineering, the Execitve, Lord, Conqueror, Knowall Nong. It STINKS.

  10. New Bruce

    @Henry.
    Leave out the chaff bag

    In two years time, without this moron on the radio bleating crap and filth like there is no tomorrow, who is scottyfrommarketing going to have as a fall back when the reality of his years of incompetence cannot be hidden any more.
    One would almost think that CoVid19 virus was created in an ipa thinktank just to give him a recovery platform after the bushfire debacle. Ooops.

    Every day has it’s dog. Rot in Hades, jones, you maggot.
    You are gone, and will not soon enough be forgotten

  11. Grumpy Geezer

    Gloria’s gone – a bright note in the pandemic.

    I liked this quote from The Saturday Paper’s editorial excoriating the bitter old queen about when he stood as the Lib’s unsuccessful candidate in the otherwise Tory seat of Earlwood – “The Liberal Party was willing to have him, but the voters would not”. Says a lot about both Jones and the Libs.

  12. M2

    The people mentioned in this article along with a Donald Trump and Rowan Dean;all of them have mental illnesses.

  13. johno

    Well said to The Feed, SBS.

  14. DrakeN

    M2, sociopathy and psychopathy are essential qualities for success in finance, politics and religion.
    We live in sick societies in which ordinary persons refuse to admit to their gullibilty and lack of skepticism.
    “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” is as true in everyday existence as itis in wartime.
    Unfortunately, mental and physical laziness coupled with underlying lack of intelligence is what gets us the governments, religions and corporate swindlers which control our lives.

  15. whatever

    The entire ecosphere of what we once considered ‘Mainstream’ in the ‘MSM’ has now descended to the spiteful finger-pointing of TalkBack radio and Tabloid Current Affairs TV.
    Have a look at Quadrant, a supposed bastion of conservative intellect – it is now just another RWNJ blog, except that it gets Federal Arts Council funding.

    Home

    The Fairfax mastheads SMH and The Age struggle to appear as their former (small L) liberal selves but 5 minutes reading of either paper and you sense the HardRight editorial line.

  16. wam

    they are all mad save thee, m2, and lord and I am not sure of either!
    Cause and effect whatever but how far back have you gone to label fairfax small “l”? Apart from editorially disagreeing with news corp they were conservative;y oriented. Although they did give Mundey a fair send off with quote
    Maybe michael should apply to bridget for a female toilet grant to lure the women back? Without their scones and sandwiches, the men become intemperate and nothing works.

  17. DrakeN

    wam, as usual you get the old sayings mixed up.
    It originates from a Yorkshireman’s statement to his wife: “All the world’s queer save thee and me, missus – and even thee’s a bit odd.”
    I forget who recorded the conversation.

  18. DebL

    An excerpt from Stephen Mayne’s article in Crikey from 13/5/20 – check out the link.

    “Shortly before the key mediation session with Price and his lawyers, Crikey had published a foul-mouthed blooper tape of Alan Jones sounding off. The same legal team acting for Price had fired off a letter demanding that we take it down for breaching 2UE’s copyright.

    So we took it down, but when the mediation failed and Price’s lawyers made it very clear they were intending to bankrupt me and seize our home, I walked straight back to said home and republished the Jones blooper tape as leverage in the ongoing legal war.

    This was quickly republished by then Triple J Mornings presenter Francis Leach. I can’t find the original but it included some of the content which was subsequently packaged up by Triple J’s Hack program in 2012.

    Have a listen. It will remind you why it is a very good thing that the nasty Parrot’s radio career will be over by the end of this month”

    Triple J’s Hack Youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSFkujgsTmc

  19. Henry Rodrigues

    New Bruce…………. A black plastic trash bag secured so as to not to allow the odour to leak out, would do as well.

  20. David Stakes

    And the over 65s flock to him like Moths to a light. Sad that their mental faculties have deserted them.

  21. Peter C

    Feral right feral left equally as bad in my world view. Both leave no allowance for the complexity of real world issues. You forgot to mention Jones did a lot of good things for many individuals in need. It seems one difference between right and left is that freedom of speech for the left certainly means it’s ok only as long as it only involves comments that they agree with.

    When Jones over stepped the mark as you point out he was prosecuted , and lost. You query why he has so many followers. Maybe they’re people who don’t agree with your view of the world. Sounds like that’s not ok for you. No doubt you might dismiss them as unintelligent . Much easier than to trying to do some investigative work to understand their life experience.

    I know something of Jones from a while ago. Never listened to his shows, don’t agree with much of his rhetoric . Very intelligent complex guy, very well prepared, not many could beat him in a debate or surpass the level of energy he brought to anything he took on. That’s why he was top morning Radio presenter for so many years.

    You just spent an article cheery picking items to denigrate Jones on the basis that he denigrated others and that this act in itself is deplorable. So where does that leave you?

  22. wam

    well boyducken the statement is all the world is queer/mad save thee and me and I’m not so sure about me/thee(owen and a brian blessed or boycott) was a poor reference to the posts of lord and m2 who are heavily into the ‘mental state’ thus ‘mad’? I reject the ‘me’ for I am mad the other two may well be?

  23. Mrs Wobbly

    Stop this VIAL ERWNJ grub in his retirement from spewing his propaganda Still, by continued readings from the masters hymn sheets . I’ll donate the shaft bag and socks!

  24. New England Cocky

    JL, you are far too polite to mention the sexual proclivities of Mr Jones who originated from the Darling Downs in regional SE Queensland. The town no longer exists, not because of shame for producing Jones, but rather because of the CSG deposits below.

    Jones began his working career at The Kings School Sydney with student grooming to satisfy his homosexual pleasures, was arrested in London for homosexual activity and later, more notoriously at the South Bondi Alan Jones Memorial Pissairie (now closed by Waverley Council) by NSW Police.

    His stint as Rugby Union Wannabes coach caused the early retirement of then captain (the late) John Hipwell who was properly recognised as one of the finest players of his generation.

    What about inspiring and inflaming the Cronulla Race Riots by encouraging Anglo-Celtic “locals” to attack Muslim “tourists from the western suburbs” deposited at Cronulla Railway Station … the only Sydney beach with direct suburban rail access.

    The Hate Rally in Canberra to vilify then Prime Minister Julia Gillard and later denigrations that passed without retribution but received much television and MSM coverage as part of the News Ltd and Liarbral campaign to bring down democratically elected Labor government. Did I mention that Jones was a thrice failed candidate for pre-selection in the Liarbrals? No bias there …..

    Or the Drive from Darwin Campaign to rally truck drivers and “concerned citizens” to Canberra to protest sound Labor government policies … and that fearsome woman Juliar Gillard ….. not a misogynist ….. not a willing tool of the unelected political hacks who control pre-selection in the Liarbral Party ….. just a failure that ACT Police rated as “normal traffic flow for the morning”.

    How do you get publicity for a project or product? Well, payola for advertising dressed up to misrepresent editorial comment was always profitable early in his career … until the government agency stepped in with legal action.

    This week on ABC Radio National Late Night Live, the legendary Phillip Adams, once a broadcasting colleague of Jones, gave an objective summary of the Jones career on Radio National. It is worth checking out.

    Now about that young (alleged) chauffeur ….

    Thanks to all the Australian voters who campaigned to have Jones removed from the airwaves, and the advertisers who finally recognised that the opinions of customers matter in business, so withdrew their business from the Jones programmes.

    Now to cleanse the Australian airwaves of Hateful Hadley and A Blot.

    Michael Taylor, thank you for the suggestion.

  25. Phil Pryor

    Peter C offers a mild dose of stupidity, timidity and cupidity, badly disguised as fairness. Jones is filthy pox from Dandruff to Tinea, and victims can attest to that, Haters should hate, and Jones the hater must be outhated by those who perceive the complete ignorance of a repressed Queensland Fairy who splurts to release insane drives. No-one should naively be “fair” to an unfair pig.

  26. jimmie

    Phil Pryor well said. How could any decent thinking individual give Jones a benefit of a doubt because he helped a few people, when he showed a total lack of decency in his general attitude toward those he disagreed with (or lets be honest viscerally hated and tried to destroy on his show)? I’ll guarantee if you lined up those he helped against those he victimized, one line would reach the end of your average drive way, the other would stretch out the length of a half dozen airport runways.

  27. totaram

    Peter C:”Feral right feral left equally as bad in my world view.”
    Can you please point me to “feral left” persons in the mass-media (Radio, TV, newspapers).
    To the best of my knowledge, there aren’t any. Can you explain why?
    And please correct the balance by telling us all the good things Alan Jones did in his 35 years, that might balance all the bad things mentioned by the poster.

  28. Clarissa B

    Why are leftists so damned fragile and afraid of criticism?

  29. totaram

    Clarissa B: I don’t accept the premise of your question. Sound familiar?

  30. M2

    Clarissa B: Why are so many on the right so mentally disturbed?

  31. Phil Pryor

    Poor Clarissa, missed the remedial classes and night school also.., the fact is, the left are right and the right are wrong, because the right are dominated by stupidities, drives, fantasies, superstitions, loyalties, dogma, propaganda and regressive filth so as to unable to THINK. So Jones, the crushed oddball, must hate with passion all those whom he imagines have spurned him for being innate filth.

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