Andrew Bolt is a threat to our social cohesion
Conservatives in this country have made it impossible to have a sensible discussion about anything.
Population is a topic we should be discussing. Infrastructure planning depends on it. Allocation of finite resources depends on it. Town and environmental planning depend on it. Education and training depend on it. Health services depend on it.
Immigration must be part of this discussion.
The statistics show that immigration is good for the economy but it is reasonable to question the effect it is having on employment, housing affordability and urban congestion.
It is also necessary to consider what can be done to assist people to become active and productive participants in the community and to recognise impediments to social cohesion.
Andrew Bolt is one such impediment.
In true Hansonesque style, Bolt has written a column headlined “The foreign invasion”.
Australia is being swamped by non-English-speaking immigrants who refuse to assimilate and accept our values. In the face of this influx we are losing our identity.
Immigration is becoming colonisation, turning this country from a home into a hotel. There is no ‘us’ any more, as a tidal wave of immigrants sweeps away what’s left of our national identity. Another 240,000 foreigners joined us last year alone, not just crowding our cities but changing our culture.
Let me begin by saying Bolt would not be included in any group I would call “us”. We most certainly do not share the same values. And whilst we might both be speaking in English, we do not speak the same language.
Bolt singles out groups such as Chinese, Cambodian, Indian and Jewish and quotes what percentage of the community where they live that they represent.
He laments that “Dandenong now has an official Little Indian Cultural Precinct, with 33 Indian businesses.”
One would have thought he would commend their industry in starting up businesses that provide employment and pay taxes but no, Andrew thinks this is a bad thing.
Bolt’s own history makes his words seem very hypocritical. His parents migrated to Australia the year before his birth. Even though he was born here, in a 2011 interview, Bolt reveals how hard he found it to settle in.
The family struggled to find its place. “… in farming communities integration was very difficult. It made us more a satellite family.” It also made family life very intense. “We were close, maybe sometimes too close.”
Bolt fled Australia to return to Holland after he finished school.
“I could have stayed in Holland. I had trouble loving this country initially, but the older you get, the more you realise that there’s a lot here.” He credits his late father-in-law, a bookmaker’s son, for endearing Australia’s rawer cultural qualities to him, such as its fascination with horse racing.
Surely this personal experience should make Andrew more sympathetic towards the challenges facing new migrants and understanding as to why they often are initially inclined to stick together. It should also make him realise that, given time, people find their place.
But Bolt cannot, whether through a lack of emotional intelligence or a deliberate adopted public persona, “Imagine the Other”. His modus operandi on almost any political debate, be it on reconciliation, refugee policy, conservation, multiculturalism, the judicial system or global warming, is to turn it into an “us versus them” conflict.
For the son of Dutch migrants to lecture us about the dangers of “colonisation” of Australia by newcomers takes unbelievable gall, ignorance of history, and a complete lack of self-awareness.
We are doing ok thanks Andrew, and we would do a damn sight better if people like you dealt with your own issues rather than projecting your problems onto others. Just because you can’t make friends doesn’t mean others can’t.
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
Your contribution to help with the running costs of this site will be gratefully accepted.
You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969
48 comments
Login here Register here-
king1394 -
Kaye Lee -
Presser#1 -
John Grech -
Terence Mills -
Kaye Lee -
Nigel Drake -
Doug Young -
Kaye Lee -
diannaart -
Miriam English -
Carol Taylor -
Kaye Lee -
paul walter -
guest -
diannaart -
Vixstar -
Vixstar -
New England Cocky -
Rhonda -
Lord John -
helvityni -
Rhonda -
Kaye Lee -
Egalitarian -
Zathras -
Kronomex -
Christian Marx -
Kaye Lee -
guest -
Henry Johnston -
paul walter -
helvityni -
Zathras -
Egalitarian -
jaq -
Kaye Lee -
Winston Symthe -
Ian Parfrey -
Nell Crowe Ryan
-
corvus boreus -
paul walter -
Zathras -
Kaye Lee -
Nell Crowe Ryan -
Greg -
Matters Not -
Winston Smythe
Return to home pageAgriculture is another area where it seems to be impossible to discuss things sensibly. At the moment, everyone is making great efforts to support our poor drought-stricken farmers with fundraising and hay runs. It is not the time to mention climate change let alone ineptitude and poor farm management. But when the rains come, we are told not to criticise farmers, that they know what is best for their enterprise, and indeed that they are the most environmentally conscious managers of their land. There are many farmers who have diversified, running farm holidays or renting out a bit of land for wind turbines, farmers who have adopted regenerative strategies with tree corridors, cell grazing, Natural Sequence farming, etc. and with built in resilience, they are managing reasonably well. Others destocked early, being able to read the weather maps and the mountain of free advice from Local Land Services. Drought should be a setback, not a disaster.
When will it be possible to move from boom and bust debt ridden processes if we can never raise the subject or put forward alternatives?
It’s impossible to discuss Indigenous Affairs sensibly. We ask for their voice, they confer widely and then speak from the heart, and then what? More patriarchy and punishment, more condescension and exploitation.
It’s impossible to discuss refugees and asylum seekers sensibly. We are killing people in our care through neglect at best, all the way through to murder. If we neglected greyhounds like this there would be uproar.
Well said as usual, Kaye. I am getting very tired of the professionally maladjusted airing their neuroses at length in the MSM instead of on the therapists couch where they belong. Anyone would think we were a nation of self indulgent whack-jobs instead of a vast majority just getting on with our comparatively privileged lives as best we can.
Good article, well written, clear and concise. Thank you. In the midst of the deluge of reactionary media pushing their own hideous agendas, it is refreshing to find thoughtful plain speech articles like this. Thanks again.
Bolt has latched on to a money-pot, there is big money in being a contrarian, on being outrageous, unconventional and controversial.
He learned his trade from the likes of Alan Jones who pioneered the field in Australia : Mark Latham is trying to carve out a similar career but with less success.
These guys don’t actually believe in what they are spouting but like little kids teasing an animal, they keep on doing it just to get a reaction and of course a few more dollars.
Sadly, the echo chambers of Sky and 2GB are fertile ground, where they thrive following the template developed by Fox News in the US and by the dirty-digger.
But let’s not kid ourselves that they are serious commentators or that they believe in the controversy that they peddle : they are just another version of the Kardashians without the big arses – well, other than Latham !
Presser#1,
In that interview they wrote:
” He was a “cripplingly shy” boy who shunned football and cricket and sought refuge in books and his parents’ classical music collection. Bolt prefers his opera in Italian, and in Italy. “I find the opera here, the halls, the dress, it’s all a little shabby.”
He seems to think horseracing is a “cultural quality”.
Seems to me the AFL is doing a better job of integrating the very diverse members of our community than horseracing or classical music. Not to mention our schools, and the communities that have welcomed migrants who have become valued, and loved, locals who throw themselves into contributing to the community where they live.
I don’t think Andrew actually has a handle on what Australian culture and values are about.
He is always right and never sorry – that is arrogance masking inadequacy if you ask me.
Perhaps it is not Andrew Bolt who is a danger; rather it is the mass of the general population who have believed what he is saying for most of their lives.
More likely it is a generational problem, attitudes passed down from generation to generation and peer to peer with little or no questioning.
There is a minority who will wish to challenge the status quo, but many of them will be silenced by a myriad of factors; from personal aversion to conflict, the need for peer approval, the need to find employment, to dismissal by the majority as being cranks.
It takes a strong person to remain steadfast in the face of mass disapproval.
I agree that its not possible to have an intelligent discussion about almost anything in this country, but I don’t agree that all the blame can be placed on the conservatives. Whilst I have no time whatever for the incumbent prime minster et al, I don’t see Shorten and his tribe of misfits, or for that matter, any of the rats and mice parties, as any better. ALP rusted-ons choose to ignore the fact that Shorten supported almost all of Turnbulls legislation including the Indue racket, demonizing pensioners, tax cuts for banksters, pay rises for politicians and criminalization of dissent. Furthermore the major parties have effective identical policies regarding totally unsustainable immigration and getting Australia embroiled in yankee initiated conflicts in countries that didn’t pose any risk to Australia. At state level, ALP governments (admittedly with the collusion of the LNP) created unconstitutional kangaroo tribunals that don’t observe rules of evidence or for that matter any legislation save that which they create on the fly, and which delight in destroying families / support networks in order that their criminal cohorts in the Office of the Public Trustee can embezzle the estates of victims. I’ve been very close to numerous guardianship matters, consequently no rusted-on ALP tragic can convince me that the ALP is ‘better’ than the utterly despicable LNP. Before a member of the peanut gallery interjects, I am not a rightie, leftie, Greenie, or any other kind of ‘ey’ …. I detest them all equally.
Nigel,
I cannot speak for others but I am sixty years old and am learning more and more every day. We all should question what we are told and what we may have once believed..
I am not sure it takes strength to remain steadfast in the face of mass disapproval. I think it takes strength to listen to others, to read widely from credible sources, and to be able to admit you may have been wrong.
Doug,
There are ALP policies with which I disagree and I let them know, not just in my public writing but in emails and phone calls. I want better too. But I cannot agree that the ALP are no better than the Coalition. I could list numerous policies of theirs that are much better than the Coalition’s feudal idea that through some sort of noblesse oblige, rich people will look after the poor and their working serfs. The climate change denial engaged in under the guise of concern about power prices is despicable. There are a myriad of ways we can lower power prices. There is no way we can replace our atmosphere. I could go on…..
Andrew Bolt is always the first to shriek hysterically at any imagined infringement on his (apparent) supreme right to spout claptrap and talk over others.
At least, he was not responsible for stopping conversation on abortion rights as was a young woman with the temerity to complain that it is ridiculous for a Tasmanian to have to travel to Victoria for an abortion – she gets fired from the Cricket Club. I have heard since the Cricket Club management said it was not the topic but the tone she used. I wonder how they feel about the tone used by Alan Jones, Greg Hunt, Michaelia Cash or Leyonhjelm. Some tones are more equal than others.
Just mentioning #METOO gets a roar of outrage from those who are vested in negating the very real experiences of women every day – even when well past their youth.
Some people interpret questions as dissent and proceed to abuse the hapless questioner.
Yes, Bolt is a disrupter, but just one among many.
Thanks Kaye, for making these excellent points.
I wonder how long it will take for the true conservatives to disown venomous jerks like Bolt. It’s beginning to happen in USA, so it will probably start to happen here too. Let’s hope it’s sooner rather than later.
The radical right-wing is about destruction. Ripping government apart, destroying the social safety net, dividing people against each other, removing accountability for politicians and corporations, lying with impunity. Against these wreckers, the progressives and conservatives are allies. The progressives want to embrace a fair future for all. The true conservatives want a stable and fair society.
Kaye Lee, that is a very astute observation, that it is indeed the far right who are making it impossible to have a reasonable debate on immigration (and other issues mentioned). The far right would have it the opposite, that it is the leftist, greenie PC bleeding hearts who stifle THEIR debate. I would put forward the opinion is that it’s racist rants we don’t want..opinions on the other hand are welcome.
As far as Bolt; he of a blinkered view of history and of the aforementioned racist rants, was clearly ‘absent’ during the 50s and 60s when identical rhetoric about not integrating and refusing to learn to speak English was aimed squarely at the Italian and Greek communities. ‘Go home ya wog’ was frequently aimed at any non-Anglo. Sad isn’t it, that we have to endure such language…again.
From Peter Shergold, former head of Australia’s public service
“Our responsibility does not stop at the moment we say, ‘Welcome to Australia, you’re here’– that’s just the start. The challenge we face is how we help refugees to help themselves, because that’s what they want.
“What do you want if you’re a refugee? You want to be self-reliant. And our job is to help make that possible and, in doing so, to help refugees, as they have done, generation after generation, give back to our nation.
“Once we’ve accepted them, we’ve got to do our utmost to help them, to help them integrate into our multicultural society, to help get their children through our education system, and to help their adults find an Australian job.”
And Frank Carbone, Mayor of Fairfield….
Of all city councils, Fairfield, in Sydney’s west, resettles the largest number of humanitarian migrants to Australia. In the past five years, it has resettled nearly 12,000 – more than three times the number of any other NSW local government area.
And in the past 18 months, Fairfield has seen a 500% increase in the resettlement rate, accepting more than 7,000 humanitarian migrants, including several thousand of those brought to Australia from Iraq and Syria under the federal government’s additional settlement program.
Fairfield’s mayor, Frank Carbone, said the city would continue to welcome more refugees: “Our community has told us they are willing to open their arms, open their hearts and open their homes.
“Because we’ve walked the road before, we understand the challenges refugees face, but we understand the benefits too.”
“We’re very disappointed with the government’s budget … my community says to me, ‘We don’t mind refugees coming to our city, we’ll always open our arms and we’ll take as many as are available but we are disappointed that the government is not providing the infrastructure we need to make sure our whole community is not impacted.’
“More needs to be provided to make sure that resettlement is done well.”
Fairfield city’s settlement action plan outlines eight key actions to assist refugees building a new life, centred on health, housing, education and employment.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jun/23/australias-refugee-capital-shows-what-the-country-can-do
I hope all this is not a hint that he is due for recruitment for a job hosting at the ABC.
Yes indeed, there are many disrupters. I found a few of them while reading the WE Australian before I threw it in the bin. Even headlines such as “By-election swing don’t mean a thing”; or “Get behind the boardroom rebellion against activists.” (Is Janet Albrechtsen not an “activist”?)
Then we have Greg Sheridan publishing a part of his book “God Is Good For You”, feeling the need to justify Christianity when Christianity is under fire. He tells us, with regard to Genesis, that light was created before the sun whereas the sun had been dominant in parts of pagan mythology, so the sun is “demoted” – a polemic against myth, according to one Jewish commentator. Great joke.
Or the story about Jonah spending three days in the whale. A whale in the Mediterranean?
And God is universal because he created both the River Murray and the River Jordan. What is the geology of that?
I find all that very difficult to follow. Do not get me onto divinity.
Then we have Caroline Overington saying: “Snobs put bias before books”. Of course Murdoch writers are not “snobs” or “leets”. So she sets out to criticise writers’ festivals, all of them, apparently. So boring! So she wants writers’ festivals to be places of argument and contention. She seeks out people of like mind, one of whom says, “I want to hear from the bigots – I want to shout them down.” It is Overington’s attitude, too, but we might wonder who the bigots are.
Overington sees that many who go to writers’ festivals are older women. She says, “They take risks and go and see writers that challenge and provoke.” – which rather puts the pin in her inflated balloon of criticism of writers’ festivals.
She also promotes Jordan Peterson as a good speaker to include in a festival – which would be a good way to “challenge and provoke”. And it would, too, given the considerable criticism meted out to Peterson in US literary circles.
And Gerard Henderson getting in a twist about a T-shirt with an image of Lenin. The wearer said it was a bit of a joke. It gives Hendo the chance to air his knowledge of Lenin. I wonder what Hendo wrote about the banners held up against Gillard’s carbon “tax”- the campaign which was later admitted to be a political falsehood perpetrated by the likes of Tony Abbott.
And what do any of them have to say about Turnbull’s charity of $444m given to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation without due process?
Greg Sheridan – another who gets way too much say in the public sphere; a man who believes in virgin births AND resurrections …
Caroline Overington “challenge and provocation” – the uber-right way of sprinkling glitter on bull-shit.
Claiming unsubstantiated nonsense as challenging and provocative, then whining when called out, is just another tactic to prevent reasonable discussion.
Like keeping the ABC “balanced” – such as interviewing a flat-earther after an interview with an astrophysicist – another way to stymie debate.
Fed Up.
When he came onto the scene years ago Mike Carlton described him as the “village idiot” and after all these years the title still best describes him , an idiot looking for a bigger audience using childish shock tactics that have all been done before. Best not to give this species any more oxygen than needed.
Doug Young
Could you please supply proof that ALP supported LNP in those pieces pieces of legislation, you mentioned cuts to banks etc. You also said that both major parties have the same policies ALP HAS NDIS MEDICARE GONSKI SUPERANNUTION ROLLING BACK PENALTY CUTS ,SAVING ABC , LANDRIGHTS FOR OUR FIRST PEOPLE ,ŔOYAL COMMISSION INTO BANKS , ROYAL COMMISSION INTO CHILD ABUSE , PLAIN PAKAGING, TAMPON TAX ABOLISHED EQUALITY , SOCIAL JUSTICE.
LNP HAS NO BONKING STAFF ,INCOME TAX CUTS TO PEOPLE EARNING ABOVE 90 GRAND A 7000 PAY RISE! NEARLY HALF BILLION DOLLARS TO A CHARITY CONSISTING OF 6 DICKS FROM MINING TO SAVE THE GREAT BARRIER REEF. FFS
LNP THE WORST GOVERNMENT IN AUSTRALIA’S HISTORY. CROOKED MALCOLM AND HIS TEAM OF DIMWITS
Umm … I am advised that Sky Television has about 3% of the viewers in Australia. So why is it given so much air time on public broadcasting outlets?? No wonder Murdoch wants to destroy the ABC, as much for the quality journalism,galling success and audience loyalty as for the idiots that Sky employs to destroy Australian culture.
It is time to make ownership of all Australian media outlets the sole preserve of entities having sloe Australian citizenship and at least 75% ownership by natural Australian single citizens.
He is a damaged soul. Like, he’s really really f*cked up, and he wants (… takes delight in) to infect others with his twisted “beliefs”. He’s a real worry 🙁
Unfortunately I tend to agree with Andrew Bolt on immigration.
Do you good people here watch and listen to Bolt, I do not…he is easily avoided, sadly not so our politicians….
Helvityni, not me – never in a million years! Yet, still, I manage to hear much of his reverberated muck. Somehow or other his f#ckery and stink seems to permeate.
If it was just Bolt he would be easy to ignore but it isn’t. Tim Soutphommasane is giving his last speech today as Race Discrimination Commissioner.
“Tim Soutphommasane says he never expected the biggest threats to racial harmony to come from within Australia’s own parliaments. The speech, to be delivered at the University of Western Sydney’s Whitlam Institute on Monday, is a blunt assessment of the “resurgence of far-right politics” in Australia which lays the blame on politicians and sections of the media for promoting division for personal gain.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/06/race-politics-is-back-race-commissioner-exits-with-parting-shots-at-conservatives
All the LNP backbenchers from 2GB have done a sterling job Kaye.
I used to think Bolt was just a pundit and a self-promoter trying to adopt the top position of self-appointed spokesman for disaffected contrarians but now I see him a little more than a white supremacist, a journalistic hack and a political thug.
His distorted commentary on Global Warming is predictable and his closeness to Howard and Abbott made him a consultant for Abbott on the watering down of Section 18C and the (illegal) recipient of classified documents related to Iraq’s alleged WMDs.
For a while he was Gina Reinhart’s bitch, gaining a TV show on channel 10 while she was a large shareholder but has since moved onto new pastures.
When it comes to his tendency for racial profiling I saw a comment on another site that defined his Dutch heritage as typically “having the arrogance of the Germans but none of the brains”.
I wonder how he would respond to that remark.
If that repulsive little pustule holds himself up as an image of being true blue (I detest that phrase) Australian then his version of “identity and values” can take a flying jump.
Who can forget Sky’s bullshit claims about Bolt’s 230,000+ weekly viewers claim a few weeks ago? After a bit of digging he’s lucky if he rates 25,000 viwers –
https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/sky-news-weeknight-lineup-is-a-deep-dive-into-ideological-obsession-20170403-gvc7cf.html
Unsurprisingly, Sky has gone quiet about their claims since then.
Bolt is no better than Blair Cottrell. They are both evil thugs. The ONLY
difference is that Bolt gets paid 1 million a year to spread his hatred…which shows you how
f#cked up this country has become.
Sky News hosted Cottrell in its studios for a one-on-one discussion about immigration on Sunday night, sparking widespread condemnation. Sky posted three videos on Twitter of Cottrell arguing for immigration based on race, and live tweeted his ideas.
Craig Emmerson quit in disgust.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/aug/06/sky-news-interview-far-right-blair-cottrell
John Hewson is equally outraged.
“Playing short-term politics with an issue that is so fundamental to our long-term national interest is damaging and dangerous,” he said. “People use it to score political points or to consolidate positions in particular seats, but at what costs in terms of our national coherence? It’s very shortsighted stuff in my view – it should be called out whenever and wherever it occurs.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/06/former-liberal-leader-john-hewson-says-australia-must-not-play-the-race-card
Looks like Pauline has done it again. She dog whistles, the Liberal Party try to out-do her. And as happened last time Pauline reared her ugly head, decent people are saying enough is enough. But the Liberal party aren’t listening, about that, or anything else. They think the race card and Kill Bill and more coal and tax cuts for the wealthy and more power for the church are what we want. They really don’t have a clue.
I am becoming obsessed with right-wing ideology propaganda which attempts to justify itself, yet runs so contrary to the rights of people. All their scribble is about money and defending the monied. I hate it.
So we have Chris Mitchell scribbling today about tolerance/intolerance in “Intolerance spreads as cultural ‘wowsers’ shut down ‘dangerous’ debate.’ He seems to be following on from the Week End’s ‘Snobs put bias before books’ scribbled by Caroline Overington. (Murdoch scribblers work in teams over days, weeks…years.)
Mitchell says: ‘While intimidation of Australian politicians falls far short of anti-Trump hysteria, there is among students, artists,journalists and political activists an increasing intolerance here, too.’
But of course the Abbott Coalition taught all of us such intolerance with the banners at the anti-“tax” protest cooked up by Abbott himself. Was the tax debate shut down by ‘wowsers’ of a different kind?
So we come to Douglas Murray, visiting from Britain, who tells us ‘Why Australia needs to stand firm and protect its borders’. He says that The Australian delegation at the UN in New York was right to state that the UN had “failed to make clear distinctions between regular and irregular migrants and between refugees and migrants.” He goes on to say that the UN has compelled nations to ‘import forms of extremism we used not to have’ – ignoring completely the IRA bombers of the past and the third generation children of migrants.
He claims the Australian representatives at the UN were right to ‘necessarily and heroically’ uphold the law about the difference between ‘legal and illegal immigrants’ because ‘If you don’t have the law then you don’t have much of a country either.’ But he does not say that in the case of boat people, for some Oz politicians they are illegal (contrary to UNHCR legislation) and deserve to held without charge for an indefinite length of time. In other words, if you do not like the UN law, write your own If you do not like the Paris agreement, ignore it. So, do we have a country or not? So much for FIFO commentators. He should read the book “No Friend But the Mountains” written by Behrouz Boochani as a prisoner on Manus for 5 years.
But of course people could fly in and claim asylum.
So to Graham Lloyd: ‘Eco-modernists put the doomsayers in their box.’ He goes on to blithely say: ‘An eco-modern manifesto published in 2105 (ic- really, Graham?) says human prosperity and an ecologicaly vibrant planet are not only possible but also inseparable.’
Such a far-seeing “manifesto” is very unlikely, given problems emerging now and into the future, such as plastic soup seas, food and water crises. But he goes on: ‘…there is still remarkably little evidence that human population and economic expansion will outstrip the capacity to grow food or procure critical resources in the near future.”
This is of course pure Lomborg-speak. The claim is the population will decline, we will adapt to climate change, and science and technology will solve all problems.
Bernard Salt has a different approach. He laments that with egard to farming ‘sadly we missed the opportunity to develop a global agribusiness business a generation ago.’ If he reads Charles Massys book “Cry of the Reed Warbler” he will find that it is a good thing we are learning to do with out Big Machinery and Big Fertiliser.
His idea is that ‘We need to support local entrepreneurs; we need to build a culture that is capable of civilly discussing important issues; and at an individual level I think we need to be tolerant and forgiving of those – no, especially of those – who we deem as having trespassed against us.’ Pace Chris Mitchell.
So to finish with Noel Pearson: “Here’s the deal: we need to be richer and fairer”. He praises both sides of politics, but ‘While neoliberalism may be exposed, there can be no trend back to socialism.’ So no handouts to the poor and disabled or to the big businesses, polluters and mining barons, eh? Good luck with that, Noel.
What a lot of hot air and pipe-dreams there, often half-baked and contrary, but still within the tent of neoliberal ideology which is fighting a rear guard action to defend its blatant self-interest which thinks that growing the pie beyond the limits of growth is a reasonable thing to do, that trickle down policies will close the gap and the world will become a paradise on Earth for all. And all this can be your dream too if you just ignore all the elephants in the room.
Good article. Thank you. Important to distinguish Bolt from the cohort of genuine Australian journalists who, despite an never ending attack on journalistic standards, manage to report news to an increasingly bewildered nation. Bolt and his ilk are entertainers, whose careers are managed to maximise advertising revenue for the network. In his case it is News Corp. via Sky News. As a dog returns to its vomit, Bolt et al will “write” items which shock and thus stimulate circulation/views/website hits which in turn attract potential advertisers. Thus the best way to express displeasure is to advise advertisers what will happen to their product if Bolt continues unchecked. Advertising managers in Sky News and across News Corp. are more powerful than editors! An advertising boycott which occurred to Bolt’s Fox female equivalent Laura Ingraham, hurt her, and her boss, Rupert Murdoch.
http://fortune.com/2018/06/22/laura-ingraham-david-hogg-advertising-boycott-migrant-families/
Tim Soutphommasane, alluded to by Kaye Lee above, got a good run on the Drum, if folk want to watch the replays. Observe closely Overington though.
paul walter,Tim Soutphommasane is always good, pity he is leaving…..wish I could say the same of Overington…Emerson too made a lot of sense….
Bolt a journalist?
A journalist gathers all the available information and then suggests a narrative that incorporates all the facts.
Bolt is not a journalist – he is a pundit.
Bolt first decides on a conclusion and then works backward to incorporate only those facts that support him and deliberately disregards those that do not – like a politician.
That’s what the 18C verdict was about – not free speech – but the clumsy way he went about it defamed a lot of people and for once, somebody called him out on it.
It should happen more often.
Tim Soutphommasane is a class act.
Last week a 14 year old Sudanese boy was stabbed by two white boys in Melbourne. He is still in hospital. Did we hear anything on MSM? Nothing. Dutton and this arsewipe have blood on their hands.
There are a hell of a lot of Nigerian farmers being killed too – 1300 deaths since January. They are even a Christian minority being attacked by an Islamic ethnic group so one would think Dutton and Bolt would be falling over themselves to bring them here. But no….because they are black perchance?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-02/nigeria-farmers-under-attack/10060378
Guest: They are all conperson idealogues. Pink is blue. Green is Yellowish up is down, yours is mine when it suit us.
Your mad I’m not. Your wrong I’m right And old Noel Pearson is drunk on the sound of his own voice.
Uncle Buck said it best.
It is possible that Bolt’s article “outing” clusters of certain ethnicities across certain suburbs of our capitals was an act of pure revenge. Angry at the fact that the proposal to create a special class of white South African farmer visa and returning the White Australia immigration policy has been resoundingly rejected.
Robert Manne has written a rebuttal of Bolt’s assertions but still claims Bolt is no antisemite. He is just someone who is prepared to make Jews and Indians and Chinese and black Africans who have had the audacity to turn up in Australia very, very uncomfortable.
As for the white South African farmers they appear to be climate refugees for the most part. But what would be the point of them coming to Australia then. Many of them have already migrated to Georgia where there’s more rainfall.
Informative article about drought, agriculture and water management that could be instructive for us.
2018/02/23
Day Zero on the back of drought in Southern Africa: Lessons for the future by Dhesigan Naidoo
In slightly heartening media news, Phuzbook and Yoochewb have taken down the accounts of the violently deranged individual called Alex Jones (‘Infowars’) for repeatedly violating their service conditions by spreading hate speech and incitement to violence.
https://www.vox.com/2018/8/6/17655658/alex-jones-facebook-youtube-conspiracy-theories
Whats the bet Sky ‘news’ will seek him out for an in-depth interview, if not offer him a regular time-slot?
As Rhonda said, he is f*cked up. There is something psychopathic afoot here.
The media trail for the persecuted white African farmers working backward from Dutton – it came from Miranda Devine and Caroline Marcus who got it from various Alt-Right sources.
The White Supremacist website Stormfront has been running the “white genocide” line for ages and is thrilled that it’s in the mainstream media.
It’s “old news” but suddenly became politically convenient and Dutton is a new poster boy for hate groups like this –
(Apologies in advance for this link).
https://dailystormer.name/australia-proposes-plan-to-accept-white-south-african-refugees-nignogs-butthurt-they-wont-be-able-to-slaughter-whitey/
Dutton must feel very proud to be accepted by like-minded supporters.
The Daily Stormer has been using David Leyonhjelm’s picture, though apparently without his permission. I wonder if it ever makes them pause to think about the type of people who are liking what they say.
https://medium.com/leyonhjelm/media-statement-fdf779b06426
Thankyou Zathras but I was well aware of that media trail. Of course there are other trails not making it into the mainstream. Even Jonathan Holmes piece on Foreign Correspondent did not contextualise the drought and its relationship to this violence. However in February there was an article by Peter Johnston in The Conversation Feb 25 2018 titled “How Western Cape farmers are hit by the drought” where he points out a significant social difference between South Africa and Australia in drought. He says that mechanisation is much higher in Australia and the use of unskilled labour much higher in South Africa.
“In 2017 there were 215,000 employees and 75% were seasonal workers.
Seasonal workers in South Africa usually settle in the production area …Whole families are dependent on this income and any job losses can have a severe impact including food insecurity, delinquency, alcohol and drug dependency and crime, as well as lack of self-esteem and domestic violence.”
Is it then any wonder that this desperation impacts “the haves” who no longer need them and with such tragic consequences. It is vitally important that governments anticipate and manage climate disasters more effectively and they cannot possibly do that while they deny reality.
Andrew Bolt, (and his followers) is quite obviously a sufferer of the Dunning-Kruger Effect, the Dunning-Kruger Effect is a type of cognitive bias, in which people lower on the intelligence scale, believe that they are smarter and more capable than they really are. Essentially, low ability people do not possess the skills needed to recognize their own incompetence. The combination of poor self-awareness and low cognitive ability leads them to overestimate their own capabilities.
In lay-mans terms, they suffer from an extreme lack of intelligence, or a just plain dumb or stupid. And an unfortunate but true fact is, the dumber a person is, the more dangerous they are! entirely due to their being unable to think rationally. Societies, and no doubt various animal species in the past have have died off, because of this lack of intelligence.
a society with a higher percentage of intelligent people than unintelligent people, will succeed and prosper. A society with a higher percentage of unintelligent people than intelligent people, will eventually wipe itself out. An intelligent person who needs to climb a ladder, will take precautions to prevent themselves falling from said ladder while they are on it. An unintelligent person will not, and therefore more often than not, will likely fall off it.
Andrew Bolt is not, cynical, selective, careless, unfair, gratuitous, misleading or disrespectful, he is just plain dumb, and the quicker those of lesser intelligence, recognise that fact, ignore him, and get on with life and at least try to think before acting, the better for all concerned.
Re Dunning-Kruger. Let David Dunning explain it himself via reference to Trump and how it effects all of us eventually. Made about one week ago. Short and to the point.
I was watching Bolt closely recently and you are right. He is one dim witted dunce.
He’s in last straw territory engaging with the obnoxious brat like Milo Manipulateopoulos.