It seems that the toxic actions of the PM are getting a good public airing at last but don’t forget that she is just the tip of the iceberg. That is the corrupt condition of the ALP, its platform (the trade unions), its publicists (the MSM) and the toxic political and intellectual culture generated by the leftwing intellectual classes based in the universities.
Hence the importance of those journalists and newspapers that provide alternative viewpoints, the blogosphere, the Defence of Western Civilization project at IPA, the Mannkal Economic Education Foundation and the need to do something about the corruption of the “house of intellect” as Jacques Barzun called it.
The universities are a central part of the house of intellect but fortunately not the whole of it, given the extent of anti-intellectualism that has taken root in the academies. Even in philosophy. When philosophy becomes toxic then it is not surprising that other parts of the academy are hollowed out and students either enlist with obscurantist movements like Marxism and POMO or turn anti-intellectual in reaction.
To be continued. Written from Arlington on the eve of the Austrian Thought conference at the Uni of Texas.
Spent a day in flight during the Hurricane Sandy drama with the inflight video news consisting of the news from the day before. So much for the Global Village.
UPDATES
A nice piece on the evasive tactics of the current administration.
How the people who run the ALP promote productivity.
How 100,000 activists dictate ALP policy. The story is about Alan Jones but deep inside is some information about 100,000 people who are on a hair trigger alert to leap into action at the call. See how many follow after the first 100,000! Are these the 100,000 who switched off the live cattle trade and the big fishing vessel that was sent home?
Another anti-Jones organiser, Change.com, which like GetUp is a progressive social media network imported from the US, used to market itself as a politically neutral platform. It revealed itself as far from neutral when Change.com become an active cheerleader for the anti-Jones boycott campaign.
The campaign via Change.com was white hot for a week but quickly ran out of steam. After an initial surge of 100,000 online signatures in support of a boycott the growth in numbers fell to a trickle. When the petition closed after a month it had 116,000 signatures.
Rafe, the take away I get from the political culture is that we have returned to the world where the Media act as agents for government with the result rampant corruption of the political process will be allowed if role the media previously held is not taken up by other agents.
We saw with the way news travelled about the AWU scandal (and the way the stenographers work to surpress those efforts & demonise the people) the new media people talked about is needed and therefore becoming mature.
Token
1 Nov 12 at 7:47 am
From Sheehan’s article :
Nice understatement at the end. What a smacking for the liar’s party propaganda radio. If it ‘probably’ had nothing to do with Jones, then the alternative is people are tuning out the national broadcaster. More and more people are waking up to the ongoing insult to their intelligence that is their ABC.
Keith
1 Nov 12 at 8:04 am
This movement will take time to mature, but we can count on the big government statists to help us by continue to insult people who challenge their reactionary tactics.
Token
1 Nov 12 at 8:12 am
The more immediate pressure will come when the on-air chardonnay socialists are forced to make a hard choice between their support for the greens, against a continuing decline in the green vote. At some point the labor minders will insist on their support against an emerging difference in policy. Some have already gone mute on immigration whereas the high-handed green moralizing was previously featured.
Keith
1 Nov 12 at 8:28 am
Yes, the battle between the legion of immigration rent seekers and the rest of the Labor drones is going to be interesting.
I suspect that like mose civil wars on the left, though news of the action go unreported/be surpressed, it will be vicious and bloody.
Token
1 Nov 12 at 10:07 am
Here’s an interesting idea. Bloggers need a peak industry body. Then I guess accreditation followed by licensing.
The greatest thing about the internet, it seems to me, is that it grew without government regulation. Governments and others are nor struggling to get control. Here the NBN will help. It will give the government a master switch.
ken n
1 Nov 12 at 10:35 am
[...] Toxic all the way down [...]
the Gillard scandal … “just the tip of the iceberg” | pindanpost
1 Nov 12 at 11:01 am
“Here the NBN will help. It will give the government a master switch.”
No coincidences there. They know the populism will only work so far, so they need to stop dissent. If only we could tap into the youth’s perception of Internet freedom being something special to garner their support into the greater issue of freedom, then this could be overcome.
As it stands, a reelection of Gillard could be the final nail in Australia’s democratic coffin. Still, it’s a good time to get into baseball bat retailing.
The Beer Whisperer
1 Nov 12 at 12:51 pm