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Broadcasting Vs Narrowcasting
Andrew Olle (Pic courtesy Australia media hall of fame) The other day, gentle reader, I listened to the Andrew Olle Memorial lecture, given...
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Fascism as a political movement exhibits four basic criteria. First, fascism it is not an ideology, but an activity. Secondly, it... -
Pic courtesy The Atlantic The media is having a field day with its coverage of the pandem... -
Pic courtesy Fraser Coast Chronicle I’ve blogged before about history rhyming, rather than repeating itself. Having said that, f...
6 comments:
Bob stop being so beige, that was funnier than you ever will be......well aside from your lefty political leanings comrade!
Bob stop being so beige, that was funnier than you ever will be......well aside from your lefty political leanings comrade!
So to express concerns about the lunatic is showing "lefty" leanings?
Now that is funny. I'm sure Mitt Romney (and many other members GOP stalwarts) are rolling around the floor laughing.
No Bob you didn't need to comment on Trump to screech out to the world that you're a union loving commie who has spent a lifetime suckling from the public bosom. All of that aside the video was bloody funny.
I've been a union member since 1968 and proud of it. As for the "public bosom" - I happen to run a business.
I'm also intensely proud of the forty plus years I've spent working for people with disabilities in the public service. When you come up with a way of making a profit services like police, hospitals, schools and welfare you can gibber on about the evils of public service. Until then, be content that you live in a country sane enough to recognize that the market is not always the answer.
This nation was built on the trade union movement, starting with the shearer's strike of 1891, which culminated in the development of the Australian Labor Party, the first political organisation anywhere in the world advocating for the welfare of workers.
The Labor movement became very successful, became a powerful political force, and Labor took us safely through the only time in our history when we were under existential threat (during world war 2).
The existence of a thriving middle class in this country is largely an outcome of the benefits earned through a century of union activism. Without that, we would resemble the USA, which has one of the highest proportions of working poor in the world.
Since then, during the late sixties and early seventies, the Tories conscripted young Australians to fight in an invading army against Vietnamese patriots engaged in a war of national liberation, seeking to unite their divided country.
The fear of the Communist menace was created to control the population, but history shows (when Communist China went to war with Vietnam in early 1979) that the issue was nationalism, not Communism. We were conscripted on a lie for political advantage, and about 500 Australians died trying to keep Menzies/Holt/McMahon in power. I didn't get a vote in 1969, yet was expected to fight for democracy.
When I explain that to young people today, they refuse to believe it.
The Viets had been fighting foreign invaders for hundreds of years. We were the last of a long line of them, including the Japanese, the French, and the Americans.
The Australian people eventually woke up to fact that they were being conned, and our troops were withdrawn. I was in country when the first battalion wasn't replaced.
Those same Tories then sent us to Coventry when we returned. Labor was consistent and opposed the war from the get-go. It took until the welcome home march in 1987 before we were given any recognition, and we marched past a Labor PM, Bob Hawke. The irony wasn't lost on me.
Labor (under Hawke and Keating) also implemented successful economic policies which dragged the country kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
Wee Johnny splurged this progress on middle class welfare, and got the boot when he took on the Union movement with Workchoices.
As for calling me a "Commie" - I don't think you'd have the nouse to recognize a real Communist if he/she jumped up and bit you on the arse.
I'll tell you where you can look for one. When I was sent to Vietnam, we were frequently told that the Reds were under the bed.
Have a look there (under your bed), you might find one.....
Nice rant there Bob, what's my takeaway from it......Bob went to war to fight commies and became one because he hates Tories. Bloody funny video though.
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