“So we find Alan Jones can’t stand Julia Gillard and Julia can’t stand Alan; I wholeheartedly agree with each of them.”
Having said that, this US phenomenon of the “shock jock” – and by extension, shock cartoonist, shock columnist, shock TV presenter – needs to be condemned.
And they
need to be condemned by exposing the class interests behind their promotion.
Nothing suits
the ruling class better than to have the people arguing amongst themselves
instead of as a solid mass against the rulers.
Divide and rule. Encourage male
contempt for women; heterosexual hatred of gay, bi-sexual and transgender
persons; mainstream Aussie rejection of Asians and blacks; waged people’s
resentment of “dole bludgers”; the free citizen’s anger at “boat people”….the
list goes on. Only one thing is
excluded: the united determination of the people to get the ruling class off
their backs and into the dustbin of history.
That they will never encourage.
Adelaide’s
“talkback king” Bob Francis was removed from the airwaves for four weeks last
June for saying “Bugger the boatpeople, I say.
As far as I’m concerned, I hope they bloody drown out there on their way
over here…”
A fortnight
later Francis got his wish with the drowning of over 90 asylum seekers when
their boat capsized in Indonesian waters about 110 nautical miles northwest of
Christmas Island.
There was no statement of contrition or regret from
Francis. He remains on air because it
suits the ruling class to have him continue to foment disagreement and disunity
amongst the people.
Then there are people like cartoonist Larry Pickering who
publicly harass Gillard from a sexist and misogynist perspective.
Pickering’s claim to fame was a series of satirical cartoons
which were made into calendars during the era of Malcolm Fraser and Bob Hawke.
Pickering’s
cartoons of Gillard naked and sporting a giant dildo are not satire: they have
a meaner and nastier flavour.
They have
moved past humour and are simply an expression of one man’s savage dislike of
the woman, and a throw-back to earlier labelling of her as “lesbian” - as
though lesbianism was some disgusting crime.
Pickering
recently took Gillard to task for her response to allegations concerning her
time as a lawyer with Slater and Gordon.
He listed 24 questions that he wanted her to answer under the heading “What
a cunning stunt”.
This a
rhyming slang for an insult based on the four-letter term for vagina.
Pickering
is clearly bitter as a result of a divorce that has left him bankrupt, is
anti-women (“I have run out of brood mares”, he says at the end of the same
article) and has been exposed as a con-man and fraudster.
Yet
misogynists and nutters rallied to his defense, applauding his vile rants and
cartoons.
Murdoch
continues to publish the reactionary Andrew Bolt whose loony ravings embraced
racism for which he enjoyed a day in court.
Gina Rinehart found him so palatable that she is widely believed to be
behind Channel Ten’s decision to give him his own show.
The same
channel has promoted the obnoxious Paul Henry as part of its breakfast
show. He makes Bob Francis and Larry
Pickering look almost sane by comparison.
Now back
to Alan Jones.
His
comments about Julia Gillard’s father dying of shame were cruel not just to Gillard
but also to her grieving mother Moira.
That has apparently escaped Jones’ notice, for his pathetic faux apology
made no reference to her.
While it
is good to see major corporate sponsors temporarily withdraw support from Jones’
show, it is also testament to the power that the ruling class has to sustain
divisive and reactionary commentary in normal times and explains why there are
no normal people putting forward a progressive perspective in the mass media.
Those
working people who follow the opinionated, belligerent put-downs offered by the
“shockers” will always be “the stupid victims of deceit and self-deceit” (Lenin) until
they start to ask of such put-downs, “Who does this serve?” and “Which class stands to benefit from the
divisions being promoted by this sleaze bag?”
Because in
a class society, every type of thinking carries with it the characteristics of one
or other of the great social classes confronting each other in daily life.
