The Age - Smelling More Like a Murdoch Every Day

Thursday 30 January 2014

Ahh, The Age.  I remember what it was like before the combo of shrinking mainstream media combined with Gina getting onto the board.  It's not like this hasn't been coming for ages.

But then, I remember when the ABC could be counted upon to report news in its entirety.  However, Auntie's news reporting is starting to veer a little closer to Channel Ten and a little further from SBS.

However, this opinion piece by someone associated with the Institute for Public Affairs claiming that that ABC is way too left-leaning is ridiculous.  Of course, in comparison with Murdoch media the ABC is positively communist.  But that's not a very good comparison.

He's lost me totally when he talks about Auntie being privatised.  Haven't we learnt anything from the Kennett years?  Privatising your assets is short-sighted, profit-driven and just plain ridiculous.  And labelling those in disagreement with your views as "hysterical" is the usual way people behave these days when talking about people who are not them or their gang, but it contributes nothing to the conversation.

A piece of fluffy click-bait.  Can't expect much more from The Age these days.  Sadly.  If there was ever a need for a taxpayer-funded broacaster, it's even more so today, not less, even if Auntie also needs to lift her game. 

9 comments

  1. I too remember when, if you wanted "the facts" (loosely termed in regards to all media tho'), you looked to the ABC.
    Call me ignorant and uninformed, but I tend to steer clear of most news/media today.
    I catch the occasional article. But, it's pretty much all annoying pap. They all tell us only what they want us to know.
    Conspiracy much? ;)

    And when I do cross the lounge room floor when hubby's watching the evening news, I see segments like the totally illogical, fear founded culling of sharks in my old haunt in W.A.
    And it makes me want to rail and cry at humanity.

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    1. Sharks killing humans. Therefore, kill sharks.

      It's been our modus operandi for hundreds of years now, hasn't it?

      And yeah, if anything gonna wipe us and every other species off the face of the earth, it'll be our abject inability to act with wisdom instead of giving in to our fear.

      I'm totally over being a part of this species today. I hate who we've become. We're just so fucking ugly. Everyone in their own private little defensive fort, battling everything else Other that lies outside. We are really quite fucked up and this morning I am awfully glad that I am at home, away from any other thing called a human :)

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    2. Hear, hear.

      I once almost (very close) had "misanthrope" tattooed on my forearm.
      Still tattooed within me though.

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    3. I mostly just hate white people.

      We're fucked.

      Full of information and knowledge, and fucked over when it comes to wisdom, with an inability to hear and hold other people's stories without nitpicking. We don't deserve to continue as a species.

      I am aware, however, that this mood is temporary like all the others, and then the eternal optimism will flood back in again and I will feel in my gut that while it appears as if the world is full of motherfuckers, there are actually a whole bunch of awesome people doing awesomeness, and then I will focus on them and not so much on the others.

      I'm also getting my period. Can you tell? :D

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    4. Ahh, the pre-period anti-humanity lament... I know it well. Wore it on my sleeve for most of my life.
      Now, in peri-menopause, I seem to have mellowed somewhat. But, the lament still lingers within, and can rear its head from time to time.
      I'm also very cynical by nature. Seen too much shit in my younger years to be otherwise. I'm working on it, but, it's a lifetime job.
      I'll never reach Gandhi status tho' :)
      Sigh. We are complicated creatures.
      Men will lay the word "complicated" at women's feet. But, it's so not exclusive to women. Men are very much so, also.

      We are blessed, but also cursed, with the internet.
      Connected to people around the world. It can be so lovely - there are some wonderful people out there that I would never have come to know otherwise. However, we also see so much more ugliness too. I stay the hell away from public forums now. Too much negativity. And often very ignorant comments from very ugly, ignorant people. And, too many sheeple.
      It pays to be choosy.

      I once learned long ago, to (try and) surround yourself with people who are good for you. Reciprocal give and take.
      One can have very many shallow acquaintances. I'd rather have but a few truly good friends.

      And yes, there are many good people doing good things.
      Another reason why I avoid the media. You rarely hear about the good stories, unless there's an agenda.
      Good people, don't make good (read, sensational) news.
      There, conspiracy creeps in once more.

      Now, about the US Govt and disclosure.....
      ;)

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    5. I have an ongoing love affair with conspiracy theories. I find them fascinating to study in themselves - why do some people indulge in them, and why do others dismiss them outright, and what does that say about both groups, and our relation to the unknown, the dark, and our understanding of power structures in the world?

      I find it ridiculously frustrating that it is so hard to get people to have respectful conversations without them resorting to belittling the other side. I see it everywhere online, and it also seems to be a blind spot we all carry. Oh, yeah, I can see that that person over there is a shamer. But I'm not. I'm defending the ramparts. I'm standing up for {insert whatever} and so therefore when *I* call someone else names in discussions or in social media, it's just me standing up for what's right.

      No, dick, it's just you continuing the paradigm. Get off your high moral horse and face your shit.

      Hmm, seems that I am feeling frustrated and angry at other people's methods of dealing with their frustration and anger again. Is there any end to this circle?

      Which is part of what the creative space I've got in mind is about. Somewhere safe and in real time where people can have discussion and know they're not going to get shamed because it's not acceptable. I'll talk to you about it more on Thursdee :)

      Disclosure ... I read a blog written by someone who is uber conspiracy theory. I find he's far too paranoid even for me, but I like to know what lots of different people are discovering and thinking and believing. They believe that the US Government is planning a false flag event to end all false flag events - some kind of mass hologram stunt to make the world think that the bad ETs are coming to get us. That would be pretty crappy now, wouldn't it?

      My first thought is that while it's conceivable that something like that could happen, it doesn't appear very probable from where we stand, most of us having seen no evidence at all for extra-terrestrials. But if something like that ever did, my first thought would be what were they hiding? And because I'm so incredibly paranoid, I would presume that what they were hiding was some evidence of REAL extra-terrestrial activity. Examining past events that could well have been false flags, that would seem to be the MO employed.

      Anyway, interesting talking about this stuff. I try to remain open either way. The world is far crazier than we think in our sanitised and safe little Western versions.

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    6. True. And, there are so many varying theories from different perspectives that the whole thing gets hazy and confusing. Discombobulated ;)

      Sometimes, I think "they" (call them world-bank/world governments/Illuminati - or the whole bloody lot of them in cahoots) keep the majority of the populous distracted and insular thinking with the ability to have large bank loans and credit card debt so that we all can be insecure about all of our expensive stuff.
      In other words, "don't be looking too much at what's going on, little pawns, and just focus on your immediate surroundings and pretty things - don't ask questions, don't dig too deep and you won't lose anything".
      That's where the media come in - keep people paranoid and fearful with fabricated/embellished stories so that we look to "authority" to keep us safe.
      When there's nothing to really be afraid of.
      Or, is there???
      :)

      Some really want us to believe that there is much to fear about aliens and possible invasion.
      Really? I'm sure if they were that interested, extraterrestrials would've shown up in a big way by now.
      Do they walk among us, as some would have us believe? Possibly.
      And, some say that alien beings have been working alongside the US government in labs and underground bases for years now.

      Who to believe?
      Well, I'll believe it when I see one in front of me.
      Otherwise, why should I panic and be fearful of someone else's opinion and beliefs - sounds too "churchy" to me.

      Ghosts on the other hand, I believe. In whatever form. Be they a glimpse of something from a parallel universe or a residual apparition or possible possession.
      I believe, because I've seen. And, I know what I saw.

      So, I'll accept things when I see them with my own eyes.
      Open, but sceptical.

      It's good to challenge. And to keep an open mind as much as possible.

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  2. I wish I would read my comments before publishing them. Part of what I said makes no logical sense. Sometimes my mind races way ahead of my thoughts and my fingers.

    When I said that I think it's conceivable but doesn't appear probable, what I really should have said was something along the lines of "not probable from where we stand because we find it hard to believe that we would be hoodwinked in such a way, or that a small group of people are pulling our strings in any fashion, even though our structures are set up to point directly to them. And also that we are so cynical now that we probably wouldn't even believe what we see anyway, haha."

    Sigh. I hope you can make sense around my ramblings. I feel like years of CFS has killed my brain in certain fashions. You'll probably be able to see it in evidence more on Thursday. I find I write better than I talk, because when I talk I can get befuddled and then I get stagefright and then I feel like my brain is shutting down. Very annoying. But hopefully there's enough strands for people to make sense of what I'm saying in amongst the crap.

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    1. Oh well, we'll both be raving and befuddled together. And perhaps, much sense will be made from it all, because we'll both be on the same befuddled plane, lol!!

      And, if you, "write better than you talk", then there's not much hope for me I'm afraid, as I believe the same of myself.
      Your writing is much more intellectual, so you're one up on me.

      Oh well, I hope you can tolerate my incongruous rambles :D

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