Humble Abbott vs narcissistic Turnbull

Lefties are nothing if not predictable. If they see something one way, it's pretty much a lay down misere that the truth will be the exact opposite, or close to it. Take their very jaundiced view of Tony Abbott. In their eyes he's a misogynist, a homophobe, an elitist and a racist among other things.

But evidence tells us that the opposite is the case. He regularly spends time in outback indigenous communities. His own sister -- a lesbian -- says he doesn't hate gays and dykes. His female staff speak highly of him and even arch enemy mummy blogger Mia Freedman said she found him hard to hate when she finally got to meet him.

Regarding his alleged elitism: There was that endearing tale of Tony lobbing to pick up a second hand fridge. And there's an interesting little item from yesterday ... See, a bloke's car broke down on the road in Sydney's north and none other than our former PM jumped out of his own to give him a hand.

While this story did make it to a coupla outlets, it certainly hasn't been promoted far and wide. The reason is obvious. It debunks the narrative that the leftie Abbott-haters in the MSM want to keep alive in the public mind.

Turnbull, on the other hand has long been in their good books -- although he has lowered in their estimation since taking office. That's mainly because they thought he was gonna give 'em everything they wanted. But he's only delivered some of it so far.

They waxed lyrical about his communication skills, huuuge intellect, meeja smarts and all the rest of it. They also liked to present him as more of a man of the people than Abbott, even though he's filthy rich. He catches public transport, don't ya know. What an egalitarian!

But the reality is obvious. Turnbull is not nearly as smart, decisive and competent as they (and he) reckon. And he's always been far more stuck up than the man he replaced. Many have described him as a narcissist. And this case of him renaming the party in promo material certainly supports that view.

Then there's his obvious controlling nature. He saw his knifing of Abbott as "just business" and he wants everyone else to just move on from it. He can't stand the fact that people still wanna know about it, and what it says about those who supported him.

One of those traitors was Fiona Scott. Look at the fear and discomfort in her eyes in this train wreck interview today. Is she packin' death about her own electoral chances, or the dressing down from the PM if she says the wrong thing? Prolly a bit of both ...

And check out Turnbull's own creepily frozen expression when the reporter asks about Scott's support of him over Abbott. That dazzling grin of his has certainly lost its sparkle. More of a pained grimace, actually.

What a wretched, controlling character he appears to be ... And can you imagine him helping you push your car if it broke down?

Neither can I.

Camille Paglia is back and sticking it to the PC thought police

Back in the mid nineties I was living Melbourne, doing standup comedy and getting some acting work here and there. Needless to say a lot of my fellow arty wankers were full on lefties. Heaps of feminist chicks, too.

They were always quacking on about equality, freedom of speech, artistic integrity, diversity and all the rest of it. But it slowly became very clear to me that they didn't walk their talk -- barely crawled it, actually. In reality they were highly conformist and intolerant of any views other than their own. This was especially true of anything to do with the Bloke-Chick Thing.

Anyhoo, I started looking beyond The Age (then as now a drearily right-on rag) for info and views. Somehow I got to hear about Camille Paglia, this feminist who was ruffling other feminists' wings big time. I can remember saying to a coupla bolshie babes I knew at the time: "Why are you so hostile to her? Isn't feminism a broad church?"

These days such a suggestion would prolly require a trigger warning, coz they would almost blow their tops, no kidding. When they managed to calm down they'd always tersely state something along these lines: "Camille Paglia is not a feminist, okay!"

I found the notion of a feminist who wasn't intriguing, and promptly read her epic tome Sexual Personae. It's a fantastic book and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in art, history, politics and the culture wars.

Unlike today's social justice warriors -- who've basically got their heads whopped up their own clackers (as Van the Man might say, they've got their eyes closed in the dark) -- Camille Paglia uses a much wider, longer lens, viewing contemporary developments in a grand, global, historical context.

She really burst onto the scene in the early nineties and was quite a celebrity at the time. But while she was still busy in the noughties, her media profile certainly waned considerably.

Now, with the resurgence of an extremely toxic, divisive and authoritarian version of political correctness -- particularly on American campuses -- her insights have become more relevant than ever. So she's popping up all over the place and triggering countless finger-wagging arsehats, which is great to know.

Waleed Aly a safe, PC Gold Logie award choice

Congrats to Waleed Aly for snaring the Gold Logie last night. My first thought: Excellent. He can melt it down and trade it for cold hard cash. Then he'll finally be able to buy that house!

Er, but then I remembered that of course it was made of fool's gold. So it's back to renting for poor Waleed -- unless some devoted fan starts a crowdfunding campaign on Pozible or something ...

In any case I was hardly surprised by his win. While the Logies purport to be a fair and democratic reflection of the viewers' collective opinion, I think they're quite a way from this in reality. That's because the various TV channels decide which of their personalities they'll push into contention.

Selecting the finest in Aussie TV Land is not unlike voting for a PM, really. On election day you do get to choose from a range of pollies. But you don't get to choose who to choose from, if you get my drift.

So the Logies are not truly rigged. But they're manipulated to some degree in that wins result from a combo of insider nudge tactics and genuine public opinion.

Needless to say, the fluffy wuffies on Twitter and elsewhere saw the choice of Aly as some sort of paradigm-busting cultural event. (And as usual they want it both ways: Australia is admirably egalitarian for awarding him, and deeply racist for criticizing the win ... WTF?)

Really, all it showed was that the sneering hipsters who dominate Aussie TV culture desperately wanted him to get the gong. (And that's not mainly because he's non-Anglo, BTW. It's because of his religion, Islam -- which as any sane adult knows, is not a race.) And the viewers were happy to support this goal when casting their votes.

And why wouldn't they be? To use the anodyne PC-speak favoured by social justice warriors Aussies have long been "tolerant of diversity" anyway.

True to form the crusading Aly himself framed his win in drearily right-on social justice terms:

Aly has taken out the top prize at Australian television's night of nights, dedicating his Gold Logie to "Dimitri, Mustafa, and all other people with unpronounceable names like Waleed".

"Waleed" unpronounceable? Eh?

Perhaps he was talking about the smug lefties that surround him in the studio. Wouldn't be surprised if they struggle, prolly 'cause they're so used to referring to that footy guy, Wally.

Anyhoo, "Aly" is even more of a doddle. Certainly less of a tongue-twister than "Aloysius" ...

And what was all that about a bloke called Mustafa who said he can't get a job if he uses that name? Well, all I can say is don't tell these guys. Doesn't seem to have done them any harm.

So, all in all some pretty meaningless PC cant from the Gold Logie winner.

Speaking of which: "Hall of Famer" Noni Hazlehurst actually managed to outdo him in that regard:

"For many decades Play School has been a safe haven for small children in an increasingly complex media landscape and world.

"I started to see a world through the preschoolers' eyes to see how free and unafraid they are to just be. They haven't yet been conditioned.

"But also how easily frightened and overwhelmed they are. How easily abused, and particularly how empathetic they are. No child is born a bigot."

And as that little gargle itself attests no leftie sleb ever becomes an adult, either.

Northwestern Uni frat house furore shows feminists never satisfied

Watching today's victim feminists prosecute their toxic campus campaigns is funny, sad, and oh so predictable. They've really got their tactics down pat.

See, they use a two-pronged approach that the lumpen Left have been employing to great effect for yonks. If you're one of these malignant, parasitic creeps and you wanna start monstering folk (which of course you will do, since the subordination of others is like oxygen to you) the process is pretty straightforward.

Basically, you take a genuine social ill and cynically use it to claim victimhood yourself, implying that all members of the group you're targeting are somehow complicit in this scourge. Then demand of them a demonstration of support, to prove that they've been "attitudinally reconstructed". When your crybullying bears fruit and they show obeisance in some form or other, sit there sulking and whine that this is still not good enough!

Rinse, repeat.

Here's a good illo of this method from one of those alarmingly SJW-infested campuses in America:

Northwestern University fraternities thought they were doing the right and noble thing, hanging banners off the sides of their houses reminding students that it was Sex Assault Awareness Month.

But not only was the move not enough to satisfy campus social justice warriors, some SJWs forced the fraternities to issue a blanket apology for their effort, because their signs might have “triggered” some students.

Nothing is ever good enough for 'em. Contrary to their claims they're never really trying to make life fair, right, and good; to bring peace and harmony, etc. They're just relentlessly seeking power over others. And like the tapeworm that finally kills its host, they'll keep on going as long as they have breath.

The same thing is happening here in Australia, most notably with this nationwide chorus of guilt-trippy whining 'n' shrieking about domestic violence. The miserable frightbats who push these sinister, misandrist campaigns that slime all men for the brutality of a few don't give a rat's about the suffering of women and children, really. They're just exploiting it to monster others with their gruesome sanctimony. And they'll keep going until they totally subordinate, and in some cases, psychologically cripple their targets.

That's why any bloke who is nagged by these tragic termagants should resist from the get go. Stand your ground and say: "Not guilty, Toots. You and yer twisted sisters can all go take a flying faaaark at a bouncing dildo!"

Then just stay away from them at all times. Really, it's the only way. You'll be damned if you do; damned if you don't. Better to take the latter option. If you start acceding to their demands they'll eat you alive eventually, no kidding.

Shorten is wrong. His and Turnbull's personality will be a huge factor

You've probably heard that great line "politics is show business for ugly people". It's funny and has a lot of truth to it. (The aphorism's inverse, that showbiz is politics for pretty people, does too. Look at how movie stars compete for agents -- who themselves battle each other viciously -- and advance their careers with feel-good causes, for example.)

Needless to say, show business proper is all about celebrity. And if you wanna make it as a sleb, you gotta have personality, baby!

Similarly, a politician's personality is a hugely influential factor in the eyes of the electorate. Of course he doesn't need to be able to sing, dance, or tell jokes. And voters don't absolutely have to like him -- although of course it helps if they do. But they do need to feel that they know what makes him tick; where he's coming from; what he truly believes in.

That's why I think Bill Shorten got it wrong with this observation about the upcoming election:

Speaking in Sydney today, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Australians should realise Mr Turnbull favoured wealthy people.

"When you hear some people say more money doesn't fix things, the only people who have that view are people who already have enough money," Mr Shorten said.

"The more [people] look at the policies, not the personalities, and they see our positive plans, I'm optimistic that despite our underdog status people will realise that a Labor government will put people first," he told Channel Nine.

Shorten is trying the ol' class warfare line here. That will have some influence, of course. But I think that a bigger reason he's now got a very good chance of winning the election is because voters are finally getting a handle on Turnbull's character (or lack thereof) and they don't like it at all.

They started off blinded by his dazzling smile and impressed by his authoritative manner. But his tendency to waffle and his inability to actually get anything done have prompted a massive reappraisal of him.

Also, I think a lot of people are starting to suspect that Turnbull is not nearly as smart as he thinks he is, and all his tragic meeja boosters have been telling us. Take this train wreck interview with David Speers, in which he couldn't bring himself to state a simple dollar amount.

This could have been another example of his tragic tendency to waffle. But it seems likelier that he just didn't know what it was. Both these interpretations reflect very poorly on him as a pollie, and as a person. Hell, if he isn't across this kind of info, why on Earth is he in the top job?

Voters have had a longer look at Shorten and they've got a clearer idea of what he's like deep down. Aside from those tragically deluded rusted-on Labor voters who think he's a real "salt of the earth" "man of the people", I think most Aussies see him for what he is: a ruthlessly ambitious opportunist with a very murky past as a unionist, and one who is beholden to that movement as well as to other special interest groups in his party. They don't really trust him. But they kinda know where he's coming from.

Of course there are other factors that they're considering, with policies significant among them. And I know we don't vote for the PM directly on election day. But we are all mindful of who is leading each party and how we perceive his personality is a massive part of what goes into making our final choice.

Candace Owens's claims not outlandish given SJWs' form on hoaxes

Lately, I have been thinking about the ongoing saga over Candace Owens's ill-fated anti-cyber bullying startup Social Autopsy. The young entrepreneur's claims about a conspiracy between "anti-bullying" activists and liberal journalists are pretty jaw-dropping.

Needless to say those on the SOCJUS side say they're all a load of tosh. Gamergaters, on the other hand, just shrug, not surprised at all.

Some journos have attempted to be very fair about the whole thing, such as the excellent Cathy Young. In this article for example, she says there's no smoking gun proving Owens's case.

That may well be. But I found it very compelling for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, there's the astonishing extent to which social justice warriors have signed up to the politically correct victim narrative. It's such a massive part of how they perceive themselves. They have to see oppression everywhere to know who they are, basically.

So that goes a long way to explaining the unconscious bias that numerous journos have in covering these issues as well as the way right-on activists often hugely exaggerate the severity and pervasiveness of the social ills they claim to be bravely combating.

But would such people knowingly engage in online "false flag" operations?

Well, it's something that most people would never even consider doing their entire lives. But we are talking about lefties here. They are well known for running fast and loose with the truth. They tend to have this view that they can ultimately create a perfect world, after all. So to them, "the end justifies the means".

Take the many recent hate crime hoaxes on American campuses, for example. These are so frequent that you've gotta wonder if the racist hatred that liberal students and academics constantly rail at even exists at all in America's higher education system.

Given that SJWs have such form when it comes to faking hate crimes on campuses, why wouldn't they engineer online harassment campaigns to bolster claims of victimhood, and even use the same methods against others they deem to be a threat?

Not too long a bow at all, IMHO.

Lisa Wilkinson's Waleed Aly "gaffe" shows her true "Westie" nature

As we all know, politically correct lefties are humungous hypocrites. They are forever falsely accusing others of racism, sexism, homophobia and all the rest of it. Occasionally they are correct ('cause, you know, a busted clock is right twice a day). But most of the time they are just falsely sliming better, smarter, more principled people then they are to further their own careers. Not only that, in their unguarded moments they often reveal themselves to be guilty of these same flaws, and to a far greater extent.

The unfortunate little "gaffe" that ageing TV sleb Lisa Wilkinson made about Gold Logie nominee Waleed Aly recently is a case in point. Now before I get to it, some background on Ms Wilkinson:

While lil' Lisa may be a physical featherweight, intellectually she's on the other end of the scale, no kidding. See, as well as having been co-host of that high falutin' televisual journal of record Weekend Sunrise along with fellow public intellectual Andew O'Keefe, she even used to edit Dolly! Impressive stuff, no doubt about it. No wonder she's been a guest on the incisive and undeniably fair and balanced ABC panel show Q and A.

During that particular appearance she expressed a great deal of seeming concern for the marginalised in our society, upbraiding George Brandis:

LISA WILKINSON: But you can't seem to understand how that would cause enormous discomfort for somebody and they would withdraw from public life. Do you think that’s because you are a white, able-bodied, heterosexual male?

So, pretty funny and telling that she's just been caught out making an outrageous comment that clearly referenced Waleed Aly.

On the morning after the Logie nominations were announced last month, Karl Stefanovic and Ben Fordham discussed the contenders on the Channel Nine breakfast show.

“Where is Lisa Wilkinson’s Gold Logie?” Fordham asked.

“I think it’s very clear, Lisa’s too white,” Stefanovic joked.

Wilkinson then chimed in with, “I got a spray tan and everything, still didn’t make it”.

Oh. Dear.

Just imagine the cries of "racism!" that Lisa's fellow travellers would have emitted en masse if Jones, Hadley or Latham had said the same thing. But given Lisa's leftie credentials there's been buggerall howling from the usual suspects so far. Even Waleed Aly himself was forgiving after she "reached out to him" (desperately covered her arse, in other words).

That said, no one is safe from the SJWs these days. So now that the issue is again in the news with the revelation about Wilkinson contacting Aly it could still snowball. No wonder Wilkinson's other half "Pirate Pete" FitzSimons has tweeted in support of the little lady, his trademark red bandanna quite possibly drenched with sweat.

Today's hosts Karl Stefanovic and @lisa_wilkinson back 'brave' rival Waleed Aly for Gold Logie https://t.co/j81j8Bvvc3 via @smh

— OzRepublic FitzSimon (@Peter_Fitz) May 4, 2016

While Wilkinson's hypocrisy is obvious, you gotta wonder what's behind that telling little "gaffe". Well, given that on Q and A she used the tried, trusted PC class-race-gender template in characterising Brandis's take on bigotry, I'll do the same with her. It's only fair, after all ...

And this tells me that her submerged but nonetheless obvious racism has much to do with her childhood growing up in Sydney's western suburbs. Ex-Westie Ms Wilkinson's current pals in the meeja's upper echelons look down on these areas privately if not publicly, and see them as hotbeds of bigotry born of "white trash" ignorance. The sneering inner city hipsters often use labels like "Boganville" to describe them.

So, it just goes to show you can take the bimbo out of Boganville. But you can't take the Boganville out of the bimbo, eh!