Devine Miss M Strikes Again...Again...Again
*sigh* I don't know why I keep going back to her, she only breaks my heart. My friends have told me she's no good for me. I'm starting to think they're right.Akerman and Bolta have had a field day pitching Left straw men who have said nothing about Chris Masters' dodgy linking of Alan Jones to paedophilia in 'Jonestown'.
I don't know why I thought 'Randa might be different, might actually have just a quick reality check before launching her own killer missile, but no.
Oh sure, 'many' gay men are horrified. But she still falls for the same trap, either unintentionally or willingly: 'Why is it only commentators regarded as being of Jones' ideological hue who are defending him?'
I tried in vain to teach 'Randa the error of her ways, thus:
Ms Devine,
While I appreciate the anger you obviously feel about the Jonestown novel, I believe you've made the same omissions as Andrew Bolt - deliberately or otherwise - when arguing in your column this week that 'is it only commentators regarded as being of Jones's ideological hue who are defending him'.
Firstly, Tim Blair has linked a well-known left gay Sydney blogger:
http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/comments/outer_outed/
or
http://gayety.net/rants/queer/out_and_about_in_jonestown
Rodney Croome has also expressed his reservations about the book:
http://www.rodneycroome.id.au/comments?id=2283_0_1_0_C
As have I in my SX mag column:
http://www.evolutionpublishing.com.au/sxnews/index.php
option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=9&Itemid=46
And there are several other examples of Left bloggers expressing their
reservations about the book:
http://www.anonymouslefty.blogspot.com/ is one of the better-known ones.
The argument that it is only right-wing or conservative commentators who are openly defending Jones is just plain wrong. Those of us who remember the Kirby/Heffernan debacle of 2002 must also in good conscience draw the line at Masters' apparent attempts to create a whisper campaign about Jones' alleged paedophilia, and I think you'll find more of us than not have.
Regards etc..
The reply:
Sam, while I appreciate the role of blogging, I was referring to mainstream commentary. It would be impossible to tease out the stats on left v right bloggers in their pronouncements on Jones. I do know that plenty of gay people are horrified and I said so. But some of the most prominent have either said nothing or gleefully pushed for Jones' outing and kiddy-fiddler smear.
Shorter 'Randa: Blogging is only a relevant medium when bloggers agree with me, otherwise it's just that cute, silly thing that people do when they're bored at work*.
Never mind that Croome is one of, if not the most well-known and high profile Australian queer activists. Or that my column - which I know most people skip past to get to the pretty pictures of the boys at Arq - is in a magazine with a fairly substantial distribution in Sydney.
'Randa sure knew about SX's competition, SSO, when citing Stacy Farrar's so-called defence of Masters - which, PS, is crap. The quote of Farrar's that 'Randa used:
Jones's outing "if anything, will prove that the gay 'community', like the Liberal Party, is a very broad tent".
Which is actually a completely accurate and fair assessment. But once again, we can never let such trifling matters as reality stand in the way of another 'Randa rampage.
Somebody tell me to end this relationship now. Please.
(*not entirely untrue, but you know.)
posted by Sam @ Friday, October 27, 2006
8 Comments:
QP! I can't believe you're sending love notes to my woman. I do remember calling dibs..
Seriously though, i've been a little bit dissapointed at what a sycophantic apologist Manda has been for Jones. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that Jones has enough people in high places to look after him without these obscenely apologetic tirades from La Devine.
Not one to talk BUT! Why did John Anderson have to go public, about his "Schooling?"
Poor Miranda. This whole debate has exposed her limitations as a political thinker. She's like a crab -- she can only move from left to right. But Jonestown and its reception requires more nuanced, less ideologically charged analysis. Of course, Mike Carlton hasn't been much better. The world of "mainstream commentary" is appallingly fractured along party lines. Thank god for the 'peripheral' -- and objective -- insights of bloggers like you, Sam.
Miranda's assertion that "mainstream commentors" are the only valid measure of public exposure is as annoying as the tired Left/Right paradigm they keep reducing all issues just to avoid having to think for themselves.
PS. To be honest, I preferred being in the dark about being an uncredited source for that looney nut Tim Blair.
Just fascinated that you see yourself as leftist
It's all subjective in the final analysis really, Karl. And I've always saw and identified myself more as left-leaning/'soft' left than strictly leftist.
saw = seen. Duh.
Miss D may dismiss bloggers as not part of "mainstream commentary", but that just demonstrates how over-represented the right-wing is in the mass media (ie. Murdoch media).
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