November 21, 2003
RANDOM WORDS PUBLISHED
Speaking of art, as I was in the previous post, take a look at this. It’s an image of a monkey, holding an American flag, standing on a dodo. There are also aircraft. Behind the monkey-dodo combo are the words “mass slums”, “warm air”, “trust?”, “two dollar” and “peace”.
And others, including (I think) “poi” and “gulpy”.
Now, this might seem incoherent and worthless and insane, but, believe me, it is the perfect visual guide to the Sydney Morning Herald Webdiary piece it illustrates.
Please take the time to read it. SMH Webdiary contributor Jack Robertson is the author.
It is incomprehensible.
Consider as you struggle though the text that the SMH is a serious newspaper, run by actual adults. Wonder at the process that has allowed this to be published. And fall to the ground in narcoleptic paralysis as you encounter possibly the finest Margo Kingston quote ever uttered:
A growing proportion of the media are behaving as propagandists, not as journalists.
Read that line one more time. And now join me in an early-morning vodka bender inspired by the grossest hypocrisy yet witnessed in the Australian press. Gulpy!
Posted by Tim Blair at November 21, 2003 09:49 AM"knowing full well that the US Department of Defence had issued a vigorous rejection of the Hayes conclusions on the same day it appeared in Washington." And "US Department of Defence Press Release of 15 November describing as ‘inaccurate’ the key claims he makes in it."
Another one who can't read, if he's writing about the memo and the DoD press release. Or did Hayes actually go overboard?
Those aircraft are, not surprisingly, Soviet. Tupolev ANT-6's, to be precise.
Better still, ANT-6s are the airplane you find *ALL THE TIME* in 1930s-era Soviet poster art, particularly in the work of Stalin's favorite poster artists, Gustav Klutsis.
So, if you want propaganda, that poster's artist is certainly working from a tasty body of it.
the SMH is a serious newspaper
It is? Oh.
Welcome back Tim! The moonbats have been running riot while you've been gone.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at November 21, 2003 at 11:31 AMWhat the HELL was that? It read like someone throwing up thumbtacks while having a grand mal.
You can't edit stuff like that. You can only publish it.
Posted by: Lileks at November 21, 2003 at 11:32 AMThat Margot quote was used in the "Talking Turkeys" section of the Media section in the Australian yesterday. The quote was followed simply by "and Margot should know."
That was a good call, Margot is a talking turkey.
Posted by: gaz at November 21, 2003 at 11:33 AMYeah,
Love that mock Aussie bonhomie, Jack. What a tosser. Another po mo prat convinced of his profound ability to see through the haze of conservative propaganda. No doubt his efforts will help guide lesser Australian lumpen through the maze to the bright shining truth of the left. I'm guessing this guy still holds a candle for Gough. Yeah, maintain the rage, dude.
Moonbat's Weird Dreary is a curious beast, ever more so as it drags the Silly into the abyss tenanted by Idiotmedia and friends.
For anybody who enjoys self appointed left wing wad-splats who are too technically illiterate to start their own blogs, just have a read of:
http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/displayops.asp?class=your%20say
I've watched over several months the steadily increasing paranoia in this column. Many of the contributors seriously believe that government departments are monitoring them, and that they are doing 'dangerous work' by speaking out against the Howard Junta in these dissent crushing times. No prizes for guessing that these tin foil hatters worship the Mad One and her guerilla resistance to the Murdoch media.
On another issue, maybe I'm getting a touch over-sensitive, but just take a glance at The Age's front page today. Note alongside their gleeful story on the Islamosplodey jackasses seeking their 72 virgins in Istanbul, is a story on the US depriving Australia of vital intelligence. It has careful editorial planning written all over it, and should quite appeal to the likes of the Margoloid and her gruesome crew of Che T-shirters.
Wow, probaly should of read the link before giving my two cents. Dagnammit.
Still a good call but.
Posted by: gaz at November 21, 2003 at 12:02 PMForgive the pedantry, Andrew, but I think the aircraft pictured is the Tupolev ANT-20bis. A photograph of the original is here: http://www.tupolev.ru/English/Picture.asp?PubID=1287
Apart from anything else, the ANT-6 had only 4 engines.
Posted by: Mork at November 21, 2003 at 12:06 PMIt will be of some relief that SMH's ugly sister newspaper, The Age, has suffered a massive drop in readership in the latest Roy Morgan research, much of the drop in the critical 'AB' sector coveted by advertisers. No doubt they'll be leaving in droves, along with the readers.
I love private enterprise.
Posted by: ilibcc at November 21, 2003 at 12:14 PM"Please take the time to read it... It is incomprehensible"
You're deliberately and callously trying to waste our time, aren't you? Do you want everyone to leave?
MY EYES. THEY BURN.
Uh oh -- Miranda is enraged. Tremble, Webdiarythingie people!
Posted by: Andrea Harris at November 21, 2003 at 01:35 PMBush! Oil! Hegemony! Wonder! Germany! Housewives! Help!
Posted by: Amos at November 21, 2003 at 01:41 PMI read about half of it and gave up. I could feel it actually lowering the amount of knowledge in my mind.
Posted by: Harry Tuttle at November 21, 2003 at 01:53 PMWell, I hate to admit it, but I'm with Tim on the Jack Robertson piece.
As a something of a reluctant lefty, it pains me to say it, but this sort of self indulgent crap will only damage the causes that Jack and Margo presumably espouse.
Grow up, Jack. And Margo(t) - hire an editor. Preferably one with an industrial strength shredder for pieces like this.
Thank you and good night. (And GO THE WALLABIES!)
And, horribly, I must agree with Nemesis. Wallabies! WALLABIES!
Posted by: tim at November 21, 2003 at 07:10 PMHave dutifully read the linked article and can say I have absolutely no idea what this fellow was trying to say, none at all, and I really tried.
It needs a translator, not an editor.
Posted by: Dean McAskil at November 21, 2003 at 08:15 PM