January 26, 2004

BALD CHEEK

It’s always fun when millionaires lecture us about materialism. Take it away, Peter Garrett:

Australians are privileged to live peaceably in a timeless land of great beauty and promise. We are a nation with no immediate enemies.

No immediate enemies? Has Peter forgotten about those lunatics who want to kill us for helping East Timor?

The old ideal of a fair go, expressed through the arbitration system, for instance, when married with technological innovation and ever-growing trade, has seen a virtually classless society emerge where the means of a reasonable existence is available to most people, including the less well off.

Wa-hey! This marks something of a turning point for Garrett; he’s sounding almost like one of those horrible neo-cons. But soon the latent idiot Garrett re-emerges:

If we put to the back of our mind for a moment the tarred history of relations with the original Australians. If we ignore the jarring chasm between the wealthy, who own a lot of the country's assets, and the rest of us ...

Us? Us? Garrett, former lead singer of Midnight Oil, is extremely wealthy. He means "the rest of you". Within a few more sentences he cites Hugh Mackay as a rational source, so let’s abandon this examination of Peter’s Deep Thoughts right now.

Posted by Tim Blair at January 26, 2004 02:46 AM
Comments

He might mean me. I don't own any of Australia's assets. Well maybe the odd Tiffany Eckhardt CD, is all. Cyndi Boste, Penelope Swales. I traded valuable US assets for them though, fair and square.

Posted by: Ron Hardin at January 26, 2004 at 03:20 AM

I recall the first time I saw Pete dancing, at Selinas in the 80's. I've never been able to take him seriously since, let alone believe he has Deep Thoughts.

Posted by: jafa at January 26, 2004 at 03:42 AM

Is Garrett that tall bald guy, or am I thinking of the guy from "The Hills Have Eyes?"

Posted by: ushie at January 26, 2004 at 04:02 AM

Wait, this is the bald guy from those Midnight Oil videos? Like the one where he says "Let's give it back"?

As an American, I always wondered what the Australian reaction was to that.

Posted by: eric at January 26, 2004 at 04:06 AM

How can he write when his pen is burning?

Posted by: Arvin at January 26, 2004 at 06:57 AM

How can you comment when the world is turning?

Posted by: Andjam at January 26, 2004 at 07:48 AM

Eric, the typical Australian reaction would be "fuck you!"

Years ago, Garrett had a certain attraction to the very young and passionate and sad old lefties who had never grown up. But he's not even groovy any more, poor bastard!

Posted by: Bob Bunnett at January 26, 2004 at 08:01 AM

Shades of Barbra Streisand.

I hate rich celebrities who turn around and want to tear apart the very system that gave them success in the first place.

Posted by: Alice at January 26, 2004 at 09:23 AM

I had exactly the same reaction as jafa, only I saw him dance for the ghastly first (and last) time at French's in Darlinghurst. Despite my own lack of interest, he went on to make a lot of money. But he gave it all back. Nowadays, he lives on the street, busking for coins and handing them back immediately to the givers.

Posted by: alby at January 26, 2004 at 09:26 AM

"I hate rich celebrities who turn around and want to tear apart the very system that gave them success in the first place."

Not Garrett. He had it in for "the system" for as long as I can remember. It's sad how people buy into that type of political posing while helping the likes of Garrett to line their pockets while indulging in moral posturing.

Posted by: RainDog at January 26, 2004 at 10:14 AM

Keep in mind that Peter Garrett stood for parliament as part of the nuclear disarmament party (in a country that has never had nuclear arms) and is a Lawyer.

Posted by: Harry Tuttle at January 26, 2004 at 11:09 AM

Hi.

The Nuclear Disarmament Party is the reason I still rate Peter Garrett. When it got taken over by Communists, he said so, quit, and encouraged everyone else to do so to. I did (as did everybody else), and had an awesome moment of enlightenment:

* There really are Communists, and they really are anti-democratic, unmitigated bastards. This was an actual Communist takeover in miniature. We got turned into an actual Communist front. We have been fellow-travellers. I am or rather have been one of those "useful idiots."
* I've been very, very stupid. Unbelievably stupid.
* I'm never going to get anywhere with that stunning German Greens chick anyway.
* Given Communists, and people given to other creeds that are also aggressive, merciless, unappeasable, and generally bad for children and other living things ... how can this total disarmament nonsense be anything but a an open gate for tyranny to march in?
* I've been so stupid, there are no words for it ...

You always have great respect for the teacher who brings you enlightenment.

But it's better - you will have a kinder opinion of Peter Garrett - if you don't take everything he says as Gospel. He's honest and upright, but sometimes he is off the mark, not always by a small margin.

And yes, ushie, Peter Garrett is the tall bald guy.

eric said, "Wait, this is the bald guy from those Midnight Oil videos? Like the one where he says "Let's give it back"?

Yup.

Posted by: David Blue at January 26, 2004 at 12:30 PM

It's hard to take seriously someone who gravy-trained on Men at Work.

Posted by: Steve in Houston at January 26, 2004 at 02:19 PM

"* There really are Communists, and they really are anti-democratic, unmitigated bastards. This was an actual Communist
takeover in miniature. We got turned into an actual Communist front..."

Augh! My ears! What are you, a McCarthyite? Everyone knows Communists aren't real, and if they were, they'd be marvelous chaps like that fellow in Cuba.

Posted by: Sortelli at January 26, 2004 at 09:13 PM

Thanks, ushie, I thought I was the only one who thought he looked like the 'Hills have Eyes' guy.

Posted by: jack at January 27, 2004 at 03:48 AM

At least Madonna, by way of contrast, has the saving grace of being hot and kissing other women in public.

Posted by: Sigivald at January 27, 2004 at 07:55 AM