tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382823564902835872024-03-05T14:43:42.524+08:00The Culture of the Arts WorldDespite claims of "diversity", the arts scene in Australia and other western countries is depressingly uniform. The dominant culture in literature, film, television, theatre, comedy, music and visual art is politically correct in the extreme. This blog includes examples of this bias as well as thoughts on why it has come to be. Written by Perth writer, blogger and comedian Matt Hayden.MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.comBlogger146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-84787963600139866422021-09-06T12:16:00.005+08:002021-09-06T12:27:24.337+08:00#VaxTheNation smacks of desperation <p>Amazing to watch how many assets are being deployed now to get "needles in arms". Performing artists portray themselves as free spirits driven by their unique creative visions. But they're just as mind-controlled as mainstream media journalists. So they've all been activated, natch! </p><p>I'm sure you've heard about this cringeworthy #VaxTheNation campaign. <i>The West Australian</i> says that these household names have "banded together", zif they're doing it voluntarily, <a href="https://thewest.com.au/news/coronavirus/vaxthenation-tim-minchin-jimmy-barnes-marcia-hines-and-amy-shark-join-aussie-covid-vaccine-campaign-ng-b881992538z">off their own bat</a>. </p><p>Nah, they've just been told to do it by their agents, who are ultimately controlled by the globalist elite. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisr1caRYMjc8PVBI_rdgO6VttmCxcjT8tIgtdGNKIMc2vUkt6w6DDd3DJ1EFuMNV9Pw3aQXhDe3UqApxE9k1Xprq0fdi2vZFRj2BLYZYhtcUkrR_SfgacOcFMcgYWO-ID-kAMlP7Nvj-ba/s585/WestAustralianVaxthenation.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="585" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisr1caRYMjc8PVBI_rdgO6VttmCxcjT8tIgtdGNKIMc2vUkt6w6DDd3DJ1EFuMNV9Pw3aQXhDe3UqApxE9k1Xprq0fdi2vZFRj2BLYZYhtcUkrR_SfgacOcFMcgYWO-ID-kAMlP7Nvj-ba/w400-h380/WestAustralianVaxthenation.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p>While many are talented and work hard, that's not the main reason they've been elevated to their current level. It's much more about being easy to control. </p><p>These slebs are role models for the masses. So they can be used by the globalist elite to push the sheeple in whatever direction they <a href="https://youtu.be/7zr_YnaHh7Y">want them to go</a>. Which is clearly what is being done right now.</p><p>And note the desperation. It's all about getting the jab ASAP! They really are tryna cram as many people into these creepy vaxx hubs as possible. You've gotta wonder why.</p><p>The medical, safety aspect is all but forgotten in the message. It's all "get the jab so you can enjoy live music again". Just more extortion, which makes any thoughtful person suspicious. </p><p>I note that Jimmy Barnes is one of them. But why would you listen to anything he says, especially about vaccination? </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit6_TgOBv3VLNwzpexmYUDblWFgqas_YWdZYP3B-RALYViPT5nAmfsoOR16m-whvrkugLB353-_TD-dUjnSkjEcb_4E8NEGAgt1CrHvfZEUgVMq9NEI4nbmh8zE9VZWP67qN4DiaquCEL8/s581/JimmyBarnesBernardi.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="171" data-original-width="581" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit6_TgOBv3VLNwzpexmYUDblWFgqas_YWdZYP3B-RALYViPT5nAmfsoOR16m-whvrkugLB353-_TD-dUjnSkjEcb_4E8NEGAgt1CrHvfZEUgVMq9NEI4nbmh8zE9VZWP67qN4DiaquCEL8/w400-h118/JimmyBarnesBernardi.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p>I would, on the other (slow) hand, listen to Eric Clapton's thoughts on the matter. He was advised to get the jab by his doctor and it turned out to be a very bad decision. But thankfully he's come through the ordeal, and it's inspired him to create a new song. </p><p>So ironic that his authentic, heartfelt expression makes him the outlier in his industry. He's remained true to his rebel roots. And isn't that what being an artist is all about? </p><p>If you've enjoyed this post, please consider <a href="https://ko-fi.com/matthayden">supporting me via Ko-fi</a>.</p>MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-53784875447197800292020-06-18T12:22:00.003+08:002020-06-18T12:34:06.730+08:00Josh Thomas gets cancelled<div>CHAZ is rapidly becoming like a woke, vegan Thunderdome. But Artsville is not far behind. Only recently Aussie comedian Josh Thomas was mocked for being triggered by dairy product labels. The next day he was being devoured by the same folk he was tryna impress with that very overreaction. To say this was a case of "life imitating satire" would be an understatement. The woke mob are now more extreme than the fictional <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/book/9781472130846/?a_aid=ausmatt">Titania McGrath herself</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Turns out he was a panelist at some tax-funded wankfest or other a few years back. He said things about the casting of POC that ruffled feathers at the time. In the context of BLM the videotaped comments were deemed doubly offensive and he swiftly became a Pinata (if I'm allowed to use that analogy) for many PC lefties.</div><div><br /></div><div>The discussion in which his appalling thought crime was committed seemed to have been about how to be an arty wanker and woke at the same time. The clip has been "infamous" for a while, apparently.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMWZKJz8DDFfj6cNn2uLDnIMbj6NhnwiLmUv9-NPh6P0FcWdarb1TLdWAGTd4MZm1ss-EmsIyKJwygSd-tlV-ZnpnbVXqWLg70OtZ81E4tpJ606jLJJ88necfMY99B7FW5QRDXmMlWrqnR/s593/MoreblessingJosh.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="509" data-original-width="593" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMWZKJz8DDFfj6cNn2uLDnIMbj6NhnwiLmUv9-NPh6P0FcWdarb1TLdWAGTd4MZm1ss-EmsIyKJwygSd-tlV-ZnpnbVXqWLg70OtZ81E4tpJ606jLJJ88necfMY99B7FW5QRDXmMlWrqnR/w400-h344/MoreblessingJosh.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div>There's one particular part of the convo that is particularly damning for poor Josh. That's when Dan Harmon is stunned by the young Aussie's ignorance and/or insensitivity.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjakbVCJbAFrVJaIUWpBNkwMPpz8YFZvA6c6zRzmhSlPLNil788RoXeNCTgtaEdwFSlt7wr6JQ4xHA4TzULAmnmsYpsA_hn4kXW0nvdgn8kK1LKXUeHbiM0BpXFRMnjUqQJW-Q23F25iAYn/s597/MoreblessingJoshClip.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="597" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjakbVCJbAFrVJaIUWpBNkwMPpz8YFZvA6c6zRzmhSlPLNil788RoXeNCTgtaEdwFSlt7wr6JQ4xHA4TzULAmnmsYpsA_hn4kXW0nvdgn8kK1LKXUeHbiM0BpXFRMnjUqQJW-Q23F25iAYn/w400-h359/MoreblessingJoshClip.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div>It seemed that this Harmon guy was seen as a pretty hip dude; some kinda authority on how to be culturally sensitive and super-creative at the same time. That's because another Josh-hater mentioned that very moment of humiliation, helpfully including a screenshot of it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioB9PceM4wFICD_gj9iwPmhEj9x0Hoc7wbBJ-bv69QWffv5KzisvwI7CpRNpqqU-TazUC5qlkeMUyOcX4tqXwpu1bi6zG3ItIGaFLb1y1Jfl801zk-9oESHagah02S2_oFTs463WiSV1tf/s538/JoshThomasDanHarmon.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="538" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioB9PceM4wFICD_gj9iwPmhEj9x0Hoc7wbBJ-bv69QWffv5KzisvwI7CpRNpqqU-TazUC5qlkeMUyOcX4tqXwpu1bi6zG3ItIGaFLb1y1Jfl801zk-9oESHagah02S2_oFTs463WiSV1tf/w400-h349/JoshThomasDanHarmon.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div>His name did ring a bell, though. I vaguely recalled that Harmon himself was in some kinda scandal or something. Twitter search gave me the answer almost instantly.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcW4nhCt5MnZaE9FZdLTMwLGppM5EP3hZ4H6hoE9DJlzW50olVIeujx1MB93yeZk-6tqAIv8fx-MJDQ8HhoLh2t5WaCOp72uLktaN8YON45pObjcmV4m0T6lTEaYDkdaBSsdzIx-5va5g-/s534/DanHarmonJoke.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="269" data-original-width="534" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcW4nhCt5MnZaE9FZdLTMwLGppM5EP3hZ4H6hoE9DJlzW50olVIeujx1MB93yeZk-6tqAIv8fx-MJDQ8HhoLh2t5WaCOp72uLktaN8YON45pObjcmV4m0T6lTEaYDkdaBSsdzIx-5va5g-/w400-h201/DanHarmonJoke.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div>Given his worldwide fame it's unlikely the two Aussies cited above hadn't heard of this episode. So in Artsville some transgressions get a pass, while others (that most would prolly not be bothered by) are strictly verboten, it seems ... </div><div><br /></div><div>What a strange, sick world these hipsters inhabit. Sad!</div><div><br /></div><div>Soon after the massive explosion of lefteous indignation over his comments from years ago Josh Thomas apologized. This was the worst thing he could have done. By doing so he ensured that this "admission of guilt" is wheeled out repeatedly in future, along with his "sin" against POC. He should've said "Hey woke wankers. Go take a flying fark at a rolling donut!" or something similar.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJK0aDqyLLR9xwUROb-ahfSSEyKvLLlrlRU4xRE9MXjYEy2wG3J0-sl54akpsunk9PRUBmr-Btf1HDYD6mXjX4S9xG4pEn1ero2C6Qx3mJAfAtcSJJty2lSwJX475RajfHDptuS-yNUorn/s536/JoshThomasApology.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="536" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJK0aDqyLLR9xwUROb-ahfSSEyKvLLlrlRU4xRE9MXjYEy2wG3J0-sl54akpsunk9PRUBmr-Btf1HDYD6mXjX4S9xG4pEn1ero2C6Qx3mJAfAtcSJJty2lSwJX475RajfHDptuS-yNUorn/w400-h239/JoshThomasApology.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div>While Josh was still grovelling there was another cannibalistic feeding frenzy starting up. Meshel Laurie's Facebook comments re blackface from over a decade ago had triggered the Twitter trollective. </div><div><br /></div><div>But she was just expressing an opinion. It was perfectly reasonable and not racist at all. You don't need to be an expert to do that.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDcCqEoX7iGYDPVqR7BUaBHHy7Tz-tl8RErUfhKebLjY3zJxINZU7b26HfGkZad7kpVTgjsRpyHfiTLzHPi1Itb-4NM3jF02vVDO1CgcvDZVGdQXvE2d-UXjEMWv5VlueKV5hXO-5HXlHQ/s537/MeshelLaurieBlackface.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="336" data-original-width="537" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDcCqEoX7iGYDPVqR7BUaBHHy7Tz-tl8RErUfhKebLjY3zJxINZU7b26HfGkZad7kpVTgjsRpyHfiTLzHPi1Itb-4NM3jF02vVDO1CgcvDZVGdQXvE2d-UXjEMWv5VlueKV5hXO-5HXlHQ/w400-h250/MeshelLaurieBlackface.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div>Again, she should have stood her ground, kept calm and stayed focused on the point she was making. But having willingly participated in PC pile-ons herself, and terrified of being on the receiving end for once, she wussed out bigly and claimed those weren't her comments at all because her account had been hacked!</div><div><br /></div><div>Now she's in an even more dire situation than Thomas, because at least he never denied he'd made his sinful comments. And he couldn't have if he wanted to anyhow, since they were captured on tape.</div><div><br /></div><div>In one sense all this carnage is kinda funny. And it's ironic that these two zealous promoters of cultural Marxism have now been devoured by it. But it's also really sad on many levels. </div><div><br /></div><div>This brutal, ugly ideology is what totally dominates Artsville along with many other professional spheres such as the mainstream media. If people who work in them don't start sprouting ball sacs pronto it's only gonna get worse. </div><div><br /></div><div>Almost all who succeeded bigly in Australia's entertainment industry have done so because of their willingness to regurgitate PC bollocks when required. But that very ideology is gonna bite 'em all on the arse eventually!</div><div><br /></div><div>The solution is pretty simple. Instead of tryna narrow the boundaries of acceptable discourse and apply different standards according to racial and other categories, it's far better to open them up completely. Let people say what they reckon. And if others find that wrong, stupid, hurtful or whatever, then they can say what they reckon too! That way, as Walt Whitman so eloquently put it, "the powerful play goes on". The quality improves, too ... </div><div><br /></div><div>(If you've enjoyed this piece and would like to see more like it <a href="https://ko-fi.com/matthayden">please consider buying me a coffee</a>. Every little bit helps!)</div><div><br /></div><center>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JZF3M3k3Ebo" width="459"><br></iframe></center>MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-15063138153412890272019-05-21T12:10:00.001+08:002019-05-21T12:18:17.596+08:00PC Labor killed comedy and became a joke itself. Sad! Back in the day when I was doing standup and character comedy in Melbourne I could see how political correctness was slowly poisoning the medium. It was one of the main reasons I gradually lost my enthusiasm for it.<br />
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I thought maybe there would be some kind of resistance against this creativity-killing force from the comedians themselves. We would certainly grumble about it often.<br />
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But nothing like that ever happened. That was because the Australian comedy scene -- much like in America and the UK -- is chockas with lefties and liberals. So, PC was seen as the lesser of two evils. Resisting it would mean you were a rightie, that most vile of creatures! <br />
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The monster of cultural Marxism has been getting increasingly ferocious over the years and even bit a chunk out of one of our greatest comic talents, <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780241977484/?a_aid=ausmatt">Barry Humphries</a>. He was officially condemned for thought crime by the Melbourne International Comedy Festival organizers and they even removed his name from an award!<br />
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This was a petty, nasty and humorless thing to do. Shows that they are the last people who should have anything to do with comedy. But sadly they control it utterly now right across the country. They make sure that the only shows that get featured at their events are dreary right-on fare.<br />
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That's why I thought it was quite symbolic that a major venue for the Sydney Comedy Festival (Sydney Town Hall) doubled as a polling place for the federal election last weekend. <br />
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While the Labor Party has not been quite as deeply infected by the mind virus as, say, the Greens, it's copped a bloody big dose of it and is clearly deeply unwell. Identity politics -- victim feminism in particular -- now dominates that party.<br />
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Given how many arts funding decisions are made by governments -- state ones in particular -- there's no doubt that the kind of entertainment on show at these festivals has a lot to do with what's been going on in the ALP.<br />
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As I entered the building to cast my vote I was dreading the thought that Labor would win, but still very optimistic that the LNP would retain government.<br />
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Thankfully this proved to be the case. While there were many economic and cultural forces behind the result, a substantial factor was clearly a widespread rejection of PC. Australians have had an absolute gutful of smug elitists telling them what they can say, think and feel. They elected a PM who understands their frustration and has pledged to address this problem.<br />
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He may not be warrior for plain speaking common sense on the scale of Trump. But I'm sure he'll do some serious work in dismantling the control matrix that these creepy totalitarians have built up over the years.<br />
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The challenge for Labor is to take a long hard look at itself and see how poisonous this ideology actually is. It not only makes the normies miserable but massively impacts their own prospects at the next election. They really need to dump it.<br />
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Something tells me they won't. That's sad.<br />
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I doubt that Aussie comics will either, since they're so beholden to their left-wing political parties and figures. That's sadder still.<br />
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<br />MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-14742489436171481102018-02-28T12:28:00.003+08:002018-02-28T12:32:46.324+08:00How would Alvin Purple go down in the age of #MeToo?So it seems that Paul Hogan reckons a dinkum reboot of <i>Crocodile Dundee</i> would be a good idea. Perhaps this is because of the widespread disappointment over the fact that the recent trailer for such a movie turned out to be nothing more than a Superbowl advertising gimmick to promote Australia as a tourist destination. <br />
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Then there was the positive reaction to the #BringBackDundee campaign by the <i>NT News</i>, along with lots of other tweets and updates from fans across the world about why it would be worth making.<br />
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As I wrote before, I'm all for it. But it would only work if it was true to the spirit of the original. If, say, Chris Hemsworth reprised the iconic character (or played his son?) in a defiantly politically incorrect way it would trigger social justice warriors across the globe. Bonus! <br />
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And the idea of reviving this comedy classic has got me thinking about what it would be like to remake other great <a href="http://www.cultureofthearts.com/2018/02/yes-lets-bringbackdundee-we-should-also.html">Aussie movies from the past</a>. As well as <i>The Adventures of Barry McKenzie</i>, <i>Alvin Purple</i> comes to mind.<br />
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Now, on the surface it was just a naughty comedy about a plain lookin' dude who was <a href="https://infogalactic.com/info/Alvin_Purple">utterly irresistible to women</a>. But it was also a sly satire about feminism, censorship, <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780868198446/?a_aid=ausmatt">and the sexual revolution in general</a>. <br />
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Given that we are currently in an era easily as psycho-sexually tumultuous as the early seventies I reckon it could be a good time to, er, res-erect that ol' Purple fella in a balls to the wall reroot! If it were as unapologetically Rabellaisian as the original, I think the public would love it. <br />
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Still, gotta wonder how such a fillum would go down with the Aussie sisterhood. And these chicks are extremely influential in the local movie "industry", let's face it.<br />
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Given that the plot "subverts the dominant paradigm" by making the female characters sexual aggressors, I think some of these sheilas would see it as a real goer. But then there are the more puritanical frightbats who think that <i>all</i> sex is rape, etc., and would therefore be extremely unlikely to come across on the issue. They'd likely see any filmic flippancy about such a serious subject as yet another example of "toxic masculinity", and demand the project be shut down.<br />
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And even if such a production were to receive funding, you've gotta wonder if any well known male actors would be game to take part in it. The #MeToo movement sprang from Hollywood, remember. And it has had big time ramifications for big name Aussie actors such as Geoffrey Rush and Craig McLachlan.<br />
<br />
While many of the claims of sexual assault and harassment are harrowing and certainly have the ring of truth, there are some that seem somewhat over-egged, to say the least. <br />
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<i>Alvin Purple</i> is a sex comedy, so the casting itself would necessarily include a couch -- or rather, waterbed. While the cavorting would of course be scripted, there's a very real possibility that an ambitious young actress might subsequently decide that some of the touching she received in the audition was "inappropriate" -- particularly if she didn't get the role. Which is why I think many red blooded young Aussie actors might perceive the project to be as "problematic" as the frightbats themselves and steer well clear of it.<br />
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So, all things considered the odds of a new Alvin on our screens are remote ... Still, rude for thought, eh?<br />
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Wait on!<i> Alvina Purple</i>, with an all female cast, could be the go. Would have a much easier path to production, that's for sure.<br />
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What do you reckon? Any more thoughts on this subject? MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-91270808537626955332018-02-09T11:55:00.002+08:002018-02-09T21:31:49.927+08:00Yes, let's #BringBackDundee. We should also #BringBackBazza!The reaction to this recent Superbowl marketing stunt utilizing the classic Aussie comedy <i>Crocodile Dundee</i> has been fascinating. Seems that squillions of people are genuinely keen to see a fair dinkum reboot of the movie series! <br />
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The <i>NT News</i> has even been running a <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BringBackDundee&src=typd">campaign to make it happen</a>. <br />
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When I first heard about the idea of a sequel centred on Mick Dundee's son I thought it wasn't a very good one. But given the interest it's provoked in recent days I've actually warmed to it. <br />
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As far as I know the hoax trailer had Yank comic Danny McBride as the lead. But of course you'd need a real Aussie bloke playing the main character -- not some <i>bloody seppo!</i> I think Chris Hemsworth would do a great job.<br />
<br />
Clearly the massive support for such a movie being made is driven in part by widespread frustration with political correctness. Without a doubt many Aussies believe that their country <i>does</i> have a distinctive national character, best exemplified by the laconic, blokey Dundee. Obviously this idea upsets the cultural Marxist crowd, which makes it still more appealing to local normies.<br />
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With that in mind there's another comical Aussie icon that I'm sure many people would love to see brought back to life on the silver screen: <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780868197487/?a_aid=ausmatt">Barry McKenzie</a>.<br />
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Bazza was one of Barry Humphries' best known creations from early in his career. (Here's the satirist's autobiography BTW. <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780241977484/?a_aid=ausmatt">A fascinating read</a>.) It was made into a commercially successful film by Bruce Beresford.<br />
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Not surprisingly this variation on the yobbo stereotype is distasteful to today's "culturally senstive" smart set. <i>Guardian</i> reviewer Luke Buckmaster's opinion of the McKenzie movie was a bit kinder <a href="http://www.cultureofthearts.com/2018/01/the-guardians-luke-buckmaster-frets.html">than it was for <i>Crocodile Dundee</i></a>. But he still found <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/australia-culture-blog/2014/aug/29/the-adventures-of-barry-mckenzie-rewatched">the humour in it deeply offensive</a>: <br />
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<i>The jokes in The Adventures of Barry McKenzie are <b>racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic</b> and guilty of virtually any other derogatory stereotyping you care to name. Bazza’s zingers include “When it comes to fleecing you, the Poms have got the edge on the Gypos”; “hungry Arab, would have dropped the bastard if he wasn’t qualified for the pension,” and “I’m that thirsty I could drink out of a Japanese wrestler’s jockstrap.”</i><br />
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Ha! The lefteous indignation that such jokes provoke (even if they themselves aren't that funny) is actually amusing in itself. All the more reason this character should also be brought back to life, IMO. MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-9736651592391945802018-02-04T11:33:00.001+08:002018-02-04T11:58:40.576+08:00Musos' PC posturing ultimately unwise. But Colin Hay probably benefited short termSome more thoughts on the unedifying mass tanty thrown by Australia's rock royalty: What they did was perfectly understandable. Rebellion is a common thread through <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/category/3304/Rock-Pop-Music/?a_aid=ausmatt">all rock music, after all</a>. And the establishment has long been seen as Christian and conservative.<br />
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I don't think that has actually been true since the fifties. But it's certainly long been a widespread belief ... So, for decades now if you wanted to be seen to be rebellious, you would set out to mock and offend those uptight Christian squares. And it was ultimately a good business decision.<br />
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Sure, you might have lost some sales as a result. But if you didn't obey the PC narrative there was <i>no way</i> you'd get access to that massive MSM megaphone, so crucial to commercial success. <br />
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But that's all changed in the last coupla years. A helluva lot of people have really woken up to how dominant cultural Marxism actually is in so many institutions and industries. They're spooked about it -- energized as well. <i>They</i> are the rebels now. And unlike in the past, they now have a means to join forces and build a movement -- namely social media.<br />
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The cultural dynamic is very different now. Yet Darren Hayes, Jimmy Barnes et al were still playing by the old rules. That's why I think that in the long term they may be shocked by the public reaction to their <a href="http://www.cultureofthearts.com/2018/01/cory-bernardi-triggers-pc-left-with.html">dummy spit over Cory Bernardi's playlist</a>.<br />
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It won't kill any of their careers, sure. But I suspect it (and other PC virtue signalling they subsequently engage in) will slowly erode their fan base and ultimately their income.<br />
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That said, I can see that in some cases it was prolly a good decision, at least short term. Take Colin Hay for example. <br />
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Shuffling down Enmore Rd recently, I saw that the ol' trooper from Men At Work had a concert slated at the iconic Enmore Theatre. <br />
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As anyone in Sydney knows only too well this suburb, along with those surrounding it, is absolutely chockas with PC types. <br />
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Now, I know that established musos tend to have diehard fans who will travel to see them. Still, I suspect that the combination of Hay being in the news sledging hate figure Cory along with all the local offline advertising would have resulted in quite a buzz about this one-off concert, which was actually held last night. <br />
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Not sure if he packed it out. But even if he didn't I suspect there were many more bums on seats than he would've had if he hadn't joined that attempted bolshie boycott of Bernardi's AC100 countdown on Australia Day. Fact that Hay's song "Down Under" came up as number one on it, therefore garnering some more media reports, wouldn't have hurt him either.<br />
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IMO he should actually thank the conservative pollie for the extra publicity! Something tells me he probably won't, though ... MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-18909407384215269032018-01-25T11:30:00.004+08:002018-01-25T12:03:19.829+08:00The Guardian's Luke Buckmaster frets about Crocodile Dundee's dangersThere has been talk about a <i>Crocodile Dundee</i> reboot with American comic Danny McBride playing Mick Dundee's son. But it looks like it's some sort of <a href="https://screenrant.com/crocodile-dundee-sequel-super-bowl/">viral marketing stunt</a> to boost tourism.<br />
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My own reaction to the possibility of this sequel: It would've been very unwise since Hogan himself was the perfect Dundee. Now that he's old and wrinkly it just wouldn't work. And attempting to get a younger Yank to carry off something so definitively Australian would just be cynical as -- a real case of flogging a dead croc. <br />
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But that's not the main grievance from the sneering hipster set. Trapped in the <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780956395245/?a_aid=ausmatt">thought prison of political correctness</a>, they find the very idea of the larrikin Aussie bloke so memorably epitomised by the iconic Hogan character as appalling -- even socially dangerous -- in itself. <br />
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A recent column by Luke Buckmaster<i> </i>of <i>The Guardian</i> is a case in point. Dude is so humorless, it's like a mini-comedy in itself -- <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/23/crocodile-dundee-was-sexist-racist-and-homophobic-lets-not-bring-that-back">a self parody to be exact</a>.<br />
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Like so many on the cultural Left, he seems to believe art is not a mirror held up to (human) nature, but a tool to manipulate viewers into some kind of behavioral ideal. He seems not to understand that when people see a comedy they don't actually look for directions on how to live their lives. They just want to escape from reality for a while and have a laugh!<br />
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Of the rumoured project <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/23/crocodile-dundee-was-sexist-racist-and-homophobic-lets-not-bring-that-back">Buckmaster writes</a>: <br />
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<i>So if we assume the unthinkable: that this project is actually going ahead (though Screen Australia has not confirmed it), what would Dundee: The Son of a Legend Returns Home need to do to capture the spirit of the original three Crocodile Dundee movies, released in 1986, 1988 and 2001?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>For starters, in addition to being vulgar and witless, the new film would need to be <b>sexist, racist, homophobic and transphobic</b>. It would need to have awkward jokes <b>unfunny at the time of release</b> and even less amusing when revisited years later.</i><br />
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"Sexist, racist, homophobic, and transphobic." Gawd. For today's serious young insects, they're like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse! <br />
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And "unfunny" to whom? Surely not the millions of people across the globe who lined up outside theatres to watch the movie and laughed out loud at regular intervals as it was projected before them. Being one of them I remember this well.<br />
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Anyhoo, if Buckmaster's profile photo is any guide, it looks like he himself hasn't yet hit forty. Did he even see it in the cinema back then? If so, he must have been a mere whippersnapper -- and a sullen one at that. <br />
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He then describes a scene he found <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/23/crocodile-dundee-was-sexist-racist-and-homophobic-lets-not-bring-that-back">particularly offensive</a>: <br />
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<i>Take, for example, a scene from the original film, based in a pub in New York. Mick Dundee (Hogan) chats up a trans woman, before a friend pulls him aside: “I’ve been trying to tell you all night, that girl, she’s a guy!” Dundee responds <b>by sexual assaulting her</b>. He grabs the woman in the groin area, then points and yells: “<b>A guy dressed up like a sheila!</b> Look at that!”</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The pub erupts into laughter and applause. There are high fives and back slaps.</i><br />
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Yeah, because it's like, <i>a movie</i>. It's <i>not real</i>. It wasn't actual sexual assault, and the scene wasn't somehow exhorting people to go out and commit violence against the transgender community. It was just a joke about the rural Aussie bloke Dundee's complete lack of urban sophistication (for want of a better word). <br />
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<i>Dundee <b>sexually assaults another woman</b> later on, in the same way, at an art gallery. His love interest Sue (Linda Kozlowski) consoles the distraught woman by saying: “It’s OK, <b>he’s Australian</b>.”</i><br />
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Again, not meant to be taken seriously. Also, a self mocking gag about our country's international reputation as a land of horny hicks.<br />
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Buckmaster doesn't just find the character of Dundee deeply threatening to today's social fabric. In his view the American woman who takes him to the Big Apple is also guilty of "wrongthink" (although this is ameliorated by the fact that she's a pawn of the patriarchy <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/23/crocodile-dundee-was-sexist-racist-and-homophobic-lets-not-bring-that-back">who lacks "agency"</a>). <br />
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<i>Sue, a journalist, initially appears to have a reasonable amount of agency, before we learn she is dating her editor and her father is the publisher. During a quiet scene in the original movie (directed by Peter Faiman and written by Hogan, Ken Shadie and John Cornell), Sue complains to Dundee about a previous lover. She says this guy is a lefty type, “probably <b>marching right now, for the gay Nazis</b> or something”.</i><br />
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If poor Luke found that line upsetting, imagine how triggered he must have been by the late Bill Leak's brilliant toon!<br />
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Rather than make me look back in anger (or rather, sneering disdain) at the original <i>Crocodile Dundee</i>, elements like this increase my affection for it. Clearly, the film was lightheartedly reflecting some significant and enduring issues.<br />
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It wasn't trying to change the world. It was just having a laugh it what it was like! And isn't it interesting how much has remained the same? <br />
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It's not just the rainbow fascism in particular, by the way. Think about that tranny scene mentioned above. Dundee's description of the "woman" as a "guy dressed up as a sheila" is now called "misgendering". It was a faux pas back then and now it's actually illegal in <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2017/06/16/canada-passes-law-criminalizing-use-of-wrong-gender-pronouns/">some parts of the Western world</a>.<br />
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Dundee's blunt description basically captures the argument against transgender totalitarianism: A man dressed as a woman (with or without his genitalia surgically removed) is still not a real woman.<br />
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Hate to break it to ya, hipsters! The truth remains the truth, no matter how much you tell yourself otherwise.<br />
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That's why that scene, along many others in the original movie, will continue to get laughs -- even though Buckmaster and his sour-faced ilk are so appalled by them. MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-78941803175730532862018-01-21T11:16:00.002+08:002018-01-21T11:55:22.158+08:00Cory Bernardi triggers PC Left with Australia Day Spotify playlistGawd, but we live in strange times … In days of yore po-faced moralists decided what music people could and could not listen to. Puritanical preachers warned against “satanic” rock 'n' roll, remember? To them "Elvis the Pelvis” was the devil himself!<br />
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Now it's the musos wagging their fingers, making censorious demands. Darren Hayes, Colin Hay, Jimmy Barnes and other superannuated ol' rockers are imperiously deciding who can and cannot listen to their songs! <br />
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But to be fair, it's actually not their fault. They're just being used and aren't aware of it … Basically, the farcical mass tanty over Cory Bernardi's Australia Day playlist is primarily the result of cultural Marxism. These malevolent crybullies, who totally control the ABC, Fairfax, most unis and many other institutions besides, are <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/book/9781594039270/?a_aid=ausmatt">totalitarians who turn everything upside down</a>. In their insanely arse-about worldview right is wrong, division is unity, bigotry is tolerance, and censorship is freedom. <br />
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So completely have these ol' musical dudes been duped, they reckon it's Bernardi who's the only one politicizing their music. WRONG! If anything, he's trying to de-politicize it. The people who most aggressively associated their hits with a specific agenda were the sneering hipsters at Triple J. These virtue signalling twats moved their Hottest 100 countdown to Jan 27th, purportedly so as not to offend Indigenous people.<br />
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Yeah, right! Zif the smug whitey-tighties at the national broadcaster genuinely give a rat's clacker about the issue ... This “change the date” bollocks has been primarily driven by the Greens, remember. (Think of all their local council shenanigans in recent months.) And that party is so dang pallid, it should be called "The Whites".<br />
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After lowlife cultural Marxists pulled this swifty, no iconic Aussie muso dared utter a peep of protest -- even though I'm sure many were not happy about the shift. They knew that if they had, they'd be falsely slimed as raaacist! by the usual suspects.<br />
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So along comes Cory Bernardi and says let's do what we always did: retain a kind of "Hottest 100" on Australia Day to celebrate great Aussie musical talent! Without a radio station of his own he did the next best thing: create a Spotify playlist. <br />
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And <i>this</i> is what so many Oz musos are losing their shit over! By opting into Triple J's nasty divisive narrative, they're basically saying that having their hits counted down on Jan 26 (still the official date for Australia Day) is somehow eeevil and raaacist.<br />
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So if it's eeevil and raaacist to be part of a national musical countdown on Australia Day now, surely it was in the past, too? So, why didn't Darren Hayes, Colin Hay, Barnesy, and all the others presently poncing about indignantly ever express any disquiet back then?<br />
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If the PC narrative is valid, think of the countless Aboriginal hearts those rockers broke by having hits played on Jan 26 year after year! The artists who sledge Bernardi's AC100 playlist must renounce all previous Triple J Hottest 100 inclusions. If they don't, surely it means that they actually take <i>pride</i> in genocide; that they are okay with “Invasion Day”. Shame on them!<br />
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In any case, it's been amazing to watch how it escalated ... Started with serial offense taker Darren Hayes being triggered by Bernardi's playlist.<br />
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He rustled up some outrage from his peers via Twitter. <br />
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This prompted a response from Cory Bernardi, which I think summed up the situation well. He's right, music is for everyone -- it's apolitical. Clearly, he's been trying to keep it that way with his "campaign".<br />
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Before long it had become a snowflake tsunami. Pretty much the next day it was front page news! (I think the <i>Daily Telegraph</i> hit the right note, BTW. In their cover, it's Bernardi who's the rebel. Conservatism is the new counterculture, remember!) <br />
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Some of the rockers' reactions have been so pompous and silly it's incredible. Take Colin Hay, who actually advised the South Australian Senator to go and get stoned. As Stefan Molyneux would say: "Not an argument!" <br />
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Barnesy's outburst was a doozy. He received an Australia Day award just last year. If he thinks inclusion in a playlist on Australia Day this year is beyond the pale, then surely he should hand it back, shouldn't he? That would be the very least he could do. <br />
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FFS ... Why would anyone listen to anything Jimmy Barnes says, especially about politics?<br />
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Latho offered some pithy observations on Twitter regarding Darren Hayes, prompting so-called comedian Lehmo to come to Dazza's defence. (Actually, it must be one of the first cases of a bloke white knighting for another bloke. I suspect we might see much more of it from now on, given that the traditional kind almost certainly qualifies as sexual harassment these days.)<br />
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In any case, check out Lehmo's last line in this interchange. Does that seem like a reasonable response to Latham's previous tweet? Looks like a classic case of projection to me.<br />
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As well as being overtly sexist according to today's PC rules, Troy Cassar-Daley's contribution was ironic <i>as</i>. "Music brings people together and doesn't divide." That's exactly what Bernardi was saying! People from across the political spectrum enjoy it -- including conservatives -- which is why demanding to be taken off the playlist was the truly divisive choice!<br />
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Then there was Mick Thomas, of Weddings, Parties, Anything. ("Anything"? Anything the loony Left says is acceptable, it seems. And screw everything else ...)<br />
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Actually, I think Thomas's contribution was the most revealing of all. He flat out states that fear of being banned by a commie venue is a major motivation for his dummy spit. Then he adds that being included in the playlist wouldn't be worth his while financially anyway. <br />
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Ha! Typical "commie"! All over the shop, as usual ... <br />
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I'd say these two factors were key in all the other cases of outrage. The superannuated rockers were terrified of being smeared as bad, evil and wrong by association with one of the PC Left's prime hate figures. This would result in a net loss of earnings for them, at least according to their calculations. And <i>that's</i> why they kicked up a stink.<br />
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So, in the end, really nothing to do with a sincere concern for the feelings of Aborigines. Just faux outrage as usual ... Gawd, what a sad ol' bunch of fools they are. MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-56047575211902406312017-12-09T12:44:00.001+08:002017-12-09T13:16:48.438+08:00No rush to judge Geoffrey from the luvvie Left. Different standard applies!Will be really interesting to see how the Geoffrey Rush vs <i>Daily Telegraph</i> grudge match <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-08/geoffrey-rush-defamation-action-what-the-court-documents-say/9241976">plays out, of course</a>. Some thoughts about the context: <br />
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Firstly, the fact that a massive cultural icon has fallen foul of PC codes of behaviour says heaps. And it brings back memories of when I was a denizen of Artsville myself ...<br />
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See, I was a sometime actor and standup comic in Melbourne over two decades ago now. Joint was ultra right-on even back then. Lotsa bolshie babes arcing up about feeling "violated by the patriarchy" ... And there was heaps of haughty huffing about Helen Garner's excellent tome <a href="https://infogalactic.com/info/The_First_Stone"><i>The First Stone</i></a>.<br />
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Garner took issue with the punitive nature of academic feminism and how it was poisoning the waters between the sexes. I recall discussions I had about it with my arty frightbat pals. Their prevailing view was that shafting some fusty ol' dude was a small price to pay for women's empowerment. They also seemed to think it was perfectly acceptable that the accusers not be identified while their so-called abuser was left to twist in the wind. <br />
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Even back then this desire for retribution struck me as sinister and toxic. Fast forward to 2017 and sadly things are clearly <i>a whole lot worse</i>. This <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/book/9781508613749/?a_aid=ausmatt">man hating feminism</a> is absolutely everywhere!<br />
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It's all so hysterically OTT that one of the nation's most famous figures has fallen foul of it. <br />
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I do have sympathy for the guy. The accuser's identity is being withheld. And the nature of the allegation is just so vague. (Whenever I hear that word "inappropriate" alarm bells go off. So subjective. Could be anything.)<br />
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From what I can glean from reports it seems that Rush has been accused of transgressing personal boundaries in a performance, or something. Now, being (thankfully) well out of the luvvie loop I don't know any other details of this particular incident, or any related goss about the A-list actor and his alleged behaviour.<br />
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Maybe the guy's a big time lech who has abused co-workers, I don't know. If he is, of course that's wrong. He shouldn't be doing it and should be held to account and made to stop. It goes without saying that men -- particularly those in positions of power and influence -- should treat women with respect and keep their hands to themselves. <br />
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But so often the way that these issues are dealt with in the workplace is utterly absurd. Thanks to the toxic influence of victim feminism, many young women believe that almost anything a bloke does or says in their presence can constitute sexual harassment. And rather than learning to stand up for themselves against treatment they find demeaning or offensive, they are encouraged to tell their employers, who are then duty bound to punish the alleged perp (without telling him who complained!).<br />
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Not just Orwellian; fricken Kafkaesque as well!<br />
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So, obviously the politically correct culture that dominates the arts world (and many other workplaces, for that matter) has had much to do with precipitating this very scandal, along with many others.<br />
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Speaking of which: If Rush deserves the benefit of the doubt, then so does everyone else who's been similarly accused. And that has definitely not been the case.<br />
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What's fascinating is how selectively punitive PC standards are applied -- particularly by the most zealous feminist crusaders. <br />
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They say <i>all</i> women's accusations should be believed. But they'll happily reverse that view if the accused is on their side -- regardless of the evidence. Amazing to see so many of Twitter's frightbats, who regularly assume the worst about sexual assault and harassment accusations levelled at their enemies, are either just not tweeting about Rush, or even actively defending him. (Of course he may well be innocent of all charges. It's the inconsistency that's so notable.)<br />
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Clearly, they don't wanna be seen as attacking this fellow travelling cultural icon. Cushy gigs, along with invites to glamorous film star-filled events and soirees might dry up. <i>No way</i> will they risk that happening!<br />
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The fact that Rush is now suing the <i>Daily Telegraph</i> makes the issue far easier to deal with for these selectively outraged socialist sisters (blushing <i>violents</i>, I call 'em). They can arc up about eeevil Rupert's right-wing henchpeople and their brutal, defamatory culture. <br />
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But really, that's just shooting the messenger. IMHO the culture that's more deserving of condemnation is the one that dominates Artsville generally, and Sydney Theatre Company in particular. <br />
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Questions that really need to be answered, among others: Did this guy really do something wrong? If so, exactly what was it and who was the victim? If the claims actually turn out to be bogus, why were they made in the first place? And in that case, shouldn't the original accuser be named, and punished for her lies?MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-86370104042210825302017-05-14T14:01:00.002+08:002017-05-14T14:18:26.663+08:00Peter Waples-Crowe exhibition illustrates power of PC as well as dingo'sIf you say to leftie arty types that the arts are dominated by political correctness and that merit hardly gets a look-in they'll deny it, then usually change the subject. If you keep pressing the point they often roll their eyes and sneer at you. Push it further and they might even get a bit upset and claim that meritocracy is a "white male concept" (no kidding).<br />
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The reason the claim makes them so uncomfortable is because they know it's true. They've totally buckled under this creepy, toxic and divisive ideology. The more ambitious among them have decided to go hard with it, using it to further their own careers.<br />
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But it clearly bugs a lot of them deep down, because it's so ... dispiriting. Why even try to be good at something when you know it doesn't matter? These days, as a criteria for "success", merit is nothing next to the identity of the artist.<br />
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But success still <i>implies</i> merit, right. How could it not? So to "succeed" in the arts you've got to pretend that your main aim is excellence (i.e. great skill), and avoid admitting that being politically correct is what you're mainly focused on. <br />
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To give you an idea of just how significant identity politics is in the arts (and coverage of it), have a look at this article about <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-12/queer-indigenous-artists-pushing-back-from-the-margins/8514772">Indigenous artist Peter Waples-Crowe</a>. The whole piece is about his sense of marginalisation as a queer Aboriginal man, which is clearly the main theme of his exhibition. I suspect it's also why it was chosen for funding. (That's not to say that I think he's insincere about it -- just that identity politics is a huge factor in decision making in arts bureaucracies.) <br />
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The article, which is like so many on exhibitions and performances, includes next to nothing about whether it's any good, or even tries to be. It's all about identity politics. And it has this <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-12/queer-indigenous-artists-pushing-back-from-the-margins/8514772">vivid illustration of intersectionality</a>: <br />
<i><br />"I'm an Aboriginal man, but I'm a gay man. That puts me on the outside," he says.<br /><br />"I'm inside the culture because I'm Aboriginal; I'm outside because I'm gay.”<br /><br />I'm inside gay culture because I'm gay, I'm outside because I'm Aboriginal.”</i><br />
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Alienation of this kind and intensity is nectar to a cultural Marxist with nice big pot of your money to throw around …<br />
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He adds: <br />
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<i>"In some of the Aboriginal stories across the country the dingo is seen as a shapeshifter. In the day, we see it as a dingo, but at night it can become whatever it wants to be. I've often seen myself as a shapeshifter."</i><br />
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I don't think he's the only one. I suspect that many of his fellow artists are “shapeshifters”, too. Deep down they know the PC way of doing things is a load of bollocks, but they pretend otherwise so they can get grant money, win awards and gain kudos. They do not express what they truly think and feel through their art because they know doing so would be a bad career move at the very least.<br />
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And they don't focus on honing their skills because they know this won't help them either. That's a sad state of affairs and one of the reasons why there's so much garbage held up as greatness these days. <br />
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Call me old fashioned, but I thought art was about transcending differences and speaking to deep human experiences with skill and courage -- not reconfirming them by obeying politically correct dogmas. MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-49654563521385200222016-09-21T11:36:00.001+08:002016-09-21T11:54:56.482+08:00Suspension of Cassandra Liebeknecht is a festival of PC absurdityAs we all know the politically correct narrative has gays and lesbians routinely discriminated against, abused, bullied and all the rest of it. This kind of stuff still happens, of course. There are still a few arseholes out there who openly treat LGBTQI people with contempt. But it's certainly not an institutional thing any more.<br />
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The present reality is much more complicated. Gays and lesbians aren't just victims of "straight hate". Many are into hating straights. You can call me old fashioned for saying this, but two wrongs do not make a right. </div>
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Take this recent ruckus in the Adelaide arts scene. Cassandra Liebeknecht, who was director of the Feast Festival, has been suspended for being a breeder, it seems. Looks very much like a decision based on <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/blogs/andrew-bolt/queer-group-sacks-straight/news-story/f1b3f7bffaf26f724d3049e15e501ecb">heterophobia to me</a>.</div>
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And it involves other right-on absurdities. For example, racism is invoked by at least one of those supporting the decision against Ms Leibeknecht. Festival co-founder Helen Bock argues that having a straight person heading a queer festival is like having a white person at the helm of an indigenous body. </div>
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Well, that term "white" does seem to be a tad, er, <i>problematic</i> given the precedent set by <a href="http://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2011/05/andrew-bolt-on-trial/">the Andrew Bolt trial</a>. (I won't even elaborate on exactly why lest I inadvertently commit a hate crime myself and end up prosecuted under 18C. But I think you get my drift.) </div>
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Invoking racism is just so naff, innit? It's like when the Kumbaya crowd try to shut down any criticism of Islam by saying it's racist. FFS, when are these people gonna realize, <i>Islam is not a race!</i> </div>
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And neither is sexual identity. Yet this false equivalence is applied repeatedly (and effectively) as a way of silencing any criticism of the more extreme aspects of the gay rights agenda. Take "marriage equality" for example. Supporters of this cause will often say that denying SSM is akin to outlawing interracial marriage. They do so because it sounds kinda plausible at first, and absolutely no one with any decency and compassion would be against members of different racial groups marrying each other. </div>
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But the comparison is false. The interracial marriages they invoke involve men and women. Same sex marriage, by definition, does not!</div>
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Surely these people are aware that "oranges" <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oranges_Are_Not_the_Only_Fruit">are not the only fruit</a>. So it's odd that they insist on confusing 'em with "apples", right?</div>
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As well as the incoherence inherent in the decision regarding Ms Liebeknecht, there's the sheer ugliness of the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3797816/Adelaide-Feast-Festival-s-general-manager-allegedly-suspended-sexuality.html">campaign against her</a>:</div>
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<i>'I've been spat on, I've had people scare me, I've had people contact me at work anonymously, saying 'I know where your children go to school',' she said.</i></div>
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<i>'There was also a gentleman who continues to this day to slander me for my sexuality. It just gets vicious.'</i></div>
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I'll say.</div>
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About the only way this could get more like <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/09/17/south-park-just-declared-open-season-on-social-justice-warriors/">an episode of </a><i><a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/09/17/south-park-just-declared-open-season-on-social-justice-warriors/">South Park</a> </i>would be if Cassandra's hunky beau (pictured in the above-linked article) gets attacked for cultural appropriation on account of his impressive dreads! </div>
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Well, whatever happens, one thing's beyond doubt: The self-satire of this PC power-play is waaay more entertaining than any of the shows in the actual festival program. Really, they should just whop a box office outside the management offices. Could prolly recoup all their losses if they did ...</div>
MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-274950969955026082016-09-18T11:51:00.003+08:002016-09-18T14:29:14.228+08:00Jimmy Fallon joking with Donald Trump seen as betrayal by liberalsIt's pretty well established that comedians across the Western world tend to lean left politically. I've long found this quite odd because it's a highly individualistic performance mode. You get up there on your own and poke fun at human behaviour and the narratives we live by. You have to be a bit of a loner and an outsider to do that.<br />
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Much of leftism, on the other hand, is about being part of a collective, and conforming to narratives (e.g. class warfare) rather than questioning them.<br />
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Not saying that all comics should be conservatives, of course. Just that you'd expect to see a higher proportion of them who are ... So the question is, why so few? I think a major reason is the fact that the comedy scene (much like the rest of the entertainment industry) has been almost completely captured by the cultural Left. And they are extremely hostile to any deviation from politically correct "goodthink".<br />
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The recent segment in which the affable Jimmy Fallon yucked it up with Donald Trump is a case in point. Fallon treated him in much the same way he would any other politician. He made fun of him in a light-hearted, playful way. Trump happily played along with this and came across as a likeable guy who wasn't full of himself.<br />
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This ran counter to the image of Trump as an angry, racist, misogynist fascist that the liberal MSM has been at pains to construct and perpetuate. Not surprisingly they went ballistic <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=Fallon%20Trump&src=typd">on Twitter</a> and Facebook.<br />
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SJW of the day. Brilliant effort by <a href="https://twitter.com/LJSilverman1">@LJSilverman1</a> 😆😂 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/fullytriggered?src=hash">#fullytriggered</a> <a href="https://t.co/J8lk4Y0TO2">pic.twitter.com/J8lk4Y0TO2</a></div>
— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) <a href="https://twitter.com/RitaPanahi/status/776780088889057280">September 16, 2016</a></blockquote>
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There were lots of columns and blog posts as well about how Fallon failed in his duty to gut the presidential aspirant. <a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a48649/trump-fallon-appearance/">Take this one in <i>Esquire</i></a>:<br />
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<i>Jimmy Fallon is not a journalist, but Jimmy Fallon is a taxpaying American citizen with a minimal obligation to help keep a tyrant from reaching the most powerful position in the world. He failed that obligation last night. When you go to The Tonight Show's YouTube channel this morning, you'll find five truncated clips of Donald Trump in a red power tie sitting across from a giggling, jovial Fallon.</i><br />
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Eh? He had an <i>obligation?</i> And he failed in that? So, the implication is he's some kind of traitor to the cause.<br />
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That's not just unreasonable. It borders on creepy. And it is reminiscent of another media event related to the upcoming election. In this one celebrity shrink Dr Drew Pinsky expressed concern about Hillary's health and healthcare, and promptly lost his gig with CNN. <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/MichaelHurd/care-medical/2016/09/06/id/746853/">Very alarming</a>.<br />
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Somehow I can't see this happening to Fallon. Still, I'm sure there are many liberals who would like to mete out similar punishment.<br />
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Really, they should acquire a sense of humour. It was just <i>entertainment</i>, after all.<br />
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MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-41950058173434019512016-08-20T13:24:00.001+08:002016-08-20T13:33:37.523+08:00Ted Nugent and other artists refuse to toe PC line on Trump and HillaryIt's well established that arty types tend to dress left, so to speak. There are many reasons for this. One of the main ones is that artists are dreamers, driven by emotion. They create fictional, parallel worlds on stage, screen, canvas and other media. So it stands to, er, reason that they would identify with socialists, who also value their own feelings above all things and dedicate their lives to making <i>society</i> perfect, in the way they have imagined it.<br />
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Then there's the fact that many artistic forms are quite expensive to produce while having small, niche audiences. As a result they need some government funding to survive. Those who dole out this money will naturally be more left-leaning. And they tend to reward those who echo their politically correct beliefs loudest in their work, thereby making socialism the "norm" in these artistic fields.</div>
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That said, there are exceptions to the rule, particularly in the USA. I think this has much to do with that nation's history and enduring love of individualism. It's also got a big population. So if you can find your audience you can often survive and even thrive without state assistance, thereby avoiding the trap cited above. </div>
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So, you do see well known American actors, musos and the like supporting politically incorrect candidates and causes from time to time. Ted Nugent is one of these rugged individualists. An avid hunter and outdoorsman, he posted this take on Trump a few months ago. I think he summed the situation up pretty well.</div>
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Then there's actor James Woods, who's very active on Twitter, and definitely no fan of Hillary Clinton!<br />
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She is not of this earth when it comes to the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/truth?src=hash">#truth</a>. She would lie about the color of the moon, just to lie. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/liar?src=hash">#liar</a> <a href="https://t.co/X8OPwBGkPP">https://t.co/X8OPwBGkPP</a></div>
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/765313180683730945">August 15, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Would be so great if there were some fearless, rebellious actors, rock stars and the like here in Australia! Aside from Angry Anderson -- who has pretty much retired from performing anyway -- no one else comes to mind ... </div>
MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-23713335452438593242016-07-11T12:52:00.000+08:002016-07-11T14:47:02.569+08:00Gay Sulu ticks off Takei like Ghostbusters galls fansClearly, movie-goers aplenty have had a gutful of all this politically correct retconning that's been going on lately. But now it's even pissing off industry professionals themselves.<br />
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Take the rewriting of the iconic <i>Star Trek</i> character Sulu as gay. An epic case of cinematic virtue signalling, it was also meant as an affectionate nod to the openly gay actor who played the role in the original TV series, George Takei.<br />
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But Takei himself is not happy with the decision. And with good reason. He says that the writer Gene Rodenberry had a very clear vision for the character, and we should honour that. Good point.<br />
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Also, it diminishes the craft of acting itself, in a way similar to the furore over casting <a href="http://www.cultureofthearts.com/2016/05/sjws-seem-intent-on-destroying-craft-of.html">in that Nina Simone biopic</a>. The rewrite implies that because an actor is gay, characters he plays must have the same sexual identity. Carts and horses come to mind here ...<br />
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The politically correct alteration puts the screenwriter Simon Pegg in an invidious position, too. Given the sensitivity around the whole issue of gay rights, even defending his decision against George Takei could be seen as homophobia. No wonder he's been <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-36744328">so careful about it</a>.<br />
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It could bite Pegg on the bum in another way, too. If this kind of right-on retconning becomes standard, a remake of his own movie <i>Shaun of the Dead</i> will suffer. That's because the character of Shaun himself will have to be rewritten <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365748/">as a social justice warrior</a>.<br />
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At least the publicity surrounding <i>Star Trek</i> has not been as bad as it has been for that other sci-fi remake, <i>Ghostbusters</i>. The antipathy towards this new "feminist" version <a href="http://www.cultureofthearts.com/2016/05/ghostbusters-3-is-toxic-mix-of-pc.html">has been off the scales</a><br />
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The SJWs who support such a lame, right-on "re-imagining" of the 1980s classic see this resistance as more evidence of the ingrained sexism it's trying to combat. But it's a lot more complicated than that. Much of it is just die-hard fans saying: "Look if you wanna create something excruciatingly PC, fine. Just come up with something new and original. Don't cynically rehash a classic, thereby destroying our memory of it!"MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-66030419538422673082016-05-29T11:16:00.002+08:002016-05-29T11:24:50.120+08:00Peter FitzSimons and luvvie mates want us to keep the home fires burningWhenever there's some potential change to current trade policies that means Australian arty types will have to compete on a more equal footing with their counterparts overseas, local lefties suddenly do a massive U-turn and get all patriotic on our arses. They say we Aussies need to protect "our culture" from being flooded by imports. We need to hear "our stories" told in "our voices".<br />
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This gargle from Pirate Pete Fitzsimons is an example of this emotive, disingenuous and self-serving line of argument. He and his earnest comrades in, er, arts are spooked by the latest proposal to change <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/a-fight-on-our-hands-for-australian-stories-20160527-gp5gqd.html">territorial copyright laws</a>. </div>
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<i>It is, I grant you, a complex issue but the bottom line is this. It is our united view that, beyond all matters of commerce, <b>it is the duty of the federal government</b> – be it the Turnbull or Shorten government – <b>to support the Australian campfire where Australian stories are told, to Australians</b>.</i></div>
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Jeez. Ya couldn't get more dinky-di Strayan than that now, could ya cobber? Fair dinkum, <i>'ken oath!</i></div>
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I always find this amusing because much of the rest of the time they're zealously advocating <i>multi</i>-culturalism, viciously and often falsely accusing non-lefties of racist thought-crime for not kowtowing to their politically correct demands.</div>
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If they sincerely believe the pronouncements they make when in peak luvvie virtue-signalling mode then surely they would welcome all stories, from all cultures, told in all accents, wouldn't they? </div>
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Nope. Not when their massively inflated incomes are at risk of being lowered a tad by genuine competition, they won't. </div>
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MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-49102722557963620662016-05-23T12:21:00.004+08:002016-05-23T12:41:52.671+08:00Elijah Wood's paedophilia claims run counter to MSM's anti-Catholic narrativeIt's interesting that there's such a strong association between Catholicism and paedophilia these days. The way the MSM focuses on this issue and hounds prominent figures in the Catholic Church (such as George Pell) you'd think that this was where most of it occurs.<br />
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There's obviously long been a serious problem there. But is it any worse than in other denominations? The evidence <a href="http://blogs.denverpost.com/hark/2010/05/25/scandal-creates-contempt-for-catholic-clergy/39/">seems to imply it isn't</a>. It also appears that the priesthood in general is no more full of paedophiles than any other <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/priests-commit-no-more-abuse-other-males-70625">section of society</a>.<br />
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I think it's fair to say that the perception that every second Catholic priest is a kiddy fiddler has much to do with the left-leaning media's enduring animosity towards Christians in general and Catholics in particular.<br />
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Which is probably why we have heard so little about how the scourge afflicts other sections of society, such as the film industry. If Elijah Wood's claims are to be believed Hollywood is chockas with child abusers who've been <a href="http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/elijah-wood-claims-hollywood-is-covering-up-its-own-jimmy-savilestyle-child-abuse-scandal/news-story/cbfe0605bd6bf1c78df24f8cb8673445">getting away with their crimes for years</a>. Notably he compares this alleged massive, ongoing cover-up to the one that allowed Jimmy Savile to escape scrutiny for so long <a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9781782067467/?a_aid=ausmatt">and ultimately escape justice</a>.<br />
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Sounds plausible to me. The place is known for its decadence. And money is power, after all.<br />
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Politics is also a possible factor. Tinseltown movers and shakers are left-liberals more often than not. And this ideological bent aligns with the rest of the MSM in America. So it makes sense that high profile journalists wouldn't be too keen on venturing into Hollywood's secretive nooks and crannies in search of scuttling rock spiders. As a dutiful cultural change agent you wouldn't want to make your fellow travellers look bad, now would you?<br />
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Then there's the vanity aspect. If you're a big name reporter who gets known for shining a light on the film capital's underbelly you could easily become persona non grata amongst its elites. No more A-list parties for you! Given that ego drives journos nearly as much as it does actors, singers, dancers and directors this would be a significant discouragement to many of them IMO.MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-82221156747287889372016-05-21T12:28:00.001+08:002016-05-21T12:47:16.657+08:00Ghostbusters 3 is a toxic mix of PC feminism and corporate cynicismThis new ultra-PC version of <i>Ghostbusters</i> is stirring up an absolutely massive negative reaction. The trailer for it is the most disliked YouTube video in history. The rightier reaches of the blogosphere are getting stuck into it with gusto. And more than a few film critics are saying it'll be a train wreck without a doubt.<br />
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Needless to say, this criticism is met with howls of "misogyny!" from the usual suspects, and there are squillions of those. I'm sure that if <a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9789527065686/?a_aid=ausmatt">the social justice warriors</a> weren't so fired up about it, there'd be even more condemnation of the whole project, even from left-leaning cinephiles.<br />
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The desperation with which right-on feminist types are defending the project and attacking its critics is as pathetic as it is extreme. This is a good takedown of <a href="https://medium.com/@KaineDamo/marisa-kabas-lies-about-the-angry-video-game-nerd-845822daeaae#.x53sfjd8d">one of them, Marisa Kabas</a>.<br />
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As well as illustrating the falsehood and nastiness of her attack on popular film critic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angry_Video_Game_Nerd">James Rolphe</a>, it has a good summary of the motivations of the movie's defenders:<br />
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<i>What’s fascinating with criticisms of new Ghostbusters vs SJW defenders, is it’s all <b>projection</b> from the defenders. People defending new Ghostbusters believe people hate it <b>because gender</b>, and can only defend the film based on <b>gender</b>. Criticisms are based on how the jokes are bad, how the effects are bad, how it’s a cheap cash in on a much loved classic. <b>SJWs are absolutely obsessed with identity politics</b> to the point that <b>they project their obsession onto everyone else</b>. They don’t listen to criticisms, they don’t consider Occam’s Razor, <b>they jump straight to the conclusion</b> that all those down votes, all the negative reaction videos and comments, <b>are based on the literal hatred of women</b>.</i><br />
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Bang on the money!<br />
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Look at everything else the PC Left are arcing up about and you see the same primitive psychology at work. They simply cannot see people as individuals. They see only group identities. (Gawd. What a sad, stunted view of humanity!) So they think that anyone who disagrees with them must be doing the same thing from another direction. Consequently they are doomed to perpetuate the very bigotry they so often falsely accuse others of inflicting on society.<br />
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Both the production of <i>Ghostbusters 3</i> and the vicious sliming of those who criticize it are motivated by this rigid ideology. But there's another toxic ingredient in the mix: corporate greed. Clearly, Hollywood money men (and women) thought it was time to rehash this classic. It had a ready made brand that could be leveraged for sure fire bucks. But that soulless goal is why so many people are saying it has "turkey" <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2016/05/20/the-real-reason-fans-arent-looking-forward-to-ghostbusters-3/">written all over it</a>:<br />
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<i>The reaction to the “Ghostbusters” reboot is the unsurprising, and dare I say long overdue, response from a generation of fans that have <b>repeatedly watched their most iconic childhood memories cut up and sold for parts</b>. Directors, producers, and writers are more focused on the shiny new reboot or sequel, <b>dishing out forced fan-service callbacks</b> with the belief that success is intrinsically tied to more of the same, that a feeling cannot be replicated without replicating that which brought on the feeling in the first place.</i><br />
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Movie lovers resent being taken for granted. And they're saying so now. Their displeasure will also be expressed in low box office figures, I suspect.<br />
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Actually, the whole phenomenon is a bit like local conservatives who are really pissed off about Turnbull and his, er, <i>malcoholics</i> seizing control of their party and steering it leftward. Vote whisperer Mark Textor says these people don't matter. But they have different ideas. Just as film fans will probably stay away from <i>Ghostbusters 3</i> in droves, a large percentage of the Liberal Party's traditional support base will not vote as its strategists predict, I reckon.MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-47620417232640933142016-05-02T09:27:00.003+08:002016-05-02T09:34:06.970+08:00SJWs seem intent on destroying the craft of actingSocial justice warriors are everywhere, of course. But one area they've long been very active in is the arts. Really depressing, because art is the very definition of self expression. And you'd hope that in a truly free and open society you can be true to your artistic vision and create whatever the hell you want.<br />
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But nup. Those right-on finger-waggers are there to tell you what's acceptable and what's not. Take that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Simone">Nina Simone</a> biopic. The perpetually offended arced up because even though the character was played by a woman of colour, she wasn't, er, colourful enough! <br />
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As this article about the furore makes clear, this wasn't the only recent film casting decision to enrage the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/nina-simone-film-raises-more-questions-about-hollywoods-approach-to-diversity-20160417-go8her.html">cultural commisars</a>:<br />
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<i>The furor over Nina is the latest in a series of Hollywood controversies over not just race but sexuality, gender and biological status. Hollywood has seen the pro-gay film Stonewall boycotted for marginalising people of colour, the transgender film The Danish Girl criticised for casting a non-transgender actor as its star, and the upcoming Marvel film Doctor Strange blasted for giving the role of an Asian male to Tilda Swinton. </i><br />
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A common element in many of these complaints is that the actor himself shouldn't be allowed to play a character whose political identity he doesn't share in real life. And this standard isn't just being applied to movies being made now. Classic flicks from the past are now being dissected along these brutally simplistic lines.<br />
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Take this piece about how the casting of a memorable female character in James Cameron's classic <i>Aliens</i> <a href="http://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3388753/talk-vasquez-aliens-casting-problematic/">was "problematic"</a>:<br />
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<i>Aside from Ellen Ripley herself, the most badass character in James Cameron’s action-packed sequel is Private Vasquez, the tough-as-nails Colonial Marine who is almost always holding a big gun and leading her fellow Marines into battle with the Xenomorphs. When we first meet Vasquez, she’s doing pull-ups straight out of hyper-sleep, and when we last see her, she dies one of the most heroic deaths in the entire franchise. In between, Vasquez spouts off one-liners and blasts away Xenomorphs like it’s going out of style, and it’s no secret why she became one of the most fan-favorite characters in the movie.<br /><br />What most did not realize at that time, and what many still haven’t figured out, is that <b>Vasquez, a Latino woman, was played in Aliens by Jenette Goldstein, a freckle-faced white actress</b>. It’s a testament to <b>Goldstein’s acting abilities</b>, to say the very least, <b>that most never caught on to the fact that Vasquez was not played by a Latina actress</b>, but what’s worth discussing here is that Vasquez was, well, not played by a Latina actress. In an effort to appear less white, Goldstein was outfitted with dark contact lenses to hide her blue eyes and yes, she was even covered in full face-and-body makeup to cover her white skin. </i><br />
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Which makes you wonder about what the ramifications of all this social justice activism are for <a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780764163586/?a_aid=ausmatt">the craft of acting</a>. Hell, it has make-believe at its very core! When you play a role that a writer has dreamed up <i>you become what you are not</i>. And the measure of your skill is how thoroughly you can convince the viewer that you are that person -- and a real, living, breathing one at that! <br />
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But now in many cases daring to do that is deemed discriminatory by the diversity police. And if these doctrinaire numpties have their way, it may even become verboten.<br />
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Gawd. What a strange world we live in. It's like being in a bloody movie ... MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-70720347240981565172016-04-30T12:53:00.005+08:002016-04-30T16:04:44.300+08:00Now that the gender binary is a drag, acts will have to catch up!I've long found it amusing that drag gets a pass from the thought police. <a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780814712542/?a_aid=ausmatt">It's parodying women</a> -- holding them up to ridicule -- after all. Clearly this omission has much to do with the fact that it's a gay genre. So the usual rules don't apply, natch. So silly ...<br />
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Back in the nineties in Melbourne I used to know several bolshie women who would get all het up if they saw "misogynous" hetero blokes frock up (like on <i>The Footy Show</i>). Then they would go out to drag shows in gay bars and cheer the acts! They had the whole situation completely arse about, as usual.<br />
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By definition hetero blokes <i>desire</i> women. They are in awe of their beauty. Women are the mysterious, compelling <i>other</i> that they want to attract towards them. And it's women's feminine otherness that is their most powerfully intoxicating attribute.<br />
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So when straight men wear women's clothes it's usually a big joke to them (and most women, too). They revel in the grotesque awkwardness of their new appearance, often acting even blokier than usual. They're mocking themselves, mostly. But gay drag, in holding <i>femininity</i> up to ridicule, seems inherently more misogynistic IMO.<br />
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Well, however you choose to look at the performance genre, it depends very much on that eeevil gender binary doesn't it? And given that so-called social progressives have now officially deemed this to be a divisive weapon of oppression wielded by the patriarchy, and replaced it with a whole new paradigm of "gender fluidity" this could prove, er, <i>problematic</i> for screaming -- or rather, miming -- queens who cross dress for cash, don't ya think?<br />
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Neeedless to say, social justice warriors who live to demonise straight white males will go easier on the "gay community" in the short term. But they've been eating their own with increasing frequency of late (take what's happened to gay leftie Stephen Fry on a couple of occasions, for example). Could only be a matter of time before we read about the gender equity police throwing their usual (double) standards out the window and chucking massive tanties over the acts of certain prominent gay drag performers, I reckon.MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-4200288474655112382016-02-15T13:38:00.003+08:002016-02-15T14:05:06.323+08:00Lawrence Mooney review spat reveals the shifting sands of social justiceUp until now, social justice warrior (SJW) attacks have followed a pretty clear pattern. A tiny-minded feminist, say, decides to falsely accuse a prominent white male of misogyny. Then all her shrieking frightbat mates join the ambush on social media. Fellow travelling journos report on the issue in an outrageously biased way. The victim is painted as an abuser and he just can't get his side of the story across. His reputation in ruins, he ends up grovelling for forgiveness for a wrong he never committed!<br />
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This is of course a bad strategy for him to choose because it just confirms the attackers' narrative. Rather than saying all (or even some) is forgiven, they go in harder and demand his resignation -- if he hasn't been sacked by his spooked organization already, that is. With no support behind him and no other options available, he usually complies. Pumped from their victory, and with another bloody scalp to wave at other potential targets, the odds of his victors' launching another, <a href="http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9789527065686/?a_aid=ausmatt">more brazen attack are greater still</a>...<br />
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But this kinda bloodsport has been going on for so long, and rampaging thought police have destroyed so many careers, that people are starting to resist them. Some are actually lefties themselves who have been unfairly targeted, or who have come to the defence of friends who were attacked. So the whole paradigm of social justice war seems to be shifting somewhat...<br />
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And here's a current local example involving Aussie comedian Lawrence Mooney that seems to confirm this development. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Mooney">As a prominent white male</a>, he's a potential target. (Though he is a leftie himself, decreasing the odds of an attack.)<br />
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Now he's been given a pretty ordinary review of one of his recent comedy shows <a href="http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/entertainment/adelaide-fringe/comedy/adelaide-fringe-festival-review-2016-lawrence-mooney--moonman/news-story/8abe1d35bf66e9dec866935b29839d29">by an Adelaide journo</a>. While the write-up included a bit of right-on hand-wringing about domestic violence it didn't qualify as an outright accusation of "thought crime" IMO.<br />
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In any case it provoked an outraged response from the comic on Twitter. My personal feeling is that he overreacted. But he does have the right to fire back. Critics have got to learn to take criticism too -- even if it's roughly worded.<br />
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But because of her gender and his tone he's now upped the ante. Sob sister SJWs have a likely candidate for their next target. There's a chance that the clash will result in a stupid, extended frightbat campaign to severely damage his career. If this does occur, and he does apologize down the track, well, I won't be surprised. But if the Aussie frightbats do declare open season on him I hope he doesn't back down and keeps launching salvos at them.<br />
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I think that's what he'll do if that scenario develops because, while the issue trended on Twitter and has received MSM coverage, he hasn't yet apologized as far as I know. Not only that, but some other comics have lent their support. This is quite interesting given the gender and levels of influence of the two protagonists.<br />
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<a href="http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/entertainment/adelaide-fringe/lawrence-mooney-launches-foulmouthed-tirade-against-advertiser-journalist/news-story/cfe51fe6d894bb7b6112602a0cad87f8?sv=f35ed65fc8c213daa6489235512ba3c1">And I found this quote significant</a>: <br />
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<i>Mooney later told BuzzFeed: “What made me angry was <b>her contention that I’m not a comedian</b> just a funny guy under a spotlight,” he said.</i><br />
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<i>“I’ve had much more brutal reviews. The quaint difference between a comedian and a funny guy. I’ll leave it there.”</i><br />
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It was almost as if <i>he</i> was being the SJW since he was practising a bit of, er, <i>language policing</i>. His accusation wasn't that she was politically incorrect, but <i>professionally</i> incorrect.<br />
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Well, whatever occurs subsequently it seems to me that the lines are blurring substantially. This episode, along with others, shows that the nature of the social justice war is changing. People are not just defending themselves against accusations, but launching pre-emptive strikes. If vicious PC bullies in social and mainstream media find this upsetting, it's all good as far as I'm concerned. Great to see them cop some of their own medicine -- particularly from those on their own side!MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-73407074742921792962016-01-27T12:12:00.001+08:002016-01-27T12:25:46.224+08:00Chet isn't the only faker. His feminist critics are tooAussie performer Chet Faker's stage name is a play on the real name of the iconic tragic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chet_Baker">jazz great</a> and is therefore meant to make him seem post-modernist and ironic and all. But frankly I think it's accurate in a WYSIWYG kinda way -- at least as it pertains to his political beliefs. He resembles so many sneering hipsters in the arts world these days in that he presents a right-on facade to stay in the good books with the meeja. To be fair, he doesn't really have that much of a choice, as a recent Twitter ruckus illustrates.<br />
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See, feminist journo Erin Riley, who spends most of her waking hours looking for things to be, er, lefteously indignant about, discovered that the private school "Chet" attended had produced an inordinate number of Triple J Hottest 1000 winners. This fun fact involved obvious white male privilege and gender disparity and was therefore gold for an SJW hoping to lift her profile. She must have been delighted when a twitstorm ensued after he fired back at her with tweets implying that he <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3418268/Chet-Faker-apologises-tweets-feminist-dig-Triple-J-s-Hottest-100.html?ito=social-facebook_Australia">wasn't that privileged after all</a>. She earned some free publicity for herself <i>and</i> got to play the victim, the twin goals of most feminist behaviour these days.<br />
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She also had a clear win before all her adoring frightbat fans because the eeevil white male backed down after his initial self-defence and offered the usual boilerplate BS about equality, etc. Seems pretty clear he was only saying it to put out the social media fire that resulted form his initial reaction.<br />
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Riley's response to the muso <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3418268/Chet-Faker-apologises-tweets-feminist-dig-Triple-J-s-Hottest-100.html?ito=social-facebook_Australia">eating crow was interesting</a>:<br />
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<i>Ms Riley retweeted the apology on Wednesday morning.</i><br />
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<i>She told Daily Mail Australia that his tweets were 'very gracious'.</i><br />
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<i>'I was impressed by his willingness to admit his mistake. That being said, the torrent of abuse and vitriol that came from other people - which was clearly in no way his fault - at a simple fact was very concerning.'</i><br />
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Eh? So he's not to blame for the reaction of others. That's a direct contradiction of the usual PC line, which is to sheet home as much blame to influencers as possible. She might have to swot up on her tactics.<br />
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Also, was it really a "torrent of abuse and vitriol"? Maybe she got some snark in e-mails. But if you search her name and handle on Twitter there seems to be little if any of negative reaction to her. Try both kinds, and you'll see what I mean. Not saying that she didn't receive any at all. But her choice of words seems to be hugely OTT by any rational measure.<br />
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Also, on the subject of private school, did Erin attend one herself? She has a very entitled air about her. I suspect it's likely, although I'm happy to be corrected on this.<br />
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Seems to me both the muso and the, er, critic in this case should check their privilege -- not to mention ease up on the fakery.MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-70192170533744712952016-01-26T13:48:00.004+08:002016-01-26T15:21:38.833+08:00Oscars racism controversy shows the absurdity of PCSo funny that a bunch of bloody movie stars, directors and other inordinately well-paid film professionals are claiming to be victims of racism. They've gotta be among the most privileged people on the planet! But as lefties are so fond of saying, "everything is relative". If they're in one of the groups that mostly white, privileged socialists define as historically oppressed, and they genuinely <i>feel</i> that they've been discriminated against, well they <i>have</i>. And who are you to say that they haven't been -- especially if you're an eeevil white male!<br />
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As well as showing the childish, selfish emotionalism of those running it, the #OscarsSoWhite campaign highlights their strange priorities. If they cared primarily about doing great work, rather than getting accolades for it, then not being handed them wouldn't be a problem. It could even be argued that choosing gigs and approaching them with the main intention of winning an Oscar is a self-defeating approach, since doing so would detract from the emotional, physical and intellectual effort of producing great work. I mean, that's what the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is supposed to award -- <i>great work</i>, right?<br />
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This was well expressed by Ice Cube, who said that complaining about not getting an Oscar was like bitching that you didn't get <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2016/01/23/ice-cube-on-ridiculous-oscarssowhite-like-crying-about-not-having-enough-icing-on-your-cake/">enough icing on your cake</a>.<br />
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<i>“We don’t do movies for the industry. We do movies for the fans, for the people,” Ice Cube said Friday.</i><br />
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<i>"The industry,” Cube continued, “if they give you a trophy or not or a pat on the back or not, it’s nice but it’s not something that you should dwell on.”</i><br />
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Here's another example, from days of yore: Woody Allen, whose motivation has always been solely to keep cranking out excellent movies until he pops his clogs, didn't even show up to the Oscars when his classic <i>Annie Hall</i> won several Academy Awards including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Hall">Best Picture</a>. He was playing jazz at his favourite club, just as he always did. Good on him for that.<br />
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In fact, the movie itself has this brilliant line about the ultimate meaninglessness of giving out <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075686/quotes">little statues of golden blokes</a>:<br />
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<i>Alvy Singer: Awards! They always give out awards! I can't believe it. Greatest Fascist Dictator: Adolf Hitler.</i><br />
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Another toxic aspect of campaigns like #OscarsSoWhite is that rather than just running out of steam, they tend to precipitate more of the same. When one group starts playing victim, <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2016/01/25/ian-mckellen-gay-people-also-disregarded-by-film-industry/">others pile on</a>. This provokes snark from those who don't think these claims are as deserving of attention. Numerous rich Hollywood egomaniacs end up shitty with the others because they've had their <i>dewicate wittle feewings</i> hurt.<br />
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It's blindingly obvious to any sane, rational adult observing such an unedifying spectacle that total -- perhaps even partial -- equality is impossible. The goals of today's diversity crusaders will never be realized. They'll just keep getting increasingly indignant, and everyone else will become ever more exasperated with them.<br />
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Something's gotta give, though. There has to be a point where the powers that be stop acceding to SJWs' shrill, unreasonable demands and tell 'em to take a flying f**k at a rolling donut. Probably a long way off in Tinsel Town, but it is happening elsewhere, thankfully.MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-44194249323248583152016-01-14T12:25:00.000+08:002016-01-14T12:58:07.940+08:00Is Charlie Hebdo's Aylun Kurdi "groper" cartoon more PC than provocative?Many so-called satirists like to think of themselves as edgy and provocative. But they're usually anything but. Take the lame "satirical" smartarses on the ABC. Their "comedy" is drearily politically correct, very careful to only mock Christians, conservatives and the like -- and usually very badly at that.<br />
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They tend to do this because there's a set template for this kind of stuff, so they don't have to be creative or original. Also, it will keep them in the good books with the PC powers that be (thereby ensuring long term employment) and they won't suffer any negative consequences at all bar a few outraged e-mails from viewers.<br />
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These clowns (and I use the term loosely) were always pretty gutless of course. But after the slaughter of a bunch of cartoonists at French magazine <i>Charlie Hebdo</i> a year ago they're even more so.<br />
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Speaking of which: The magazine has gone and done it again! This time half the bloody planet is in uproar over a new cartoon that <i>seems</i> to suggest that if drowned toddler Aylun Kurdi had lived he would have grown up to become a sex pest like one of the group gropers in Cologne. </div>
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But you could also read its message in the opposite way. Rather than mocking Muslims, it could be seen as a parody of the politically incorrect "Islamophobic" stereotype of them. </div>
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This kind of thing often happens with satire -- even when the writer thinks he's being crystal clear with it. A personal example: I used to perform a right-on leftie character who was clearly the joke, not the joker. He was meant to be laughed at, not with.<br />
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After 9/11, he would say how sad he felt for the "innocent victims" of that terrible day, "all nineteen of them". Almost everyone saw what I, through the character, was getting at. But at least one audience member didn't. After the gig he paid out on me because he thought that I agreed with the character and was thereby condoning what the terrorists did! I tried to explain that I was mocking that very attitude. He didn't buy it. You see what you want to see, as the saying goes ... </div>
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So, it's easy to grab the wrong end of the satirical stick. And it looks like this is what is happening with this latest <i>Charlie Hebdo</i> "outrage". As this tweep points out, the offending "Aylun as groper" cartoon was placed in a context that should be considered.<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
Here are the THREE (3) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CharlieHebdo?src=hash">#CharlieHebdo</a> caricatures under the SAME HEADING.
So something connects them, right?
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CONTEXT?src=hash">#CONTEXT</a> <a href="https://t.co/D9GqiB5PcY">pic.twitter.com/D9GqiB5PcY</a></div>
— Ystri Ya (@ystriya) <a href="https://twitter.com/ystriya/status/687417175481671680">January 13, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
2) No to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/refugees?src=hash">#refugees</a>.
Does <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CharlieHebdo?src=hash">#CharlieHebdo</a> believe this? NO! Never has!
You're seeing the vile mind of someone who does. <a href="https://t.co/XqCpckVvjQ">pic.twitter.com/XqCpckVvjQ</a></div>
— Ystri Ya (@ystriya) <a href="https://twitter.com/ystriya/status/687422972160782340">January 13, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
3) "Since the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CharlieHebdo?src=hash">#CharlieHebdo</a> attacks, we don't draw the same way anymore."
"We do self-portraits" <a href="https://t.co/ryzYEQBxyg">pic.twitter.com/ryzYEQBxyg</a></div>
— Ystri Ya (@ystriya) <a href="https://twitter.com/ystriya/status/687424322248507394">January 14, 2016</a></blockquote>
If you're going to ignore that context you completely distort the message. I think this tweet sums it up well:<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
That's like quoting mining someone who said,
'I would never say "Rape is ok."',
and reducing it to
'Rape is ok'. <a href="https://t.co/p5BWMb17yh">https://t.co/p5BWMb17yh</a></div>
— Lalo Dagach (@LaloDagach) <a href="https://twitter.com/LaloDagach/status/687390515118080000">January 13, 2016</a></blockquote>
Getting all outraged about it therefore becomes a massive own goal. Needless to say, there are heaps of them being scored all over the world.<br />
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And even if Charlie Hebdo is trying to offend Muslims with their most recent offering, their cartoonists certainly don't deserve to die for it. Yet this is what a lot of people are wishing for. "These fascists deserve a repeat of what happened a year ago!" is a very popular sentiment.<br />
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Of course you'd expect lots of Muslims to believe this. But heaps of those caring sharing, compassionate and "pro-freedom of speech" liberals and lefties do too. Depressing that so many of them don't see where all this is leading us.</div>
MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-67797965191192603482015-03-30T21:04:00.001+08:002015-03-30T21:30:55.263+08:00Ray Badran rape joke furore reveals comedy scene's PC cultureOne of the reasons I really like blogging as a medium is that you can actually say what you want to say. If people don't agree with it, fine. If they're deeply offended and even hate your guts for what you said, then they'll snark at you in comments. Also fine. <br />
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This is definitely not the case in standup comedy. The culture is heavily, drearily PC. Sheesh, you're treading on egg-shells the whole time in that joint!<br />
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That right-on and very selective outrage is mind-stunting, creativity-killing poison for all the arts, of course. But it's particularly toxic (and sad) when it dominates a genre like standup which should be anarchic, rebellious and disrespectful to all po-faced finger-waggers across the political spectrum. <br />
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A good illustration of how depressingly childish and nasty it can get involves a comic called Ray Badran. See, at a recent gig for The Melbourne International Comedy Festival he told a joke that some idiot in the audience didn't comprehend. Seizing an opportunity to advertise her spurious sense of moral superiority she basically heckled him (in a rather unique way). He lost his cool and now <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/comedy/comedian-ray-badran-tells-audience-member-to-die-for-objecting-to-rape-joke-20150327-1m9hgb.html">all hell's broken loose</a>. <br />
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The offended audience member, a woman called Cecilia Devlin, claims to have staged a silent protest by <i>sliding under the table</i>. Her malignant pettiness comes through loud and clear. She wasn't staging a protest. She was trying to wreck his act by drawing attention to her own! And she succeeded.<br />
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That said, you gotta give her some cool points for inventiveness. Most twits who are too literal-minded to actually <i>get</i> a gag and instead get all offended just yell stuff out or storm off in a huff. But this sustained display of passive aggression certainly subverted that dominant paradigm. It was a kind of anti-performance performance art, really. It was culture jamming of the highest order. She could prolly even get a grant for it ... <br />
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Hmm. You never know, it might even become an official artistic genre in its own right! Knowing how many sour-faced, witless, whining hand-wringers there are pumping their pompous poison into the performing arts here there may even be a Festival of Faux-Feminist Table Sliding before too long. We shall see.<br />
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But back to Badran's proscribed behaviour: Depressingly, quite a few comics have sided with the sinister forces of censorious sanctimony. And predictably the festival's big enchilada mouthed the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/comedy/comedian-ray-badran-tells-audience-member-to-die-for-objecting-to-rape-joke-20150327-1m9hgb.html">requisite PC cant</a>: <br />
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<i>This week Comedy Festival director Susan Provan said organisers did not support racist or misogynistic material.<br /><br />"We would never censor anyone but usually when inexperienced comedians attempt big topics, they tend to fall flat. People will vote with their feet."</i><br />
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That line about censorship is bollocks. Provan declared a fatwa on <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/news/arts/time-for-a-laughing-matter/2006/03/31/1143441331509.html">jokes about Islam remember</a>. And saying people vote with their feet just begs the question: Why didn't Ms Devlin walk out if she was so offended?<br />
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Seems remarkably malicious -- not to mention weirdly masochistic -- to hang around under a table, poisoning the atmosphere like a fetid fart in a jammed elevator. For Provan, whose purported position is to promote comedy and encourage creativity, it's quite remarkable to implicitly side with an obnoxious arsehat whose clear aim was to ruin a performance, don't ya think?MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338282356490283587.post-43145270612161226442015-02-22T15:17:00.003+08:002015-02-23T13:45:18.840+08:00Fictional drug smugglers usually evil. Odd, considering who creates them<div>
Have been watching the latest Rebecca Gibney mystery-thriller <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_(TV_series)">called <i>Winter</i></a>. Actually enjoying it quite a bit. I love this kind of TV show, and not just because of the whodunnit aspect. Being a fusty old conservative the moral polarization appeals to me. While the good guys are far from perfect, they are very clearly on the right side of the conflict. And the bad guys -- be they serial killing psychos, ruthless terrorists or other sinister subspecies of low-life -- are most definitely bad. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer that kind of clarity to the moral equivalence and ambiguity you see in so many edgy, hip productions in other genres. </div>
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In <i>Winter</i>, as in many similar shows, the bad guys masterminding the murderous mayhem are making squillions out of the illicit drug trade, among other things. Without a doubt drug smuggling is one of the unequivocally evil occupations in this genre. If you're a drug king pin, well, you're the scum de la scum of society. And if you're one of his goons or salespeople you're not quite that bad, but you're still seen as an irredeemable waste of skin.</div>
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Given the pervasiveness of this televisual stereotype it seems quite odd that so many arty wankers in the industry are outraged over the impending executions of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-18/vigils-held-for-bali-nine-pair-facing-execution/6143978">Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran</a>.</div>
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You've got to ask: If they don't think smuggling drugs is such an evil thing, then why do they participate in productions that invoke that perception, and very strongly? So strongly, in fact, that in many cases murder is often seen as completely justified, with the hero or heroine ultimately sending the villain to hellfire and damnation in a hail of bullets!</div>
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This contradiction doesn't apply so much to actors, of course. Evil characters can be the most memorable and fun to perform, after all. And the surest way to a crap performance is to telegraph your personal judgement of the character as you play him. But scriptwriters, producers, directors and the like must be quite conflicted over this issue, surely. They tell stories, and stories make statements -- even if they're in genres not seen as primarily political.</div>
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If they think drug traffickers are not the apotheosis of evil, then why do they keep presenting them in this way? They couldn't be working only for the money, surely! Or maybe their near unanimous condemnation of Indonesia's punishment of drug traffickers is not as sincere as it is presented to be ...</div>
MattHaydenAUhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876978310266835471noreply@blogger.com0