Featuring a newly oriented piece of archetypal chicken
Dockers sink the Demons
Well, my optimism in the previuos post has been dashed. The Fremantle guns, namely Pavlich and McPharlin (yes, I know I misspelt it at half-time), not to mention the former gangbuster of Melbourne, the 'Wiz', Jeff Farmer, were all unstoppable. But, you can't put it past the Demons. We came to within a point in the last quarter, and it got out to eight a few seconds before the siren, when Bell kicked the Dockers' last to seal a 14-point victory.
Yes, I'm disappointed, but seeing the great Demons players playing their roles proficiently was reassuring. Jeff White is an incredible player. His ability in the ruck is astounding and the Dockers could do little but let him win the big contests and hope that he hit it in the wrong direction, which unfortunately he did a little too often. Melbourne's problem with manning up is becoming a little repetitive, which I hope can be rectified before next week's clash with Adelaide.
Best on ground for the Dees in my opinion was our stalwart and hero Russell Robertson. Absolute dead-set legend. The grabs, the falls, the punches, the big kicks, and the goals. Sheer courage and skill. What a legend. Ben Holland's occasional lapses were outweighed by his pinpoint kicking and a few goals. Aaron Davey is a little champ and integral to success. With six minutes to go in the third quarter, he popped a beauty into an empty Melbourne 50, which bounced over David Neitz's opponent, the Melbourne captain doing a 180 and slotting it through the middle.
The Melbourne crowd were fired up which is always good to see. In the dying minutes of the third quarter, the lifting of the cheers was heartwarming and made me proud to be a Melbourne supporter.
All in all, a great game by the boys. Unfortunately our skill and good work was not reflected on the scoreboard. Well, for the second time this year it's back to the old Melbourne followers' catchphrase - "There's always next week."
Fugly Awards 2005
It's reassuring to see that someone else is sick of seeing Eddie "Commercial Break" McGuire on television. At the annual television anti-awards, the 'Fuglies', McGuire was named ahead of Andrew "Whoa ho ho" O'Keefe (I know. I'm shocked too.) and Rove "Say hi to your mum for me" McManus as the Worst Male TV Personality.
Was amused, but not surprised, to see that Seven's Today Tonight was named Most Sensational Current Affairs Program. And I second the naming of Andrew Denton as the Most Under-Acknowledged TV Personality, and The Glasshouse as the Most Under-Acknowledged TV Show. Perhaps the programmers and station executives should look to who and what the public don't like, instead of what they do like. Trash the Logies and bring on the Fuglies! TV Week could sponsor it, Wil Anderson could host it and it'd be a blast. Who's with me?
What the Right have to say about us Lefties
Now, unless it's Andrew Bolt, I don't usually go around targeting Righties for analysis. I'm a little bit conservative I suppose in the regard that I don't seek out people to criticise. However, reading this from right-wing author, artist, musician and political satirist Wayne P. Biro got me a little huffed. The title was the thing that attracted me (taunting me like a cute dog guarding a bone and hiding a very deadly and sharp set of teeth):
Sloppy Leftist Intellectualism
Zealously Published Wishful Lefty Thinking
Leftist Attempts at Subliminal Manipulation-
Arguing on False Precepts
Now I hasten to say that a lot of the stuff that Mr Biro writes is actually very intellectual, and made me think a lot about my own perceptions about a lot of current issues. (He is also a very talented artist, and I have a lot of respect for people who are artistic and interested in current affairs all at the same time. It shows that they have a lot of time and intelligence and co-ordination skills, most of which I lack in abundance.) However, this piece is a little weird, and doesn't really fit into the rest of Biro's repertoire.
I hate to say it, but this, again, is an epitomist (there's that word again) example of the Right using vast generalisations of what they believe to be a staunchly and uniformly libertarian group. That's alright in theory, but the very nature of libertarianism is to challenge almost anything, and in that process each left-thinking person stands out as someone with different beliefs and opinions. The beauty of being a lefty is that you are able to think differently and quite radically on some issues, but it won't be held against you if you are quite conservative on other matters of debatable contention.
A number of points Biro makes bugged me a little (most of them generalisations of left-wing thinkers, whom he graciously named 'Mr Lefty'...How dare he use such an honourable name in such a negative way!). The first of these points of bugment is:
...the other side of [this] lefty statement is that we should not be patriotic,not have catchy slogans, not have pride in the military, and not strive for unity
I, as a proud lefty, fly in the face of almost all these statements. I am but one of the many lefties I'm sure would disagree with this. I'm about as patriotic as they come, and a lot of that patriotism comes from the pride I proudly confess for Australia's military. I have had forbears and friends involved in war and from this attachment I have gleaned a knowledge of the sacrifice and horror that troops must endure. I respect anyone who has the courage to stand up for their country, to risk their lives for their mates. I also respect any government or group that strives for unity... but I also believe that diversity is a brilliant part of what makes our world special. There are so many different cultures, races, ideas, customs, beliefs, opinions, all wanting to be recognised. But - the brilliance about the country I live in is that these people understand that they are Australians, but Australians free to practise their customs, advocate their culture, in non-violent means.
Disdain for the importance of human rights.
It is unclear whether this statement is being rebuked or used as evidence of leftie thinking, however, Biro goes on to announce 'the Left's persecution of religion, personal economic success, and heterosexual tendencies'. Persecution of religion? It is the governments we criticise that persecute religion. We staunchly argue the fact that no war can be justified by religious means. That doesn't stop people of different faiths having conflicts. It just means that no war can be blamed on a higher power. Sectarianism is a dangerous thing, but of all the Lefties that I look up to, I would say that none of them would actively advocate any conflict based on religion (I'd even go so far as to say they wouldn't support any conflict under any circumstance.) 'Personal economic success' is okay. It's the by-products of such a position that worry me. Greed, abuse of power, violence - the effective death of one's humanity through selfishness. Someone who hoards money and guards it well is a potentially dangerous person, always on the edge. Someone who supports his employees, looks after their needs, puts money back into businesses and donates significantly to charity - there's someone who's attained 'personal economic success' and is putting it to healthy use. And persecution of 'heterosexual tendencies'? Is that to say that all lefties are gay or simply asexual? I just think, considering Mr Biro's other work (which although I disagree with on a lot of points, is very well-written), that this is a pretty cheap shot.
Biro then goes on to talk about prisoners of war, which I've voiced my opinion on in posts past.
Biro writes that those who are 'liberal blindly deny Iraq was a part of the terrorist problem.' I disagree. Many lefties support operations in Iraq as a whole. A lot of the time it was the way those operations were undertaken that disturbed us. But a lot of that had to do with the media, a group I laugh at and loathe in equal measure. Not to say that the media is a scapegoat, but a lot of it is sensationalised and open to corruption by higher powers.
The next point:
Often the regimes would incite "spontaneous" acts against the target scapegoats, usually communists, socialists, liberals, Jews, ethnic and racial minorities, traditional national enemies, members of other religions, secularists, homosexuals, and "terrorists."
I don't think I need to argue against this point. Someone else has done that pretty convincingly for the past six to eight months.
Biro writes that a controlled mass media 'doesn't exist in the US'. I bite my tongue - in part. I think the usual definition of mass media is in some way intrinsically linked to how the public reacts to it. Food for thought...
And this:
the ability of large corporations to operate in relative freedom was not compromised.
So now all lefties are capitalists? I myself believe that communism was a good theory misinterpreted. It caused so many innocent deaths because of people that didn't care for what Marx implied. Tweaked, communism could work, but alas it goes against all that human nature is wont to lean towards. And the lynchpin for communism is that society inevitably evolves - the idea is so backwards that it wouldn't be around for long: human nature wouldn't be able to handle it. That said, it would have been a hell of a lot better to implement such a regime in the 19th century - If done in the right way it may still have been around today. Now of course I don't advocate communism - it is a system devised for a highly patriarchal society after all, which would suck big time. But I think there are some important lessons we can learn from such ideas.
Then Biro quotes this from a critic of leftism:
Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts
NOOOOOOOOOO! NEVER! As a leftie I would never suppress intellectualism or the arts! This makes me cringe! Later it is quoted, 'art and literature should serve the national interest or they had no right to exist.' Again I cringe. The point Biro is largely trying to prove is that all lefties fight nationalism, unity and equality, all of which I have said I support in mediate amounts.
Admittedly, this is Biro responding to the aforementioned critic of left-wing thinking. And I do acknowledge that there are some lefties who would fit every category described above. But I just think that calling all lefties these things is a little cheap.
I also must note that Biro is American, and most of the things he says I think he might be directing mainly towards Americans. But as a self-confessed leftie I don't really feel any better. :(
In the spirit of decency, democracy and healthy, constructive left-right debate I am going to email Wayne Biro, and invite him to read and respond to this criticism. I will also ask him who the critic was that he was responding to. I'm also interested in hearing what visitors to the Hovel have to say about all this. Comment at your leisure!
Until next time...
George Lucas will guest-star as himself on "The O.C." on Thursday, May 12 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
