What with the Ruddster siding with the witch-hunt against Bill Henson, folding to Brendan Nelson over fuel prices, backing the coal-burning ambitions of Morris Iemma and reducing funding for research even in sustainable technologies, his innate conservatism is becoming more and more obvious as reality replaces the feelgood spin that has marked his reign to date.
This collage (courtesy of a friend) raises the horrible possibility that John Howard and Kevin Rudd ARE THE SAME GUY. That would explain why we haven't seen much of Howard since the erection. Come to think of it, we never saw them in the same place at the same time during the campaign, did we? And those exchanges in Parliament would have been easy to fake with a little vision mixing...
ONE person who ought to be slammed for his public comments is Kevin Rudd. Not so much for being a pontificating self-righteous moralist — everyone's entitled to an opinion — but for speaking publicly as Prime Minister and most likely destroying the self-esteem and self-image of the 13-year-old girl who was the subject of Henson's work. Imagine being 13, and then having the Prime Minister and other politicians calling pictures of you "revolting" and "disgusting". Mr Rudd, you should have thought before opening your mouth to score points with our nation's morally crusading, talkback radio busybodying vultures. You've lost my respect and, possibly, my future vote.
ReplyDeleteIs that a typo- the misspelling of election?
ReplyDeleteElection, erection... no, it deliberately harks back to an old cartoon (maybe by Bruce Petty?) from the '60s -- the poorly polling PM and the opposition leader were in bed, the opposition leader saying 'I'm getting excited but I just can't get an election.'
ReplyDeleteAnd while on the Bill Henson fiasco, I would have thought the impact of his work on young girls would be affirming. Instead of small-breasted young girls being teased by their more ample peers and developing a complex, they might see themselves in the light of their true beauty.
ReplyDeleteAs for the work encouraging pedophiles, I doubt it would make them any worse than they are.
To illustrate society's hypocrisy on this, I was revolted years ago by 'The Silence of the Lambs' which depicted women being imprisoned and skinned by a madman. When I saw it, there was a smelly old man in the next row giggling at all the most horrific scenes. Scary, but Hetty Johnston and her ilk said nothing and the movie is available in every video store.
Hetty Johnston has a dirty mind. End of story.
IN THE furore over the exhibition by Bill Henson, it is grossly unjust that he has been termed a pedophile and a pornographer, liable to criminal prosecution. Whatever the public reaction to his work, it would be the opinion of the art world that his portrayal of adolescence stems from the highest artistic motives. The problem with the intense publicity surrounding the police intervention is that the items in question are now highlighted as pornographic material. No subsequent exposure will enable them to be judged in their own right.
ReplyDeleteOf course, this is the dilemma of all brands of censorship. The very act of banning awakens a prurient curiosity in material that, in itself, would have a limited exposure in the community at large.
It occurred to me that every time a radio jock said something like 'Pictures of naked young girls with underdeveloped breasts and genitals visible,' – and they said it often – all the pedophiles would get the same charge they would viewing the actual pictures.
ReplyDeleteMy question is: If the pictures should be banned, shouldn't the words describing them also be banned?
"At the height of the petrol furore this week his dissembling reached the same order he used to condemn and defeat the Howard government. Rudd has spent much of the past six months trying to appear to be different from Howard. Yet, he appears more like Howard everyday - hunting leaks, threatening retribution on the public service, playing to the gallery, promoting popular policies, and verballing his opposition - except for holding his nerve on unpopular policies and “doing the right thing”.?
ReplyDeleteWell someone agrees with you
When will Rudd realize that when a PM's personal view is made public it becomes a public view ?
ReplyDeleteFor a private view to remain private he should just SHUT UP.