It's all here in some species of pdf or somesuch, and very annoyingly it jumps around the screen as you try to read it. But read it you should, just to get a glimpse of what the next three months will bring. Notice that this slime-fest is being promoted by NSW Labor MP Linda Burney.
Will anyone believe Ali Cobby Eckerman (below)? And if they do, will they take the alleged touch of fingertip to forearm as a form of assault?
Probably the same people who see a proud, defiant Aboriginal woman in that picture.
Well, there has been a big swing by non-metropolitan indigenous people away from Labor. Abbott's work with remote communities has been partly responsible. In army terms this latest furphy would be known as: straw, for the grasping of.
ReplyDeleteRead it I did Professor, and may I say it brought tears to my eyes. Is there an abyss any deeper into which an Aboriginal woman and a poet can be thrown at 8 in the morning? Almost on par with a pointing of the bone. And then, for her to even contemplate crossing cultural boundaries and putting on a burqa, is simply devastating. I am heartened however, that Ireland eased the pain (somewhat) and it is obvious that in her peregrinations across the Emerald Isle; she may have, in her fraught quest for healing, kissed the Baloney Stone once too often.
ReplyDeleteDining Italian style in trendy inner-city Hutt Street...? Poetry writing must be paying more than I thought. Although, I guess there are probably better rates for Aboriginal poets under one government scheme or another. If she is so touchy about being touched on the arm "in a culturally inappropriate manner" she should stay out of Italian restaurants. Italians are kinda touchy-feely by culture. They can't keep their hands off you. It's infectious. Perhaps she should wear a sign saying "Warning, don't touch me. I'm an elective Aboriginal". Not being recognised is a cross every white Aboriginal has to bear.
ReplyDeletePedro of Adelaide
Well said Pedro.
DeleteSomething that concerns me is the way Ms Gillard touches children when she visits schools. Have you noticed that she has her hands all over them. It's no wonder she has been banned from visiting any more schools in Qld.
Indolent of Qld.
PS.
DeleteThose same hands that Emmo Knew.
You should provide bleach with that comment, for the mind picture.
DeleteIf she's touchy being touched she also obviously didn't grow up in a remote aboriginal community, as anyone with any experience of them can tell you.
Delete...and knows again....
DeleteWhat a load of unmitigated bullsh*t
ReplyDeleteBunyip, if someone female is offended by anything a politician does she should speak up immediately, or at least very soon afterwards. Then the matter can be addressed with some seriousness. For the most part, such things often turn out to be something only those trained to be specially hypersensitive would notice or care about, but early notice can at least bring the benefit of the doubt to play.
ReplyDeleteIn the example exciting attention now, long thought out taking of offense at what at the most can be said to be a minor intrusion into her personal space is an obvious political set-up. The Australian public is getting heartily sick of such victim-bleating. Gillard's gone down 7% in men's voting in the last week due to victim-bleating by Gillard. In my opinion, you can just add this one to the pack of imagined sexist insults. Each one, I hope, will only add to the Coalition vote, for most Australians want only that sense and sanity should return to our polity.
Polls show most women remain entirely unmoved by victim-bleating. We have more important things on our minds, such as the state of the economy within which we have to bring up our children.
Lizzie, on Monday several lefty friends on facebook were expressing dismay and anger (I know, I suppose it's the default leftist mode) that the triumvirate of scandals over the weekend - Menugate, Piers Akerman's continued existence, Howard Sattler asking a rude question on radio - wasn't reflected in a poll rise for Labor. I'm still not sure why they made that connection: did they expect people to favour Gillard out of sympathy? Or make some irrational connection somehow between Tony Abbott and the Liberals and these three scandals?
DeleteI think you are right, most Australians simply don't pay attention to the news cycle and expect politicians to focus on the economy, etc; hence the continuing dismal ratings for a political party with supporters that seemed to want to focus their myopic gaze on a few minor scandals that, it turned out, had nothing to do with Tony Abbott whatsoever.
ps Prof. By the standard of what constitutes a sexual attack on a female today, Paul Keating should still be serving prison time for putting his hand most lightly, for a second, on the back of Queen Elizabeth in a gentlemanly manoeuvre showing intent to assist her.
ReplyDeleteWhy is that proud, defiant Aboriginal woman holding a bazooka?
ReplyDeleteShe's actually pole dancing
DeleteNothing quite says "defiance" like a bazooka!
Delete"And if they do, will they take the alleged touch of fingertip to forearm as a form of assault?"
ReplyDeleteStruth Prof, that vile piece is beyond parody.
Or is it? Has Arlene been reincarnated as an 'Aboriginal' woman?
Professor Bunyip
ReplyDeletePlease ease my mind about nomenclature here. Is the feminine noun for the sacred term shonk, shonkette or shonkelle or something else? I'm torn, really! I would not want to be culturally incorrect in further commentary on an issue of such nationally sensitive and pivotal considerations for our future. Please help me see through the smoke on this one. Should one just use the safe, impregnable terminology "dreaming"?
Given the last Nielsen poll I don't think the ALP will be too keen to talk about Abbott's view on woman. When they do they lose male votes but not gain women's voters (and happily married women tend to vote according to their husbands wishes, not vice versa).
ReplyDeleteBetter than Skywhale.
ReplyDeleteI'd be concerned if I was inappropriately touched by Skywhale too.
DeleteI can completely empathise with this poor woman. There was no excuse for Abbott to put his hands on her, and to not understand the cultural significance of doing so. And this is a man who makes a huge play of being seen with outback aboriginals as if he cared for them at all.
ReplyDeleteWhen this incident makes it to the mainstream media, Abbott is finished. It looks like a Rudd versus Turnbull election after all.
My best laugh of the day hammy
DeleteYou can empathise? Been touched as well?
DeletePoor you.
Hahaha you know of the cultural significance, from all your own work with outback aboriginals. Salute!
I would hope this is an attempt at irony, but if it is, it is either too subtle or too lame for my fading comprehension.
DeleteHammy, you are right, as always. When I read her tale of despair, my thoughts went immediately to Plutarch. His "Life of Romulus" gives a moving and graphic account of the plight of the Sabine women at the hands of the Roman Army. Ruben's famous depiction hangs in the Louvre as a cautionary example of culturally inappropriate handling of the fair sex. But it is nothing compared to the terror this poor woman has experienced, frozen with fear and quivering in mindless self loathing from the contamination of the odious touch of this brute. Spare a thought as well for the traumatised psychologist who had to counsel her through the ordeal.
DeleteJulia has been vindicated at last!
Good one hammy. You're on fire.
DeleteYou're an idiot.
DeleteI've looked hard at this article and I'm buggered if I can see an aboriginal woman. Surely it's not the white sheila with the recoilless rifle clutched firmly in her left hand.
ReplyDeleteAboriginal people are easily recognizable. They either wear shirts displaying the aboriginal flag, hats/ head gear composed of aboriginal colours, or, as in this case, a piece of jewellery depicting some aboriginal design. All other evidence, such as black skin, aboriginal features etc are imposters trying to ride the gravy train that legitimately belongs to urban faux aborigines.
DeleteAboriginal people are easily identified. They are the fair skinned people wearing clothing that either depicts the aboriginal flag, consists of aboriginal colours or, as in this case, sport jewellery that indicates indigenous origin. Or they flaunt possum skins. Do not be fooled by black or brown skinned people with aboriginal features. These are imposters trying to access funding that legitimately belongs to the original urban dwellers.
Deletehas Ms Composta been resurrected as Stephen Hagan?
ReplyDeleteIf he has, I'm afraid his blown his crazy budget on the one article.
Poetry ambassador to Ireland, culturally inappropriate touching (with a hint of child abuse), Burkas, white aborigines, the list goes on. It didn't mention that she's from the stolen generation, so that's one that can be used at a later date.
Still, if its real, its good to see Ms Cobby Eckerman standing up against this terrible example of violence against aboriginal women.
Good evening Professor
ReplyDeleteThis incident appears to predate "menugate", by a week or two. Does that mean the next scandal, will have occurred in late February, as they work their way down through the pile in the bottom drawer?????
It's going to be a long 87 days, isn't it!
Regards Peter B :-)
Apologies, Prof.
ReplyDeleteI just couldn't read it, the site is too messy.
Oh please God, let this escapee from the Bund Deutscher Madel go public with this as noisily as possible. There's a risk that many voters would be too helpless with laughter to crawl to the polling booths and vote coalition on 14th Sept, but the comedy value would still be worth it.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the significance of the dead platypus she's carrying around her neck?
ReplyDelete"The US Government measures 3 things by 'blood quanta' - dogs, horses and Indians."
ReplyDelete-- Longmire
Probably just seeing if the black would rub off!
ReplyDeleteI think the for and above person should join in the cleavage for Gillard campaign, that will have Tony on the rack and yes Dave when closely inspected that is a bazooka. How naughty of me to go skin deep, maybe Gillard can start a Aboriginals for Gillard it can be fronted by Trish Crossin
ReplyDeleteHow do you get a gig as a poetry ambassador? I've got some rellies in Birmingham who I haven't seen for years and a visit is long overdue. I haven't got any aboriginal blood in me but I made up a limerick once, and I could be talked into broadcasting a few bare-faced lies about the opposition leader if it will help my case.
ReplyDeleteGiven that she is a multi-award winning poet and all, I thought I'd express her anguish in Haiku:
ReplyDeletePoked by a finger
A culturally unsafe prick
Do'h, more therapy.
Just another gravedigger helping Julia
ReplyDeleteI'm confused - is she Irish, Jewish or a First Footer?
ReplyDeleteJakartaJaap
I note the woman is cheerfully grasping a thick, long black object with some enthusiasm.
ReplyDeleteOuch, the blinding glare! Hasn't Ms Eckerman ever heard of spray tan?
ReplyDeleteFor god's sake, it's the Prime Minister who does all the touching.
ReplyDeleteShe rubs! She rubs arms and backs. Can't help herself.
She really needs to harden up.
ReplyDeleteThank God a month as Australia's Poetry Ambassador to Ireland allowed Ms Eckerman to overcome the shame. The soothing balm of taxpayer's dollars is indeed a miracle cure.
ReplyDeleteIt is worth remembering that Ms Burney has form in distortion. Eg when she acknowledged that O'Farrell suggested she could be Labor's hooker in a rugby context but insisted that he was actually being offensively sexist. While I will earn an award for introducing Hitler, nevertheless this form of logical fallacy I think is well described as a "contextomy". And despite the miserable failure of their last attempt at painting Abbott as a sexist via a potty, but hardly new, joke about Gillard that had nothing to do with him,here we go again. I have faith that we will be subjected to a considerable streamm of these distortions over the next couple of months.
ReplyDeleteThat even the most avid Abbott haters amongst the press grudgingly concede that he is genuinely concerned for indigenous Australians, and that he is held in respect by many indigenous Australians I think provides the explanation for this latest idiotic attack on Abbott. Loved the, he was breathing on my shoulder. Now it seems there are to be targetted to particular groups attacks on Abbott as a misogynist with racism thrown in for good measure. They have moved from treating Australians in general as idiots, to treating Aborigines as morons. What next that he paraded himself in his speedos in front of some vulnerable female athletes,
Well caught Bunyip. Look forward to your reporting of further contextomies etc.
It's not a bazooka, the lady is preparing for an aboriginal pole dance.
ReplyDeleteOne wonders how the Indigenous Ones survived 40,000 years without White Folk available to reveal their cultural taboos.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Without any undue respect, that unskinny white lady in the picture, the one holding on to that phallic symbol has now caused me to hum this irritating song (replacing "I" with "She"):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGSPj4fjrrQ
Did you see the photo of a smiling Rudd with his naked hand brazenly in front of cameras around the shoulder/arm of a NT aboriginal woman at the 30 June Yunupingu funeral in today's media. I'm braced for the culturally indignant wave of revulsion of this tsunami of offensive touching of aboriginal women that goes back to Abbott's culturally offensive fingertip on arm "grope" of this delicate poetic petal.
ReplyDelete