Niki Savva’s article in The Australian (Commentary 12,
8/11/12) is a scraping of the bottom of the barrel in an attempt to concoct a
story. You would have to be a talented
spinner to turn an Obama election victory in the US into an attack on Julia
Gillard, and spin she does.
Obama wins…(leap to) Niki Savva relates the story of Obama’s
response to the comments of his paster, Jeremiah Wright…4 years ago!....as a
dignified performance, and then compares his response to that difficulty…and
his handling of his being a half black, half white man, to Julia Gillard’s
response to Tony Abbott’s misogyny (of the “prejudiced against women” variety:
Oxford & Macquarie Dictionaries).
Note the extraordinary leaps and odd segues: Obama wins the election…Obama is a good guy…(leap
& odd segue)) he gives a dignified response to a problem he had 4 years ago…(big
leap & odd segue) Julia Gillard’s response to Tony Abbott’s misogyny was
not dignified, according to Savva.
How about this: once upon a time there was a good man, any
man will do, but let’s make him topical, so we’ll choose Obama. We will talk about how good he is so that
when we then say somebody else is bad it will ring true. A good spinner plays on the natural polarity of
humans: black and white, good and evil.
So there is this good man, yadda yadda yadda, now look at
this bad woman!
Obama was dignified in response to attacks on his race, so
who is this Julia Gillard to complain about attacks on her sex? She should learn “that it’s about winning not
whining”. This is ridiculous on two
levels. First, Julia Gillard IS a
winner. She has won an election, gazumped
(run circles around) Tony Abbott in negotiating a minority government, run that
government for two years in the face of unrelenting attacks from the opposition
and News Limited. Suffered with dignity
years of misogyny from shock jocks like Alan Jones, and has survived this and
through great leadership and astounding performance has managed to turn the
polls around to be within a winning shot of a Labor third term. Dear Niki Savva, the woman is a winner.
And after suffering with dignity for two years she
eventually turns on Abbott and calls him out.
It is a magnificent performance and the whole world applauds. And Savva writes this miserly hateful
response.
Next bullshit comment in the article: “Nothing stopped
Gillard getting where she always wanted to be, not her sex, not even a prime
minister yet to complete his first term”(my
italics). This is the sort of claptrap
that writers at The Australian sneak into their sentences. It is a blatant lie because under our great system
of government prime minister’s do not own a set term as prime minister. There is no “his first term”. By describing it this way the intention is to
give the impression that something improper occurred, when in truth something
very proper occurred: it is good that parties can change the leader when they
realise that they have got a dud. Good
for the party, good for the country. All
of these “stabbing in the back” metaphors are turning a serious discussion of
our political economy into crime fiction, film noir. This is grossly irresponsible. Kevin Rudd and Kevin Rudd alone was the author
of his demotion. Who becomes a prime minister,
with all the power and advantage that that position holds, and then loses it so
spectacularly?
“Nothing stopped Gillard getting where she always wanted to
be, not her sex…”. Gender may not stop some women, Niki, but
what if it has stopped many others? How
is it right for Martin Luther King to complain about prejudice inherent in
racism, but not Julia Gillard to complain about the prejudice in sexism? Was Dr King whining too? Should he have shut up?
Of course this is all just concocted to attack Julia
Gillard, it has no logic or consistency whatsoever.
The last 500 words in her article are just a rant, a
sneering smear attack on everything that labor does or says. Every tiny irrelevant comment, every
decision, every position, every person in the party. It is a roaring hatefest, a
glimpse into the heart of darkness at The Australian. You’ve got to read it to believe it.
