We must not underestimate the influence Alan Jones, the Goebbels-like shock jock recruited by Tony Abbott to spread even more hate and fear among the already confused and totally uninformed anti Labor, anti Carbon Tax voters. He uses intimidation tactics, personal slander and complete misinformation and gets away with impunity every time. He discredits anyone whom he opposes by calling the names and often labelling them ‘lefties’ which seems to be sway the average Australian like nothing else can.
Observing his intimidating demeanour, his tone, aggression and complete lack of dignity or decency with which he denigrates Julia Gillard, her government and anyone who is to the left of his extreme views, I am reminded of early Nazi Germany, where hate and demagoguery of this kind were the beginnings of the devision of a nation and unimaginable suffering. All because one evil sociapathic man in his obsessive quest for domination was at the right place at the right time and exploited the economic instability and fears of a confused electorate ready to be handed a scapegoat.
Exerpt from ThingsBogansLike 14 June 2011
http://thingsboganslike.com/
#231 – Shock Jocks
14 06 2011
The bogan clings to its habits like a mollusc to a shipwreck’s hull. It will only holiday in places with familiar franchised retailers, it will only drink green beer on St Patrick’s Day, and it will trust only Richard Wilkins via satellite from Los Angeles. But sometimes the bogan grows tired of this predictability. It wonders if the highs and lows of life outside of its cocoon are worth experiencing. It craves xtreme emotion. At this point, the bogan will sometimes purchase a non-Jetstar international airfare, watch SBS News, or try something in wholemeal. Alarmed and confused by the ordeal, it concludes that it can have its desire for new horizons ably met in radio form by a myopic shock jock. Kyle Sandilands not only discovered the fickleness of bogan rage when he ran the rape lie detector skit on Sydney radio, but also the graciousness of bogan forgiveness.
The bipolar bogan was quick to pardon Sandilands, as its dwindling outrage was usurped by its growing need to be outraged again. Channel 7 soon restored Kyle to his rightful position of luring bogans onto talkback radio. The Melbournian bogan, for years denied the true Sydney-style talkback radio experience, now has Talk Radio 1377. On AM, no less – the original bastion of bogan-baiting hate-mongers – this network features the crème de la crème of bogan baiting hate-mongers. Here, among the company of Sammy Newman, Andrew Bolt and alcoholic ex-A Current Affair hatewright Chris Smith, the bogan can find rare refuge from the Political Correctness Gone Mad which is rampant throughout the latte-sipping media. The middle-aged and elderly bogans have been feeling as though they’ve been missing out, with the younger bogans enjoying their Ed Hardy clothes, Australian Idol and anal sex. There has for years been a simmering rage, laying dormant, and waiting to be activated by some old-fashioned mad hating skills.
Talk radio has the requisite skills to appeals directly to the bogan’s hate gland. Where A Current Affair can only hint that Asians are invading the country, Andrew Bolt can say that multiculturalism “rewards most those who integrate least”. Perhaps in good time, he will be able to fan the flames of a race riot, much as Alan Jones in Cronulla. To the bogan, calling into talkback radio for a pause-poor skewed rant is the beginning, middle, and end of “doing something”. From there, it is perfectly positioned to blame everything on the government.
Question time sees Jones fly off handle
Jacqueline Maley(SMH
August 23, 2011
Jones’s off-stage rant at reporter
Broadcaster Alan Jones verbally attacks SMH journalist Jacqueline Maley for asking whether he was paid to appear at the Rally of No Confidence in Canberra. He says he wasn’t paid.
IT WAS, I thought, a legitimate question. Broadcaster Alan Jones had spent the morning speaking passionately to the crowd outside Parliament House for yesterday’s ”Convoy of no confidence”.
He urged them to action, he praised them, he denounced the government and declared Australian democracy dead.
Indignant … Alan Jones. Illustration: Cathy Wilcox.
About 1.10pm, Jones handed the microphone to another speaker, and I approached him, introducing myself. I asked him whether he had taken a fee to appear at the rally.
He took great offence. He spluttered with rage and verbally attacked me. He asked me what kind of a question that was, what sort of person would ask such a question. He said I was a disgrace. For the record, he said, ”of course” he hadn’t taken a fee. I thanked him for answering and walked away. But Jones wasn’t finished with me.
Earlier, he had accused a Sky News reporter, David Lipson, of misreporting the rally and encouraged the crowd to hector Lipson as he did a live cross.
I was next. Jones shouted at me across the crowd. He yelled that I should look in the mirror and asked me to repeat where I was from. My question was stupid. His vitriol was apparent, and he bristled with aggression. The altercation attracted the attention of the protesters, among whom I was standing. Some of them started to mutter and curse in my direction.
Journalists are trained not to become part of the story. We are there to observe. But in this case I didn’t have a choice. Jones, still on stage, took the microphone. He told them about a rally he attended to raise money for farmers.
”There are farmers there who say to their wives and family – I hope you’re listening and report this, Jacqueline Maley from The Sydney Morning Herald – who say to their wives and family, ‘I’m just going [up] the back to fix up the fences, and they don’t come back,”’ he told the crowd, who duly jeered at me.
”I spend a lot of my time doing those sorts of things. I’ve just been asked by a journalist from The Sydney Morning Herald, am I getting a fee from being here today?”
The crowd booed loudly. People rounded on me and I began to feel very intimidated. A woman next to me began screaming abuse. She said I had no right to be there, that I should go away because I was a ”leftie”.
I then left because I feared for my safety. As I walked away, Jones bellowed, to cheers from the crowd: ”Where is she? Oh, she’s gone, disappeared. Where is she? She’s gone! Can’t stand and front, can’t stand and front.”
All because I asked a question.
Read more:
Alan Jones Confuses Laser Beams With Fibre
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/05/alan-jones-confuses-laser-beams-with-fibre/
By Nick Broughall on May 26, 2011 at 9:30 am (via Gizmodo)
Radio talkback king Alan Jones has always had a fairly liberal view of the world, but he clearly doesn’t have a clue about technology. Andrew Ramadge over at News has picked up that the opinionated personality jumped on the story of German researchers breaking the data transmission record as a way to trash the NBN, despite the fact they use the same technology.
Just to sum up briefly – German researchers transferred 26 Terabits of data a second over 50km using a single piece of optic fibre by transferring data over 325 separate colours (or wavelengths). Current fibre technology only transmits data over a handful of wavelengths, but in both cases, the actual fibre is exactly the same.
Alan Jones, however, picked up on the story and used it to claim that the NBN will be outdated before it’s even completed:
“Canberra wants us to believe that the technology we’re spending anything up to $60 billion on won’t be outdated by the time it’s rolled out.”
“Of course, they’re kidding. But it is government these days in Canberra, and they’re always kidding.”
While we’re still years away from seeing Terabit per second speeds over the NBN, the simple fact is that for it to happen, it will only require an upgrade at either end of the cable. The cable itself – which is the bulk of the expense of the NBN – is future proofed to be able to support the faster speeds.
But of course, that little fact is unlikely to sway Alan Jones’ opinion on the network…
Police baffled by Jones’ blockage claim as truckies gather for protest
Tony Abbott checks the time as Alan Jones addresses the ‘Convoy of No Confidence’ in Canberra. Image: Sky News Supplied
UPDATE 3.15pm: TRUCK drivers and their supporters today claimed a denial of democracy when their big rigs were denied access to the front of Parliament House for an anti-carbon pricing rally.
But they left police baffled when they claimed officers had blocked hundreds of trucks in the Convoy of No Confidence from even entering the Australian Capital Territory.
Some 300 anti-carbon pricing protesters gathered in Federation Mall, in front of Parliament, to hear from Liberal MPs including Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, and the Nationals Barnaby Joyce.
Senator Joyce urged the rally to telephone Labor MPs and demand they vote against the Government’s carbon pricing legislation when it is introduced next week.
“So I ask those members who are considering voting for this carbon tax to do the honorable thing and cross the floor,” he said.
“I’m asking them to do one thing. I want them to walk 10 feet for our nation and cross the floor. Walk 10 feet for our nation.”
Numbers were well down on last Tuesday’s rally against carbon pricing although Senator Joyce said some truck drivers were “out there riding round and around like Indians”.
Broadcaster Alan Jones said the smaller-than-expected crowd was because “thousands” of people had been blocked from attending the rally and that “hundreds” of trucks in the convoy had been stopped at the border as they tried to enter Canberra from New South Wales.
“This is the most disgraceful thing that has ever been done to democracy,” Jones told the rally.
“The people who have come here can’t actually get into the precinct to be heard.”
Alan Jones addresses the rally. Picture: AAP
A spokeswoman for Canberra police told news.com.au and other outlets no trucks had been stopped at the border, and no people had been prevented from attending the rally.
Trucks were barred from a short section of Parliament Drive, a link road immediately in front of the building, as agreed with the rally organisers.
Last Thursday, the officials who run Parliament House re-sent a week-old alert to staff saying “the Australian Federal Police have been working with the organisers of the event to maintain access to Parliament House for Senators, Members, other building occupants and visitors”.
It said: “It is expected that the protest will attract a large number of people to Federation Mall.
“At times there may be long queues of people entering Parliament House via the public entrance.
“In order to manage pedestrian safety in this area, the Parliament Drive link road across the tip of Federation Mall will be closed from 6am to approximately 6pm on both days.”
Safety would not have been the only concern. In 1995 logging industry truck drivers occupied Parliament Drive with the vehicles and forced Prime Minister Paul Keating to walk to work.
Today, some in the convoy left their trucks at showgrounds on the edge of Canberra city, while others circled the base of Capital Hill honking their horns.
Hundreds of trucks from as far away as Western Australia arrived in Canberra last night.
The truckers in 11 convoys are demanding a new election and protesting about the government’s approach to live animal exports, the carbon tax, mining tax, gay marriage and road laws.
Some have complained about Finance Minister Penny Wong and her lesbian partner having a baby.
Ms Gillard’s office last night said the Prime Minister had no plans to meet the protesters at this stage.
Mr Abbott yesterday climbed aboard one of the trucks in a convoy of 20 to 30 vehicles for the last leg of the journey into the nation’s capital.
“They are very decent, salt of the earth Australians who feel that they’ve been ripped off by a bad government,” he said.
Mr Abbott said the truck has a “no carbon tax” sign on its front and the drivers were “blue collar battlers” spending $500 of their own money on fuel for the drive to Canberra.
Mr Abbott said Ms Gillard should meet the truck drivers, saying former PM John Howard had met footballer Michael Long on his walk from Melbourne even though he wasn’t a fan of the PM.
“She seems to think that if you don’t agree with her you’re some kind of extremist and I just think that’s dead wrong,” Mr Abbott said.
Some major trucking groups have distanced themselves from the protest which is being led by National Road Freight Association president Mick Pattel.
Mr Pattel was preselected as a Liberal-National candidate for Mount Isa for next year’s Queensland state election but stepped aside after facing pressure for some radical views. He said climate change was a international conspiracy to force a “new World order”.
Treasurer Wayne Swan said the truck drivers were “free to express their opinions in any way they like as long as they do it lawfully”.
Greens leader Bob Brown said the truck drivers had a right to protest but they seemed to be short-sighted.
“It seems like the prime qualification to be there is to be angry about something – these are Abbott’s angry people,” he said.
