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JOURNALIST PUZZLED
The Age’s Michael Gawenda explores America’s startling contradictions:
… in a country where the conservative Christian evangelical movement has the sort of political power evangelical groups in Australia can only dream of, the most popular member of the Bush cabinet, according to the polls, is Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a single, black woman.
Why, it just doesn’t make sense. How can a single black woman possibly be popular in a land full of conservative Christians?
Okay, I know it’s not summer down there, but does the Age have a winter policy of hiring dumbass student interns to write their editorials? Or edit their news pages? You must be patient people down under there, to let these poor young people do their learning in public…
Posted by rick mcginnis on 2005 07 10 at 08:21 PM • permalinkPerhaps they’ve been Electro-Magnetically assault[ed].
One must assume then, that Condi is neither single, nor black, nor a woman. Of course, the crack-head Morlocks at Democratic Underground reached that conclusion ages ago.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2005 07 10 at 08:28 PM • permalinkJournalist confused is more like it. I rolled my eyes when I read the article quote and I shook my head when I read the whole article. The scare quotes around the words Christian and values tells you where he’s comming from. He’s obviously from the Christian=stupid back woods redneck camp. I bet it would really blow his mind to find out that there are black conservative evangelical Christians.
Re the comment “Okay, I know it’s not summer down there, but does the Age have a winter policy of hiring dumbass student interns to write their editorials? Or edit their news pages? You must be patient people down under there, to let these poor young people do their learning in public…”
What is really sad about the Age and Gawenda that he “is a former editor and editor-in-chief of The Age,” and has been in journalism for 33 years.
If you start your career having a fixed idea about conservatives and you then work in a closed environment like ‘the Age’, then there is little that can be done for you. But why ‘the Age’ publish his drivel is even sadder.Posted by arnienelly on 2005 07 10 at 08:46 PM • permalinkPerhaps it was an Electro-Magnetic Assault in “War of the Worlds”. I saw the movie yesterday and have been puzzling ever since what sort of weapon fires a visible light ray, that causes people to turn to ash/dust, while making their clothes shoot up into the air?
Heat would explain the ash and the clothes (an updraft) but why aren’t the clothes incinerated or even singed. Perhaps the victims are heated from the inside out and explode before the clothing is damaged.
Anyway, it would be nice to have one of those weapons to shoot Gawenda with. Wonder what his clothes would brinf on ebay?
What startles me is the continuing myth that Americans are ignorant of the world, while foreigners know ever-so-much about us. Gawenda’s puzzlement is like the worry foreigners had after 9/11 that American Muslims would be beaten or killed. These residents of relatively homogeneous societies have absolutely no freakin’ clue how our pluralist society works.
Of course, given that there are (as far as I know, correct me if I’m wrong) no Aboriginal women in comparable positions of power in Oz, and that there have been numerous attacks on mosques in Europe, the whole “projection” thing begins to look like a reasonable explanation.
He’s made the safe assumption that all US Christian churches are fronts for the ‘Klan- all lefties know that Southern Baptist is really hillbilly-speak for Aryan Nation Nazi Jackboot Appreciation society. He has seen Missisippi Burning, after all.
Perhaps someone may like to point the slightly feeble-minded Age staffer in the direction of the Democratic Party, who have an absence of coloured people in any sort of senior role, but make up for this lack of diversity by having senators who were formerly Grand Imperial Wizards.Okay, I’ve had enough of this. I call Christian Fatwa on Michael Gawenda!
Now watch how quickly sneering references to evangelical Christianity turn into fawning tributes about the broad tapestry of multicultural religious experience.
Posted by blandwagon on 2005 07 10 at 09:37 PM • permalinkdeclaration of independence
Nice style guide, Age. We use caps for the above document.
The amount of cluelessness is staggering:
1) Christmas IS a public holiday, moron. A 2-second google could establish that.
2) White kids in DC generally go to DC private schools. Why go out to the suburbs every day?
3) What is so hard to accept about conservatives liking a single black woman? WTF, over?
Posted by Tommy Shanks on 2005 07 10 at 09:41 PM • permalink“Occupations always fail, history taught us that!”
Tim Robbins, eh? That’s the first I’ve heard he was in that movie. Sorry to hear it. I guess the U.S. occupation of Northern Mexico (i.e. New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada) is a failure. Those Mexican freedom fighters are really creating trouble. Not to mention the Anglosphere, in which every country could be considered an occupation (go back to the Anglo-Saxons in the UK).
[Back to topic.]
Posted by Tommy Shanks on 2005 07 10 at 09:51 PM • permalinkWikipedia, the free encyclopedia publishes the following entry on Michael Gawenda
Michael Gawenda, an Australian journalist, was editor of The Age from 1997 to 2004. He started his career in 1970, initially with The Sun-News Pictoral. In 1977 he then had a posting in London, then in 1983 he went to The Age and worked there as a feature writer.In 1993 he returned to The Age after spending some time at TIME Asia-Pacific, and in 1997 he became editor and in 2003 editor-in-chief. On April 22, 2004 he announced that he would return to reporting as The Age‘s Washington correspondent.
Gawenda has two children, Evie (1974-) and Chad (1976-). He won three Walkley awards during his time as journalist and editor.
This Australian biography article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Is it Michael Gawenda’s own contribution to the Wikipedia? Or is it, modestly, by a diligent anonymous fan?
Dave S. — War of the Worlds sucked pondwater, as I explained in this LGF thread. I’m ever so relieved I theatre hopped to see it.
As for Gawenda — Boy, are there are few Baptist churches I’d like to drag him to…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 07 10 at 09:55 PM • permalinkWe need to take advantage of Condi’s keyboard skills. We have to get an organ installed in the White House, a big ole movie-house Wurlitzer with the brass pipes. Then we get her a big cloak with a very theatrical collar, and she can sit there and play Bach’s Toccata and Fugue while the evil Neocons plan global subjugation….
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 07 10 at 09:59 PM • permalinkGawenda is obviously allergic to research. He claims that Christmas is not a public holiday. Tell it to the Post Office, as well as every other government agency.
What a shitwit.
Posted by Sasha Castel on 2005 07 10 at 10:00 PM • permalinkDebi L. — Shoot, Gawenda writes like he never met a person of color…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 07 10 at 10:03 PM • permalinkOn the Fourth of July last week, in the Mall in Washington, with the Washington Memorial in the background and the majesty of Capitol Hill in the foreground, half a million Americans, hand on hearts, staring up at the American flag, sang the national anthem.
Given the deep divisions in the country, what did this mean?
Mr. Gawenda, if you ask that question, phrased that way, you wouldn’t understand the answer.
Gawenda quoting Leonard Cohen, a Canadian, convinces me that most Americans are overly concerned about the wrong border.
Posted by Pat Patterson on 2005 07 10 at 10:29 PM • permalinkOccupations do always fail.
Saddam’s occupation of Iraq, e.g.
Posted by Rittenhouse on 2005 07 10 at 10:42 PM • permalinkAs long as we’re discussing something as frivolous as Michael Gawenda, let me just announce that all I have to do is sell 297 more copies of my graphic novel and I can pay for the BlogAd! Let’s get cracking people!
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 07 10 at 10:47 PM • permalinkRebeccaH — Gawenda operates out of DC, so probably not.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 07 10 at 11:00 PM • permalinkMicheal Gawenda is remarkably clueless for someone who would likely be introduced at a cocktail party as “US Correspondent for one of Australia’s leading Broadsheets”. Many of the contardictions he finds puzzling are not contradiction in American society as they are contradictions in the leftist world view - a view so insular that the outside world only makes maffled noises that have real trouble competing with the loud echoes in the leftist’s sparsely furnished head.
He does sound remarkably like one of those travelling communist ingenues we used to imagine in the cold war, who would write back to their comrades in the Motherland as they tried to reconcile their lifetime of indoctrination with the reality before their eyes. So in that sense at least Gawenda is writing home to his comrades pointing out that soem of their information may be a little out of date. It is disturbing though that there should be so many comrades to write home to, whom after near 2 decades of expensive education usually in pursuit of precisely the knowledge that should be able to tell them otherwise (the humanities, history, media) remain so utterly ignorant about the most powerful and open nation on Earth, the study of which does not even present a language barrier.
I’m always interested in learning other languages, and dialects of English.
So tonight I’ve learned a little more Australian English: “Michael Gawenda” is Aussie slang for BIGOT.
As well as WANKER.
Posted by Barbara Skolaut on 2005 07 10 at 11:17 PM • permalink...in a country where the conservative Christian evangelical movement has the sort of political power evangelical groups in Australia can only dream of, the most popular person in the country, according to the polls, is talk show host Oprah Winfrey, a single, black woman.
* * *
...in a country where the conservative Christian evangelical movement has the sort of political power evangelical groups in Australia can only dream of, two of the most popular athletes in the country, according to the polls, are tennis players Venus and Serena Williams, each, a single, black woman.
* * *
half a million Americans, hand on hearts, staring up at the American flag, sang the national anthem.
Given the deep divisions in the country, what did this mean?
This is the part about America that foreign sophisticates can’t grasp.
We’re always divided. Always have been. Because we’re the world’s most heterogeneous society. Most foreign analysis stops there, and sees it as a glaring fault. They don’t see how we accomodate it daily, for the past 230 years, and manage to prosper mightily. That’s our strength. They never credit the miracle of the co-operation and the compromises. That’s why they’re so baffled.
Actually I thought War of the Worlds positively shrieked political bias. Remember when the son sees the US troop convoy moving down the road and appeals to his father to let him join them. His dad tells him not to be so stupid and stay wth him and his sister. See any young man who wanted to fight in his country’s army defending his country must be stupid right?
This is repeated again when the boy rushes forward to the battle on the hillside where of course the dumbass US troops get whupped.
Remember when the father draws his gun to defend his car and family? Another guy draws his gun on him, of course the father drops his gun which is picked up by someone else who shoots the first guy and then the mob descends into a bloodbath. See, guns are bad, don’t you understand peaceful persuasion and sharing cooperation are much better.
Then the Tim Robbins character, a kooky survivalist right wing nut job. We know he’s crazy coz he also wants to fight the aliens, he of course makes the ‘occupation’ comment mentioned above, oh and he appears to be a creepy pedophile into the bargain. Anyway again Tom Cruise seems determined on the passive resistance method and warns Robbins not to attack the alien probe thingy. All fine and dandy but ten minutes later Mr Kumbaya Cruise then beats ol’Tim to death and what d’ya know he then goes and does exactly the the thing he told Robbins not to do, he attacks the probe thingy!
Generally what annoyed me about the whole thing was the way Spielberg shows how quickly American civilisation will break down in the face of such an attack. He shows the blue collar district before the attack with all the US flags and stuff. Then when the aliens attack the scenes are reminiscent of 9/11 with dust covered survivors amidst the rubble of New York. What appears to have escaped Speilberg’s attention is that when there WAS a devastating attack on New York and later during the big power black out New Yorkers did not descend into anarchic savagery but quite the opposite they behaved extraordinarily calmly, but hey you don’t go to the movies to find truth now do you?
PS Apologies to anyone who hasn’t seen the movie yet
Posted by Harry Flashman on 2005 07 10 at 11:26 PM • permalinkRe Robbins remark about “occupations always fail”:
To use a more recent historical counter-example (pace you folks bringing up Rome, Spain, and whatever…), we definitely succeeded with Japan.
(Failed with Germany, however—they’re still a bunch of nazi bastards.)
Posted by Carl in N.H. on 2005 07 11 at 12:09 AM • permalinkHate to say it, but for a Gawenda article, this didn’t seem that bad.
Posted by Mike Jenkins on 2005 07 11 at 12:11 AM • permalinkMike — If you set that bar any lower you can use it for a doorstop…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 07 11 at 12:56 AM • permalinkSorry to split the thread again, but I loved WOTW, despite its political confusion and enormous plotholes. I had to laugh at the scene where Cruise momentarily tames an ugly mob by firing a shot in the air, as if they’ve never so much as seen a gun before in their lives. This, in the land of concealed carry, and, moreover, from a director who, despite his liberal leanings, is reputed to have an outstanding private gun collection. Spielberg also makes us believe that aliens who have death rays and force-shields somehow have no use for heavier-than-air flight.
Someone needs to refresh Gawneda’s memory that former presidential candidate Al Gore’s father, voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
And Michael, which President signed the Emancipation Proclamation granting freedom to black slaves?
michael?, Michael?, MICHAEL??
Posted by Jay Santos on 2005 07 11 at 03:06 AM • permalinkOh, and Noir, I caught War of the Worlds today and thought it was superb. Tho’ I could have done without Tim Robbins saying, “Occupations always fail, history taught us that!” Hey, WotW screenwriters - you’re not as clever as you think, and fuck you.
I don’t know about that - the occupations of Germany and Japan seem to have turned out okay.
Posted by Young and Free on 2005 07 11 at 04:45 AM • permalink“See any young man who wanted to fight in his country’s army defending his country must be stupid right?”
The occupation comment is indeed political, but that’s pretty much it.
Still, you are getting a bit paranoid here. An unarmed, untrained young man has no place on a modern battlefield, especially one where the odds are extremely lopsided.
… in a country where the conservative Christian evangelical movement has the sort of political power evangelical groups in Australia can only dream of, the most popular member of the Bush cabinet, according to the polls, is Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a single, black woman.
Awww… poor widdle Age reporter. Are the redstate “morons” not being as bigoted and racist as you want them to be? Maybe Gawenda shouldn’t project so much.
Posted by Patrick Chester on 2005 07 11 at 07:46 AM • permalinkAnd just what is the most thoroughly Christian demographic in American politics today? That’s right: blacks. If the Democratic Party ever wants to compete for another election, they had better start paying attention to this fact. The leftover racial tension of a less noble age will not sustain them much longer, and their cynical reliance on it has sown the seeds of well-deserved contempt. Add in the fact that most blacks just don’t agree with their radical positions on the pivotal domestic issues of our time, and you have a recipe for the dissolution of a once great party.
re: #55,
Still, you are getting a bit paranoid here. An unarmed, untrained young man has no place on a modern battlefield, especially one where the odds are extremely lopsided.
Can’t say about the paranoid part [:-P], but I agree with not throwing untrained/unarmed people into any battle. That would be stupid on the part of everyone….or just plain desperate.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 07 11 at 09:43 AM • permalinkDobeln — right. And 20 minutes further in, untrained lout Tom Cruise single-handedly takes out a Martian tripod…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 07 11 at 09:48 AM • permalinkThe real beauty of Gawenda’s “Given the deep divisions in the country, what did this mean?” line is that he obviously thinks those opposed to the current U.S. government would (or at least, should) never sing the anthem or salute the flag.
I wonder what the Democrats think about Gawenda questioning their patriotism like that.
untrained lout Tom Cruise single-handedly takes out a Martian tripod…
The original book had the British Army getting whupped but good (although they did take out a few tripods along the way), people dying by the tens of thousands, and even a (then) modern British warship getting toasted after destroying merely one tripod. So I can accept the US Army and US Air Force losing direct battles. It’s in the book, after all.
But Cruise’s amazing heroics must have H.G. Wells spinning in his grave, as the main character in the book spent more time hauling ass away from the Martians, or just hiding, than in fighting them.
I guess Tommy just can’t help saving the world, eh? I think I’ll wait for the DVD to come out, and even then borrow it from a friend.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 07 11 at 10:18 AM • permalinkWhoops!! One correction—the main character in the War of the Worlds never fought the Martians. He was a reporter…...what we call a “journalist” today.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 07 11 at 10:21 AM • permalinkHmm. I saw a young man eager to get payback, and a bunch of National Guardsmen unhesistatingly throwing themselves into a desperate battle. Works for this RWDB.
A terrifying film about the shock and horror of war, told from a desperate refugee’s standpoint, with the audience’s usual omniscient viewpoint of events constrained to the protaganist’s POV - we see only what he sees, and know only what he knows from rumor. Very effective. It’s an alien invasion film done from the perspective of the 99.99% of the population fleeing and trying to stay alive, rather than the Brilliant Scientist Desperately Looking for the Alien’s Weakness, the Hero Making Brilliant and Unorthodox Tactical Suggestions at the Joint Chiefs of Staff Bunker, or any of the other .01% of the population in other films of this kind who are making all of the decisions and know exactly what’s happening globally. And in the end, it all comes down to saving your family, which is what life boils down to when everything goes to hell.
May be a good movie on its own, but it sounds like it’s a complete split from the HG Wells story. I suspected this had to be the case when I first heard Cruise was headlining it. He’s fine as an action actor, but there’s no role for him in the real story, which is far from a hero beats the baddies feelgood.
If it’s as much of a corruption on story and theme as was Mission Impossible I don’t think I want to see it at all. Can’t big names like Spielberg and Wu get studio backing without having to fuck up an existing brand?
Why am I talking about this? Is this a movie blog? I hope not. That sounds way too nerdy.
Actually, the Emancipation Proclamation freed no slaves at all.
Posted by nofixedabode on 2005 07 12 at 07:29 PM • permalink
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