There's nothing like seeing the reptiles argue over who is the best, the wisest, the most astute keeper of the flame, and therefore who is best placed to interpret the world, read the runes, and come to conclusions in keeping with the grand originalist tradition ...
Never mind that the world might have moved on, that circumstances might have changed, that biblically approved slave owners might have devised a constitution, and yet it's okay not to keep slaves, the originalists are the only ones able to reach back in time and understand the essence of the founding fathers ...
There is no higher high priest in the originalist art and science than prattling Polonius ...
Now many have contended, and many try to reach an understanding up there with prattling Polonius in his specialist field of the true understanding of the true and original Ming the merciless ...
But as prattling Polonius will modestly say himself, he is the one true keeper of the flame ... vastly more expert than wretched ersatz liberals of the eastern suburbs kind ...
Indeed, indeed, let us not have any of this idle chatter about the sensible centre, and proud liberalism with a small 'l', and balance, and talk of the pitiful common folk ...
Instead let us recall the glory days ...
Moving along, the pond thought it wrong to trot out prattling Polonius as if he was the last word on Ming the Merciless.
It might be true, few could hold a candle, but where's the conflict, where's the drama if there's only one player in the octagon ...
It might be true, few could hold a candle, but where's the conflict, where's the drama if there's only one player in the octagon ...
There have been many contenders for the title of Champion Ming Man, so why not have a UFC style ground and pound contest?
Who better for the pond to wheel in and join the fray than the oscillating fan?
Oh dear, there's a low blow right from the start. Labelling prattling Polonius foolish and then to use historical relativism ... and how shocking to quote Menzies, as if that meant anything coherent and consistent ...
Naturally Polonius had the perfect retort for this upstart ...
Why dammit, Ming the Merciless was a pitiless reactionary of the worst, neo-fascist, referendum-calling, Commie-banning, war mongering, kill the Cong, nuke the blacks, ABC-hating kind, and Polonius is damnedly proud of it ...
Why dammit, Ming the Merciless was a pitiless reactionary of the worst, neo-fascist, referendum-calling, Commie-banning, war mongering, kill the Cong, nuke the blacks, ABC-hating kind, and Polonius is damnedly proud of it ...
Oh yes, complaining about the ABC!
Is there any more certain indication of a reactionary old fogey carrying on like a pork chop? Why he is the very epitome of Polonius, the very font of ABC-hating wisdom ...
Is there any more certain indication of a reactionary old fogey carrying on like a pork chop? Why he is the very epitome of Polonius, the very font of ABC-hating wisdom ...
What sayeth the oscillating fan to these thoughts?
Can he change his chops, and come back off the mat?
Oh that's cruel, that's below the belt.
To call prattling Polonius a poorly read conservative, in his pathetic attempt to use Ming the Merciless as a guiding light, thereby showing off a limited grasp of history, and the people's hero ...
To call prattling Polonius a poorly read conservative, in his pathetic attempt to use Ming the Merciless as a guiding light, thereby showing off a limited grasp of history, and the people's hero ...
Well it's time for closing remarks, and unfortunately Polonius is so desperate, he's forced to call on lefties to support him.
Why there's the Order of Lenin man dragged into service on behalf of Polonius ...
Why there's the Order of Lenin man dragged into service on behalf of Polonius ...
Indeed, indeed, who'd have thought that Polonius would have to resort to Manning Clark as a character witness. Whatever would the Major Mitchell say? Has the Currish Snail been advised of this heresy ...
Never mind, after a short break for a cartoon, the pond will return for the oscillating fan's closing thoughts ...
Never mind, after a short break for a cartoon, the pond will return for the oscillating fan's closing thoughts ...
What's pleasing to read in the oscillating fan is the splendid way his strategies in relation to One Nation worked out in the west in the recent state election...
Well it's not for the pond to judge the result of the fight. The pond merely presents the contest, two judges deciding the shape and purpose and theology of the camel.
Others can decide who's closest to their originalist hero ...
Others can decide who's closest to their originalist hero ...
But such is the pond's love of the fight that it decided to continue with another contestant, someone to fill up the undercard, and who better at being on the undercard than Troy? Perhaps he should team tag with the oscillating fan to see if they can bring down the prattler?
Oh okay, that's conclusive. The pond understands that Ming the Merciless was one of the common folk, astute in his understanding of them, and always willing to dress like them and walk them amongst them as a modest unassuming commoner ...
It explains why the onion muncher was probably the most able of recent PMs at assuming the mantle of the Ming ...
And so to Troy's closing argument, which because it's now of an age, was intended to guide the onion muncher to the light, to the noble flame ...
Ah, the old furphy, the old canard of Ming stealing all the credit for the Commonwealth Scholarship Scheme. It never gets old, it never gets tired and worn, that one, and lo, look how it worked out, Troy's humble suggestion that the onion muncher should do his duty and think of the Queen and the Cinque Ports, like Ming the Merciless sought to do, from the mainstream centre of Australian politics ...
Onion munchers of Australia, at the very centre of it all ...
Well anyone who made it through that theological set of niceties without thinking of a Monty Python sketch about splitters, probably needs a distracting Pope, and there are more papal distractions here ...
*whew* - that was a truly exhausting and uninformative experience DP - I feel for you having to put together such a survey. After reading the collected mumblings ("wisdom" would be far too generous and inaccurate a term) of Polonius, The Fan and Bramston, I feel that I now know and care even less about Menzies than I did previously. It did feel, though, as if it took the entirety of Ming's time as PM to trudge through their vapid meanderings.
ReplyDeleteSo empty of any real real insight were all three articles that only one minor point really caught my attention. What's with Hendo's weird addition of the word "the" in a couple of spots - referring to "the" World War One and "the" Manning Clark? Is this an attempt to pad out his word count a little and add an extra tuppence to his miserable stipend? Is the Sydney Institute really in such dire straits? I haven't noticed it before - but then, I always try not to study his prose style too closely.
Maybe he's a lover of Dickens? Or would Frank Richards (Charles Hamilton) be more of an inspiration. Yaroop garooah ... fat owl ... remove ...repeat until exhausted ...
DeleteYair, a lovely little wander down some Menzian byways. I especially liked this one:
ReplyDeleteYet for 16 years as Prime Minister, Menzies earned and kept the respect of voters. He had warm friendships across the political divide, including with Curtin and Chifley in the 1940s.
To which, for starters, I can only quote John Curtin (who had many "John and Bob" meetings with RGM):
Nevertheless, Curtin remarked once, 'Ah, poor Bob, it's very sad; he would rather make a point than make a friend'.
Gotta say that Polonius and Pig Iron are at one on that. No wonder Polonius thinks he understands Menzies.
But as to the business of RGM and how he "kept the respect of voters", well I can explain quite simply how he did that. In was in 1963 - Betty II's second sojourn into the great Southern Colony = that Menzies let fly with "I did but see her passing by and yet I love her till I die."
That really hit the spot with Aussies, especially the ones who, as the young lady explained on ABC TV, she couldn't vote for Arthur Caldwell because "you just couldn't imagine him being introduced to Her Majesty" (yair, I actually saw that on on telly myself).
But truly, DP, your point about the Comm. Schol. scheme is absolutely correct:
"Ah, the old furphy, the old canard of Ming stealing all the credit for the Commonwealth Scholarship Scheme. It never gets old, it never gets tired and worn, that one."
For anybody vaguely interested, the reality is this:
_____________________________________________________
From 1944 to 1950 Commonwealth assistance to university students took two forms. Through the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme, more than 21,000 returned servicemen and women received free education at universities and other tertiary institutions between 1945 and 1954 (see chapter 7). In addition, Cabinet decided in April 1945 that the wartime Financial Assistance Scheme should continue for five years after the cessation of hostilities. Doubts about the constitutional validity of the scheme were removed by the passing of the social services referendum in September 1946. In 1948 more than 50 per cent of Australian university students were receiving assistance under one of these schemes. In 1947 the Universities Commission began considering the possibility of a permanent scholarships scheme for university students. In its report the commission proposed that, beginning in 1951, the Commonwealth provide 3000 scholarships each year to students undertaking first degrees and diplomas at universities and other tertiary institutions. The scholarships would cover all fees and students from lower-income families would also receive living allowances. The Mills committee made some changes to the draft scheme and it was approved by Cabinet in August 1949. The Coalition government also accepted the scheme and in March 1950 RG Menzies announced that 3000 Commonwealth scholarships would be awarded in January 1951.
[ http://guides.naa.gov.au/land-of-opportunity/chapter24/ ]
Thanks for that quote GB, and that astute comparison of Ming and Polonius ...and Ming's love of the Royals, as followed by the knightly onion-muncher ...
DeleteIn case you want the reference, DP, I found Curtin's quote at:
Deletehttp://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/curtin-john-9885