I am banning Patrick Dignam and Jim for life. I am not and will not be a publishing house for loonies, illiterates, ASIO operatives, suicide bombers and wankers. Anyone who wishes to address the issues and films and plays of the day or the past I will print. Those playing peekaboo with their identity or telling lies about me or anyone else are gone for good.
And I warn Marilyn solemnly that if she does not, in the fortnight sabbatical I have just given her, hugely upgrade her propaganda skills I will ban her too.
I do a lot of this with regret, but standards of English and mannerly debate are important to me and, I would think, to many of this readership and the subject is closed and there will be no appeals.
Name:
Am I to take it that my opinions, knowledge of political happenings, etc. is still welcome then, Bob?
Not welcome; tolerable.
I will watch you closely.
You should have two blogs, Bob, one for politics and one for film/theatre/books etc. You started this for the latter but it’s been taken over by the former.
How is politics divorced from books, theatre, films?
Tell me.
Needs a separate post Bob. Then you might get some debate on it. Books etc divorced from politics is a debate.
Do we really boil down Lawrence to a bourgeois fighting the destructive forces aimed against his society? And can everyone be reduced to such analysis?
Yes
The world is but a stage.
I give up True Believer, why do you keep asking that question?
All Bob wants is sane rational arguments in disagreement : not lies, not resort to invective, not absurd attempts to silence or bully other posters.
I’ve been insulted by experts and the idiots trying it on here have no clue. For me it is water off a duck’s back.
Ultimately it is Bob’s blog and it is he who decides who stays and who goes; surely it is suicidal to seek to accuse him with lies and insults!
Don’t take it to heart Bob. I enjoy reading all the oddball comments of your readers. Your blog site is like fly paper to a certain type of person who enjoys sparring with your extraordinary ideas. It is like one of those dark humid kitchen cupboards, rarely visited, aired or opened but when you do, all sorts of startled creatures scurry about amongst all the cockroach poop. Occasionally there are some plump squishy maggots to be found…on the whole, it’s very amusing. Don’t change anything. Just be your ranting aggressive self.
At the risk of instantaneous immolation from your noteworthy blog I see parallels between your closing statement “and the subject is closed and there will be no appeals.” and that of the plight of some refugees languishing eternally in concentration camp conditions here at home.
I agree effusively with your right to ban whomever for whatever for however long you like but no appeal seems……….harsh.
No………rehabilitation process?
1st time contributor….. be gentle with me.
I have found myself reading your blog, I was actually referred here by a prominent anarchist’s blog.
You have made no mention of the utterly dense, so I think I’m safe.
There always seems to be some kind of weird unspoken bad smell about Mr. Ellis, one member of the left remarked upon mention of his name “Oh he is a horrible man”. I’m still trying to work out what the fuss is about?
I do like Annabel Crabb, I think she does a top job. I didn’t follow so well your criticisms there so well, I find her to be staunch and anything but girly. I found the exchange with JB unbecoming of both of you.
The only thing you have said in reply to me is “well said” to what I can’t recall, and “and the horse you rode in on” when I made a quip about referring TA to a mona vale shrink.
I am aware TA is a human. No worries.
I think the gripe with Annabel is that she could be so much more; she plays it for laughs and often tries to steer a middle course, when those who are more partisan consider she could and should weigh in.
This is like “The Ten Little Nigger Boys”…every time I come here there are new ‘bannings’, one less today, more gone tomorrow…
It makes one timid, I do not want use a wrong word, I’m afraid to make a wrong move, I need someone to choreograph my steps here…
It’s safer to stay away
I don’t think anyone has ever been banned for being too nice, Helvi
I’m so nervous, I let something out…
edit: I do not want to
I have read this post several times now. I must be a dill because I have no idea what it is about.
This comment has been placed in the wrong column. Where it is now makes no sense. Sorry.
More farewells and more comebacks than Dame Nellie Melba and John Farnham combined!
More attempts at taking the high ground than the ANZACS at Gallipoli!
More quotes out of context than Bolt and Henderson!
Roll up, Roll up see the show!
Watch the multi-headed monster challenge the Knight of the Sad Countenance!
Watch it reference Dostoyevski, Kant, Hegel, Erasmus, Tolstoy and Blaise Pascal!
See the Show!
. . . Then again, maybe not.
“Watch it reference Dostoyevski, Kant, Hegel, Erasmus, Tolstoy and Blaise Pascal!”
Better – far better – than the back-of-the-toilet-door trash i see posted from time to time by certain people.
Craig Thompson’s done nuffink and you was suckered. For a good time, call 8435 9877.
R1, let’s hope you get at least one call..
I did not know we could use this blog for advertising…
It’s not my phone number, it’s a made up one but thanks for taking the opportunity to insinuate that I’m a prostitute. To have let that pass would have been a waste. You were just taking the necessary action.
So what were we supposed to think, darl.
Ryutin made mention of a toilet door style of commentary, I assumed in reference to Marilyn. I have a theory that people have more of a problem with the content of what Marilyn is saying than the manner in which she says it, despite protestations otherwise. By the way, even if I were a prostitute, why the fuck are you calling me darl?
My comment had nothing at all to do with Marilyn. What you see is what you get.
No it was about the doggerel you might see scribbled on a toilet door passed off as poetry.
Typical Stratfordian. Even in cultural terms, it’s all about authority. And owning the line between good and bad. Like Helvi and her prostitute accusations.
You are a disgusting individual Doug Quixote.
It’s heart-breaking to see sycophancy and deceit triumph.
But it is ALWAYS good to see ignorance and hubris expose itself.
I note you inserted Pascal’s first name. You thought it important to telegraph to everyone here that you knew his first name, did you Doug?
But for all the others the surname would suffice?
Only took but a moment on Wiki, didn’t it?
You disgust me.
Your actions over the past 3 days are visible to all.
Shame on you, you cowardly little man!
To Bob Ellis,
It is was great sadness that I pen this note to you -
My husband and I, and our circle of friends, have always considered you our Australian Man of Letters. For a little over 22 years we have always sought you in publication, commentary, critique, and opinion on matters literary and political. We have all of your books, and i still consider “Night Thoughts” and “One Hundred Days” to contain sections of inspired insight and prose.
As of this week’s garbage pick up however we shall have them no more.
Such is our disgust with your behaviour; your lack of judgement and explicit gullibility over the last two days, that we can find no greater register by which to express our profound sense of dismay, disappointment, and anger.
You were duped; Bob Ellis, you have been duped by the recreant sycophant Quixote and his lies, and thus forfeited the right to our respect, or our solicitation, or our continued support of your efforts.
And not just ours.
Eleanor,
Edgecliff, Sydney
Bob, you sound like the bloke on the door at the RSL in the late sixties. I always made sure I had my shirt tucked in.
Hilarious how a certain multi-poster falls in and out of character!
Must be consistent if you want to be believed, Mr Troll. LOL
It’s like Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, only darker -
Ten little Indian boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine. Nine little Indian boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight. Eight little Indian boys travelling in Devon; One said he’d stay there and then there were seven. Seven little Indian boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in half and then there were six. Six little Indian boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five. Five little Indian boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four. Four little Indian boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three. Three little Indian boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two. Two Little Indian boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one. One little Indian boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.
I’m no poet but:
“Ten online bloggers sitting on Bob’s patch; Nine were Liberals – so they were summarily dispatched!”
If only they were liberals, Frank. A true liberal :
“Liberalism (from the Latin liberalis) is a political ideology or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights, capitalism, and the free exercise of religion.”
Doesn’t sound like very many Liberals to me.
I welcome the free exchange of views; I find your posts generally reasonable, Frank, and we can always agree to differ, ultimately.
Vive le difference.
True capitalism hasnt been tried for ages.
What passes for it is a collaboration between the banking class, the corporate class and the political class.
The rest of us can get lost.
Liberals are like that flashy kitchen gadget that your maiden aunt bought you for your birthday.
Nice colour, looks flash but hopeless at doing what it’s advertised to do.
You never use it.
Please don’t execute Tiny Dancer Bob. Keep him as a pet.
I would have thought R1 a “Typical Stratfordian” is more about faith than authority.
Oxfordians or at least Anti-Stratfordians are about “authority” and their never ending quest for it, the paucity of “authority” available to Stratfordians to quench the thirst of the oppositional forces, shows the line in the sand has been drawn by the No-Will, No way group, they own it, they dare the Stratfordians to cross it. See the series from Bob “better than Shakespeare”
Marlowe I suspect,stabbed himself in the eye, just to get away from whole hullabaloo and left his clue in the then new radical design of the Oxford Brogue shoe, destined to take off 400 years later. The use of a soft pigskin lining was a nod to the glover skills of the the Warwickshire lad. (citations still pending).
allthumbs, Found you!
I saw fit to cut&paste this yesterday before that “fine and original mind” deleted it. I just made it!
I don’t know if you had a chance to see it – because of the several references to you I thought it important to draw your attention to it, out of respect for one who sought to “engage”.
Thanks you for Lit. gems
E.
To the Martyred Cole and Dignam – Salut!
J.G.Cole June 11, 2012 at 9:58 am
To Reader & allthumbs,
Just to finish this…properly.
Reader, my take on “interpretation”: I am becoming increasingly suspicious of our desire and demand for ‘narrative”. From my readings on literature, art, theory, and architecture, from Melville, Joyce, Beckett, Barth, – Duchamp, Mondrian, Pollock, Judd – Habermas, Ricoeur, Derrida, Fish, Frye, Marcuse, Foucault, Gadamer and Delueze, – Mies, Meier, Ando, Eisenman – it appears to me to be characterised by an innate instability. In turn this instability is defined by the absence of some primal privilege. Here, to paraphrase both Derrida and Rorty, I would add that nothing enjoys an absolute privilege – no interface no boundary line, no marker nor site can be fixed as a “meaning” epicentre – nothing is guaranteed, not even the base binary “in-out”.
Is that the end of it?
Well, no. Here I return to allthumbs, who yesterday moved me most profoundly, again, with his “and yet, and yet”.
This is where I am Reader. In answer to your question.
I am off tomorrow to LA for 5 days and plan to sneak some time away for a quick jaunt to the Getty. I shall the current exhibition with that thought in mind; i shall see if allthumbs’ “and yet” can turn on the axis of “Images of Death in the Middle Ages”.
We shall see.
To the old; Reader, goodbye.
And to the new; allthumbs, I can bequeath you no more than this,
“I now know thee, thou clear spirit, and I now know that thy right worship is defiance. No fearless fool now fronts me…
The drama’s done….Why then here does any one step forth?
Because one did survive the wreck.”
Now to Other Business.
Some here reference Leavis, others the complexities of cultural theory, while others still the wonders of Dostoyevski and the Romantic Poets…also present are those that marvel at the majesty of Melville and the wondrous hieroglyphs that adorn both man and beast…Some are poets themselves…allowing us a peek into private portals where lives and histories unfurl….some here speak frankly and earnestly, passionately, of their politics, whilst others reveal themselves but a post a(t an infrequent)time…and there are others who reply with honour and with humility….some with wit and jocularity and ribald buffoonery…
And One that responds to a suggestion of both acuity and gravitas with a “we do not, so we do not”.
(Number 96 Revisited June 8, 2012 at 10:04 pm)
And I am asked to choose?!?
I cannot side with those that support Reader’s “horse rooters”.
They don’t even realise that the moment they refute that outrage will signal the moment the real argument begins.
They cannot even imagine the scope of this argument.
How can they?
The habit of simplicity has dulled their minds and they are like Beckett’s dog, “chained to its bowl of vomit”.
No Reader, I shall not make peace with the Dull.
I cannot.
Do you know what Quixote’s contribution, his coup de grace argument, is on this theological/morality question?
Do you know his “lawyers” summation on this cosmic question?
Do you know it?
I have seen it countless times.
It is this, and I quote:
“you cant argue with the
God botherers, they always fall back on God, and say, ”
God says so, so there”.
What must be the central argument of Man…is now reduced to the lunatic and the infantile – ‘so there!”
Seneca and Pascal, Augustine and Hobbes, Bacon, Husserl, Burke, Rousseau, Kierkegaard, Locke, Fichte, Aristotle and Erasmus, Nietzsche, Plato, Descartes, Spinoza, Hegel, Kant, Hume and Bergson……
….all waiting for their cumulative meditations in history’s unceasing dialogue, to reach its meridian in…..
Quixote’s ‘so there’.
I am utterly speechless.
For the first time in my life….I am speechless.
So no, Reader, I shall make no peace with the Dull.
I don’t have the time to waste…..on our Sancho.
None of us do.
And so finally to our Billy Budd’s – Eleanor, Glinda , Mary Ellen, and now Patrick.
I would like to apologise to you for having the misfortune to be thought of as me – only ever two on this site – J.G.Cole and StaggerLee.
You were all ensnared in the web of Quixote’s paranoia and intellectual insecurities…and so suffered accordingly.
It appears Ellis had no inclination to remove Quixote’s tongue from his wrinkled bum.
To Bob Ellis, I say this, I will follow the counsel of the Old Testament and Nick Cave; “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”
I will charge you $1000 per innocent you have extinguished erroneously.
Although Gerard Henderson is a political foe, a foe I have battled for just on 5 years now, I will donate upon my return, or perhaps sooner, $4000 to him to advance his case against…..the Palm Beach Fool.
His cause is justified.
“Who’s to doom, when the judge himself is dragged to the bar?”
Salut the Fool!!
JGC.
SL.
Ben + Amanda”
Bye allthumbs
Thanks E of A, I didn’t see it, The Getty eh? Hear that? That’s teeth grinding envy. Enjoy, I took a note of your list.
Wonderful!
Umm, your response confused me.
That post was from Cole, 2 days ago.
I had cut it, fearing Ellis’ guillotine, and re-posted it for your attention.
I wish i were going to the Getty!