I will continue writing now that Molly Bloom has sworn she will go away. I am moved to this decision partly by what has happened to the Age and the smh which might briefly be described as Rhino-Hendersonism prevailing; partly by the likelihood that Pyne may go to gaol now for conspiracy of some sort and Abbott fall and the Liberal Party crumble, and the Labor Party in power for the next twenty years will need some ideas; and partly by my need to write, in depth, because I like to do that, on theatre and the movies. I am sorry for any anxiety I may have caused among those who were anxious and not, like Bananaman, rejoicing.
But my inclination is not to respond to responses any more. It is a waste of intellect and a sapping of soul I can afford no more in my late old age if I am to complete my Shakespeare trilogy and my novel and a screenplay or two before I am seventy-five and in my grave. If I do not keep to this vow I ask you to forgive me but that is my present intention.
Those I have banned will stay banned; but I will not officiously remove their blitherings, nor will I heed them or respond to them. I ask you also, those among you who care about quality writing, to give them a miss. Their attack on democracy has to this extent succeeded, for civilised discourse will no longer occur, or occur very often, in these columns and graffiti has prevailed.
I will let you know if this changes.
Obediently yours.
Name:
Rejoicing? No.
Amused? Usually.
Ta ta, off to see some clients now… have a good day all.
Well that is a relief. I hope that commentators on this blog will now try to engage in rational discourse and not take advantage of Bob’s indication of non-interference to engage in name calling, obscenities in lieu of word modifers, and personal feuds.
Under the new paradigm, my first comment is that I see no indication at this stage of any of Bob’s predictions in his first paragraph coming true.
In regard to Fairfax, the day of the printed newspaper is fast coming to an end. Two years ago, I was spending $70 a month on subscriptions to 2 national and 2 local newspapers. I now spend a small monthly sum for an online subs to the Australian, and read the rest, including numerous overseas pubs free of charge. When they move to paid subs, I will gladly pay but if the Aussie is anything to go on, the monthly subs will be a lot less than I was paying before. I imagine I am not alone and this has to effect the ability of newspapers to keep going.
We will certainly needs blogs like TableTalk in the future.
“But my inclination is not to respond to responses any more. It is a waste of intellect and a sapping of soul…” Not the outcome I would have wished for, Bob. We are all pursuing projects, all trying to swim against the current, all running out of time. If you are just going to preach from the mountain and not come down to share the humanity then I fear your site will bland out. The dissent, the jibes, accusations etc I thought read in the best spirit. I would much rather converse with an opponent who shows wit, a creative bent, an energetic spirit, than say on the Drum when a academic or a Reith or someone says their peace, and then the blogs line up in order, Libs or Labor, without humour, little of substance to say, and a total inability to listen or converse with each other. Your site was the opposite. I just hope you are not shooting it in the foot by declaring your unavailability to scrap.
Yeah, okay. I will think on these things.
Thank christ; we are going to need you more than ever, Bob, given yesterday’s developments in ‘Rhino-Hendersonism’ and the wider assault of Corporate Dictatorship led by Gina.
Relieved,
Brunswick.
Sigh of relief, and a glass of Verily’s Mateus with our lunches to celebrate…
Oh thats excellent news! Thanks Bob
Thats a relief I go away for a few weeks and Ellis woozes out and threatens to sulk in his tent like Achilles Greece is nice right now and I’m back off after a recharge
Don’t let the bastards grind you down Bobby we need you
Ellis: for what it’s worth (very little sub specie aeternitatis) I have been following your career (mostly when a publication containing your stuff blows against my legs in the street) since Honi Soit days, when one of the few things I learned in my few jejune months at uni was that anything with which the Ellis name was associated would probably be interesting.
The same still applies… Interesting, on the right side of issues, not necessarily 100pc sensible.
I strongly urge you not to waste your remaining talents on the sad, boring nongs who mostly fill up your comments section. I myself am resolved to in future completely ignore the comments until/unless you get edtorial help on that side
I can still recall only on one occasion that a lecturer received a thumping ovation. An institution by a moat. And we were cycnics then, if we could be bothered.
Good news. I can think of several reasons I’m delighted but I’ll go with one. Back in the early days of the Iraq invasion, Andrew Bolt, a major supporter of this conflict (after all, Saddam had weapons of mass destruction – George W said he did) would get upset in his writings that some people were getting information from Al Jazeera and not Fox. Al Jazeera was, well, not saying what Fox was saying. This is what the right hates. People like Bolt talk about freedom of the press but they don’t like it when people say anything they don’t agree with. This is why the right, Bolt among them, hate the ABC. For some reason, some commentators on Aunty look at our low inflation and interest rates and excellent growth rate and suggest things aren’t that bad. There are some who even reckon Gillard might be a better bet than Tony (‘the billionaire’s friend) as PM. I’m delighted you’re staying on Bob. We need someone who is free of groupthink, someone who understands that knowing the price of everything is not the same as knowing the value of same.
Well said vic of gero. Anyone would be excused for thinking we live in Greece!
Even so, Gillard is still preferred PM in most polls.
And there is only one poll Labor need to be ahead on : the one in late 2013.
woohooo! No bannings. I just read now. Occasionally.
The same song plays through the decades interspersed with Bob’s keen intelligence, but the grind gets to me. Same troubles and distractions of government and politics day in year out and no changes- just lip service and round the mulberry bush discussions back to the start.
I sprout off a typed list and get banned and piss Bob off.:D
I have had brushes on here from very interesting places of government. Click on something get taken elsewhere.Ten years of that shit.
Better left aside or get accused of lying. An awful lot of things to expand on and clarify instead of being made out to be a liar and wear it for countries sake.
After Bob kicks the bucket in about another 15 years, I finally can say I knew a legend and he use to tell me to fuck off. Oh I knew that guy!
It get’s a bit hard to defend yourself on here unless you indulge in stone throwing or delve into privacy of others. Lot of head games too. Nothing direct. Click on something and get taken elsewhere on the web.
People should appreciate the chance to tangle with Bob. He makes a mean stew- more possum than potatoes. The country and times that shaped him, like old soldiers and pioneers, are gone and going, we are turning into something else that doesn’t look too good for many or for the heart.suicides going to rise. Welcome to the USA. There’s no replacing Bob and some of the people of earlier politics in this country. There’s a thousand movies to make.
He and other’s here have inspired me to write. And the ABC,some good people over there. I bought a ukulele and a new guitar so I might get a song in too. Put my mug on youtube and show how it’s done. Depressions a killer. Still in no man’s land. Catch all you very fine people around. And the lunatics.
Good one jim! I rarely finish your posts without a smile on my face. Post on.