Another day, another tedious editorial in The Australian lamenting the sad decline of larrikinism, jokes and, by extension, Western civilisation itself. Even by the Oz’s standards, however, this one was particularly extreme. It claimed that nobody dares make jokes anymore out of fear of being “shamed by the Twitter diversity Gestapo or neo arbiters of fun such as the furious [Hannah] Gadsby or identity poster child Benjamin Law”.
Perhaps one reason why people might fear trying to be funny or expressing unorthodox viewpoints is because doing so might make them the target of unsavoury coverage in The Australian. “Identity poster child” Benjamin Law discovered this for himself during the same-sex marriage postal survey campaign in 2017, when he made a joke on Twitter about how he would “hate-fuck all the anti-gay MPs”. In response, The Australian huffed and puffed about how Law’s naughty sweary words were a sign of the “gross hypocrisy” of the Yes case.
The paper also couldn’t take a joke when columnist Chris Kenny was photoshopped having sex with a dog during a Chaser election special on the ABC. Kenny brought defamation proceedings against Auntie, and the Oz jumped to his defence, arguing the skit “[took] satire too far”.
Provocative speech should be celebrated, but only if it doesn’t offend the paper’s own fragile conservative sensibilities. Writer Yassmin Abdel-Magied dared criticise offshore processing on Anzac Day, and became the subject of some 12,000 words worth of articles scrutinising her every move. Abdel-Magied has since left the country. Former editor Chris Mitchell wanted Media Watch host Paul Barry axed for being mean to the Murdochs. And earlier this year, Honi Soit, the University of Sydney’s esteemed student rag, published a satirical cartoon with George Pell in a noose; the Oz was quick to jump on board and fuel the resulting indignation.
Despite the common refrain about weak millennials shutting down controversial ideas, clearly nobody likes to cancel like the Oz. And given the paper provides a home for everything from climate change denial to soft-core white nationalism, it’s unclear what the “diversity Gestapo” ever stopped them from saying in the first place.
What is it about supercilious conservatives (particularly in political media) being able to dish the dirt : and unable to take the “medicine” the see it is their birthright to dispense with alacrity – to the point of citing “how far is too” – where is this “Can of Worms Rule Book” of theirs?
[Phew, that’s a relief – I’ve been consigned to Crikey “incoming spam” since last Thursday.]
The Oz IS a joke….they ought to be able to take it
The ABC is a much better source of biting and genuine humour than any of the far-right pundits working slavishly at spewing bile from under their rocks at the Oz.
We need to remember John Howard’s indignation in regards to “The Glass House” & the fact that he got his mate Donald Donaldson (ABC’s previous boss) to pull this program because it cut too close to the bone for his liking, then declared there had never been a conflict of interest.. Hmmm Auntie don’t let the conservatives get the better of you..
Too late, the Murdoch conservative mafia already run the ABC. More and more of the Murdoch NewsCrap bed bugs aka as churnalists, stenographers and typists are already working for the ABC. Soon David Speers will be fronting the Sunday Insiders program. Doesn’t bother me anymore, I practically gave up watching the ABC after the last election. I say hooray for SBS and various live news and current channels on YouTube. No need for ABC let Murdoch fully run the ABC. He probably wants the milk the ABC river of taxpayer funds.