Comments on: So who laughed?

By: James

James — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 17:23:08 +0000

alphacoward, the joke wasn’t told in front of a large function. The main function had ended, and Brogden and a few of his advisers went to the bar for a few drinks. There they saw a few women (who happened to be journalists).
Obviously it’s unacceptable no matter what, but it wasn’t a large function, mate. (see excellent round-up over at Webdiary and also at The Australian’s Media section).

By: barney

barney — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 18:19:20 +0000

I think the role of Brogden’s Liberal ooponents (including Howard and Abbott) in this affair should be explored as well.
This will be the sleeper apsect of this issue.
I’m reminded of Howard’s courting of Hanson and how he thought he could control it to his own ends and it nearly defeated him (before he appropriated her ideology).

By: Timmy83

Timmy83 — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 12:46:29 +0000

“Brogden and the NSW Libs couldn’t have handled these events better”?! Please! If they were honest and sincere, they would have owned up immediately, and not have claimed that Labor were running a “desperate and personal” campaign against Brogden (Brogden, Sunday Telegraph 28/8/05).
Whilst I am sad to hear of his suicide attempt, I still hold contempt for Brogden’s character for the fact that after denial after denial, he only quit out of pressure, and he couldn’t even muster a sincere apology without attempting to pass the buck once more.

By: Benno

Benno — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 22:28:38 +0000

‘Mail order bride’ is pretty racist I think. Off the top of my head I don’t recall Pauline Hanson saying something more racist than that. I can’t imagine thinking about a person like that, let alone saying anything in any situation. I believe that should be the issue here. He thinks of an Asian woman in those terms, not as an ‘ordinary’ (to his mind) person. Disclaimer, if it was amusing in the great tradition of British comedy then the above is null and void. But I would have had to have heard it myself with several preceeding and following sentences to judge this.
I know someone who was recording Blanche d’Alpuget for a radio or television thing, and while the recording equipment was inconviniently switched off the following was heard on her answering machine:
“G’day Blanche, Bob here, are you doing anything tonight?”
I agree with your holier-than-thou take on the journalists, and not just the ones in question, but generally for all press reporting into sex in any context.

By: Graham Young

Graham Young — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 12:01:21 +0000

I don't think it was a large function. You can see the report here http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,16415904-5001021,00.html. It was after a large function.

By: alphacoward

alphacoward — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 11:27:10 +0000

My understanding was that it wasn’t a private joke, but rather told in front of a rather large crowd of journalists / business people. What was unusual was that it took 2 weeks for the journalists to print the story, and it sounds like it was the Right Wing Homophobic elements of the Liberal Party that pushed the story.
Wether the journalists laughed is irrelevant. They are not going to lead the nation (or state), not in the traditional sense anyway – the power of the media is, unfortunately, much more subversive.