Another piece that takes a long time to say nothing - Andrews aside about the filmgoer spurning home grown product - I am pretty confident here - was an anecdotal comment heard in a video library reported to John Faine by a media commentator; the irrefutable evidence keeps on racking up!

I usally dont call for evidence in these opinion pieces but from where does the notion that " cultural life and the arts has suffered from a smug Left, politically correct, piety restricting debate" come. So a few bods think the Dark Ages are here or there is a dumbing down - Mc Intyre describes reasonably well the opposite - there is all manner of things proliferating across the air waves, on Radio, TV, Film, in the theatre, the streets and the web. It is self evident.

So what moved Andrew to write several hundred words stating the obvious. - he feels mooved to attack the left - like most of the reactionaries who do this here he may as well flail them with a damp lettuce leaf for all the good it does. The article was weak and some what pointless and says more about political war than culture.

I am reminded of A Bolts article in the Sun 7th October - he devoted 4! full columns telling us many terrorists were well educated - Well! lick my bum and call me a stamp! What a revelation! Who'd of thunk it! But that was not the story - the story was , according to Bolters ABC talk backers and others "of the left" are often heard saying these terrorists are not that bright - well I certainly havent heard that said on MY abc or any one elses - The story was not revelatory; the academic achievement of the 9/11 dudes has been well publicised as has that of some involved in Bali 2002 - so why the story?

Like McIntyre, Bolters had to make a political point - do these commentaries enrich the debate? Do they inform any question? Nope. They waste space.

As an Arts professional,(teacher and practitioner), may I offer my opinion.
There are 2 sorts of commentators. Thinkers and feelers. Maybe one day Mr McIntyre will learn to feel.

I'm so glad the author mentioned SOUTHPARK because it is one of the most socially important shows around. Exploring many significant issues through the eyes of children it shows just how ludicrous many 'pet' and 'pc' ideas are today, and where many of them will lead.

As for 'whos' culture. I believe we have a very rich culture and history, where even the blemishes can be used in an instructive way.
We don't need to hide or run from our past, there are indeed some things we should be thoroughly ashamed of in historical context, yet we are a unique and blessed country.

Our artists should try to capture the history of this country, and avoid picking particular trendy subjects like how the young girl at a catholic girls school discovers her lesbian sexuality... "Important" ? err.. doubtful, of much greater importance to me would be how a dill of a kid, who is the offspring of a successful business tycoon, takes a road to self discovery and finds many of his fathers qualities were in him all the time, just waiting to come out, but in his own unique way. ("Tommy Boy" with David Spade, Chris Farley and Brian Dennehy is a good example from an American source)

Some early Aussie cinematic efforts about country life were awesome.

We capture our culture or perish, so, come on all, get those camera's going and move into the place where cultural mainstream Aussies live.

Sneekeepete, thanks for your heads up, I was searching through this article for some substance or traction or logic but it was like trying to read soup and i was worried that i was missing something of vital importance. Whew, He's just an old snobby filibusterer typing out yet another non-article that constructs its enemies through his own prejudices and pet hates. Shame on us elite cultural landlords for not taking him seriously..

This simply follows the usual tripe that Andrew McIntyre pumps out. Blame everything he doesn't like on the "enlists left". I also find it funny that the neocons have come to love South Park, mainly because they believe it is an attack at the left. They spent the first few years trying to ban it. The Book South Park Republicans has got them all fired up about the supposed liberal bias in all things specially the media. I wonder which South park ep is DB’s fav maybe the one were Cartman kills two people and then tricks the son into eating them. Yes I’m sure that the kind of conservatives DB had in mind.

it always seems strange, and slightly ironic/hypocritical to me that conservative (im resisting easy handles like 'rabid right', although they seem to like using them) commentators will claim a 'loony left' conspiracy to control society, the economy and the environment, while simultaneously crowing over how long the conservative government has been in power and the possibilities of radical change that their power affords.

I often wonder if there is an actual bias against right wing views in this country (reading the Australian on any given day should dispel this), or if the real reason these commentators claim a left wing dominance of cultural discourse is to cover the fact that they don’t receive much attention because what they produce is absolute rubbish?

im referring in particular to the recent plethora of articles by Fraser, carter, McIntyre and particularly terpstra, which contain very little in the way of reasoned, logical or even mildly convincing argument. Im aware that there are a number of people who support the views of these articles but I would suggest this is because they confirm their already decided position and provide a convenient platform for a resumption of hostilities with their favourite enemy on OLO, rather than on the merits of the articles themselves.

but then i suppose we should blaim the authors chardonnay sipping lefty english teachers.

An excellent article, one of the few that recognise the revolution that technology is making in culture. From my experience la gauche caviar are really very conservative, as would be expected from any privileged group whose only real loyalty is to itself. The revolution in news and current affairs, where consumers can select the items they wish to watch, instead of being forced to absorb politically correct items while waiting for the weather, is the next stage in depowering the elite and empowering the consumer. We are very fortunate that the country with overall control of the Internet, the United States, has such a strong culture of free speech, and this makes the suppression of non-PC items difficult. Of course at the moment this only applies to text and speech, but will be extended to video in a few years. The best recent comment on this was given recently by Tim Berners-Lee, who said "we must remember that we are only at the very beginning of the technological revolution".

I think that every Australian child should learn off by heart the poems of the 19th and early 20th century. In this way, they will come to an even higher expectation of what an artist, author or poet should deliver. The detached, trendoids in the arts would then be further starved of funding and even might realise the error of their ways.