' Listen hard to the sound of silence

actually EmperorJulian there was applause from the regressives who thought they had a setup/getup gothcha moment.

You are right, runner. It was a stupid question, like most lefty questions. Per se, Snaky Malarky’s statements are not classifiable. His anti-ISIS stand, were it not so obviously fake is right wing. His desire to inflict people like himself on our community is left wing, which is why his support for that aspect comes from the left, and in particular from the ABC.
It is not relevant to this thread. It was posted by a lefty, and approved in a subsequent post by another lefty, as one would expect.
Julian also mentioned:” content-free pissing contests”. We have the nonsense of same sex marriage, but opposite sex pissing contests are also over the limit. Find an appropriate label, Julian. That one was past its use-by date in any event. You worked it to death.

CM: And yes, I do support marriage equality, on both humanitarian and strictly ethical grounds. You shouldn't feel left out though, my ethical position also extends to the view that idiots should be allowed to marry, if they can find someone silly enough to marry them. Shame about the kids though...

So how DO you feel about Goats?

Without the contribution of the ABC Australian TV would be a desert in which the finding of an oasis would be very rare indeed.

The ABC, besides its contentious opinion programmes brings to the viewers a wealth of interesting output.

"Sacred River" was a very recent piece that was notable not only for the viewpoints put forward but for some entertaining clangers as well.
"Antiques Roadshow" is instructive as well as entertaining as is also the "Eggheads".
There is a series coming up on Captain Arthur Phillip and it promises well,
So roll on the ABC, which, be it noted, spends a lot of its money in Australia in producing shows.

Dear Craig,

Julian Burnside QC, wrote sometime ago about media
ownership in Australia being notoriously narrow.
That although we live in a torrent of information there
is such a limited range of available views.

Burnside stated what we already know - that
mainstream media offers precious little diversity and
such diversity as there is runs along predictable
lines.

An article in The Conversation also - pointed out the fact
that due to Australia's small population and the high
concentration of few media voices - public broadcasters
play a pivotal role in shaping the media ecosystem and
cultural landscape.

With the ABC (and SBS) currently under scrutiny,
the future of public
broadcasting in Australia is being threatened.
Which is a pity.

Let us look at some facts.

The ABC received A$1,030 million in the May 2012-13 Federal
Budget supplemented by an additional A$158.2 million from
commercial and other income streams.

Per capita this works out to the sum of 14 cents a day for
every man, woman and child in the country.
For that the Australian media consumer gets 4 TV channels,
national and local radio and online content.

Who can seriously complain - given how many million
Australians pay hundreds of dollars a year to Foxtel,
that 14 cents a day for the ABC is excessive.

Dear Emperor Julian,

Muslims are speaking out but it appears that
no one is listening. Positive actions by
Muslims isn't newsworthy
and anything positive regarding Muslims does
not get media coverage, unfortunately.
Therefore the impression of mistrust is maintained
which suits the current political game being played.

When the Australian National Imans Council issued a
media statement that likened Islamic
State to a "group of criminals," it received little
or any coverage. The same went for when the world's
most prominent Muslim leaders, and Islamic organisations
denounce Islamic State - we don't get to read about it.

Are you aware of the global Twitter campaign
#NotinMyName that is being used by Muslims to denounce the
actions and ideology of Islamic State?

And there's much more.
However, as can be seen from the many posts in this
discussion - some people are not interested in explanations.
They are more interested in condemnation and punishment
than in explanation. Explanations seem tantamount to
sympathizing and excusing.

This as I've stated in the past all too easily leads
onto the questionable practice of stereotyping entire groups
of people. And unless people are prepared to modify their
judgements continued stereotyping can encourage "counter-
stereotyping" and the result is usually a complete breakdown
in communication.