Complaining about the complainers in the Cultural Left because they complain too much? The irony is priceless.

Oh, and if you're going to quote so extensively from David McKnight, it would be best if you could spell his name right.

A vicious attack, seemingly on older people who wear black turtle neck jumpers.

King has my vote. I used to teach in a high school and I was astounded at the level of cultural mumbo jumbo that was trotted out as knowledge by the teachers.

I think the cultural left's position is a kind of default 'I'm against everything' position for those who don't want to think too hard. Not so sure about having a sling at the old boomers. We're becoming a punching bag for these young ferrets!

yep, for an article about whining, it is incredibly whiny.

Johnj,
Thanks for pointing out the error with David McKnight's name. It has been corrected and I have popped in a link to his website.
Susan Prior - ed

How dare you others put this wonderful author down. He scores 10 out of 10 with me. For generalising and writing about non existent groups. God knows what's in his head, it's terrifying to ponder.

Otherwise I still give him 10 out of 10 for the best virtual manure pile I've seen in a long while.

I know this is On Line Opinion, but an opinion that runs over three pages usually benefits from some facts and evidence. Were there any here? I must have blinked and missed them.

But let me put forth my equally unsupported opinion: I bet this was written before the Obama victory.

Quite right. He should have named names: the AEU, cultural studies departments, the Australian film industry (not games). Reads like an inside hatchet job.

The cultural left ain't dead yet. If Baz Lurhman's film 'Australia' croaks - which I hope it doesn't - then pull the shades on the old CL.

If anyone needs or wants a daily dose of unrelenting toxic sour grapes whining and whinging, and thereby wishes to become thoroughly depressed and disheartened about everything altogether, then just check out some of the multitude of right wing (whinge) blogs that infest the net.

You should read their collective whingings about the election of the shock-horror "marxist-socialist" 44th President of the USA.

Try Ann Coulter to start with and follow the multiple links and you will be overwhelmed by the irrational psycho-pathology that these wing-nuts revel in.

Not a shred or trace of even the possibility of any intelligent cultural, religious or historical analysis or perspective.

Ho Hum, it's your turn now to listen to the whining and whinging of folks who feel the world is run by idiots - we've been listening to you and your mates for years - get used to it, what goes around comes around.

You'll get your turn soon enough to return to whining and whinging about who's in charge. I wonder how long it will be before you are unhappy with the present lot, I suspect long before the world turns back to a more sensible running mode.

It's the human condition is it not to complain about everything, the only problem is trying to focus.

There seems to be a rule book somewhere, called something like: ‘The Right-Wing guide to writing articles about the Left.’

Basically, there are two standard rules:

1. Use a lot of ‘war’ vocabulary. Everything is a war between Right and Left and thus every social issue has a ‘victorious’ side and a ‘defeated’ side – no prizes for guessing which side is which. Culture must never be seen as a collection of images and stories reflecting the inner soul of a society. Oh, no. It’s Operation Desert Storm of the public mind, and the Left is Al Qaeda hiding out in a cave somewhere.

2. Use lots of ‘irrelevance’ vocabulary. It’s important to keep conveying that the Left has lost its relevance … every day now, and for several decades. Paradoxically, this is why the Right has to keep writing about them. Eternal vigilance is paramount. If there is any weakness in the Right’s relevancy defence (like a single day in which the Right doesn’t publish an article about the irrelevance of the Left) the Left will break through and steal all the Right’s relevance.

Fighting a culture war is a tough business. But someone's gotta do it.

Boy the "cultural wars" are getting so tiresome; if the people the right wingers continually complained about existed, were a group, were actually interested in their ravings and responded I suppose it would be a bit more interesting.

Well said SJF. Since the barometer has run hot to the Right of politics over the last 20 years the influence of the Cultural Left in the film, art and academic sector, should be of no concern to people like King.

Bwahhhhhh

This article makes Janet Albrechtson sound positively objective.

A fairly banal, almost anti-intellectual collection of comments for an article that encapsulates the standard line about the cultural left. It's no wonder they're in trouble when people cannot articulate a position.

John J - facts and evidence where were they?

Fact-: as quoted from Malcolm King’s article-: So convinced were the cultural left of their righteous fight to maintain an idealogical stranglehold over history and secondary school curriculums. That is a spot on observation and as such is a fact.

The cultural left have altered the curriculums to teach that wars are caused by intolerance and hatred. That is only partial fact in so much as it does not teach the reason behind the intolerance and hatred. Any detailed study of history will attest to the fact that all wars, ethnic cleansings, civil wars, religious wars etc. are between different bloodlines over control of territory. Tribal territorial warfare.

Yes,even the American Civil War was fought over control of the American parliament. The South with their free labour were becoming obscenely wealthy at the expense of the North . We all know that wealth buys seats in government and the South was exerting too much control in government circles. In an effort to stop the business and political monopoly of the South; the North threatened to invade the South and the South retaliated by attempting to break away and form their own state. How many times have we seen the demand for separate statehood or a separate country turn into bloody war in todays world. Chechyna in Russia for example. Burma and China for another.

Separate country, (light bulbs flashing), Territorial war.

Until the cultural left teaches the impartial truth about wars and history and doesn't attempt to see it in a way that suits their idealogy then they are indeed wrong in what they teach.

Malcolm King-: They see themselves as clever people in a stupid world.

It is a fact that they thought they were cleverer than those who told them that multiculturalism was a dangerous social experiment. Now London, America, and parts of Europe have been attacked territorially from within by terrorists, (funny how much that word terrorist resembles the word territorialist.) Australia has so far been lucky in uncovering these tribal territorial attacks before they have occurred.

The last time I spoke with a teacher of secondary /senior social science and history the topic was how she felt undervalued, was underpaid and overworked.

Bearing this in mind I don't know think for a minute that she has the time or energy to see her teaching vocation as being guided by her being an “elitist member of the Cultural Left or for that matter is she busily conspiring to brainwash her year 11 and 12 students with Bolshevik ideals and Marixist propaganda.

She is however a passionate and committed teacher who wants her students to acquire the academic and critical thinking skills that would allow them to make their own minds up about the world and issues around them.

And she's not a bloody baby boomer!