Bazz,

"Waffle" being the operative word for all in sundry in the tabloid world...or anywhere humans interact with a barrow to push.

I'm a great waffler, but I'm often accused of being condescending and conceited, because I dismiss Jones'-style crap.

I'm with wobbles (in apparent minority - yay!) but I also think Houellie's right that people love to feel outrage...It makes us feel superior, but that doesn't negate the bilge that overflows daily from left and right in their attempts to out-moralise each other.

Bit of a hoot, actually.

Wobbles,

"If gullibility and stupidity could somehow be converted to clean energy then some 2GB listeners may yet save the world." You are a fine one to talk.

Considering the bile and invective you pile into your posts, you are no better than Alan Jones.

Wobbles, you are not alone I totally agree with your comments.
A bit of the latest Jones news.
Alan Jones is under pressure to make a public apology after a court upheld a ruling that he incited hatred and vilified Lebanese Muslims in on-air comments made in the lead-up to the Cronulla riots.
The man of straw is under more pressure,

'Considering the bile and invective you pile into your posts, you are no better than Alan Jones.'

Oh SM, but that's bile and invective to people who deserve it. The bad guys. It doesn't count when you're in the right (left)!

It's that wonderful potpourri of hypocrisy, prejudice, spite and pretension that makes the world go around.

But the Muslims and the Jones Haters are both guilty of feigning indignant outrage on behalf of someone else, and both round up a mob to seek revenge for this slight.

It's endlessly amusing.

Think of all the agonizing over that Charlotte Dawson, even after her commercial use of suicide 'revelations' the next day on 60 minutes, her hypocritical rallying to get abusive people off twitter when her main Shtick was humiliating young wannabe models. That's the kind of comedy gold I love.

The thing I ponder is whether the ultra right conservative Jones followers

a) Know he is in the closet
b) Choose to pretend
c) Aren't really so against homosexuality if it's someone they like

I think people's bigotry is generally subjectively applied. It's the ultimate 'some of my best friends are black'. People REJECT their prejudices when it suits them, because they like the character of people the meet in person. Or maybe it's just in favor of a different prejudice.

It's just so much fun choosing a side and spitting venom at the 'other', but in the cold light of day people aren't really taking it all so seriously. They're not invested like you are in circumcision.

There's something about this life force, this whipping up of a lynch mob, Trev's public burnings (I reckon Bunnings could sponsor that) that people feel they need. Like European soccer fans using soccer as a substitute for war. But I really don't think the monkey wind is representative of any real conviction. It's about as much conviction as when you're down the pub and you say you really should go after this one, but then you sit there and partake in about 3 more rounds.

Houellie,

"...(I reckon Bunnings could sponsor that)..."

Or perhaps a weekend workshop on the fine art of tarring and feathering?....burning torches (and how to keep them alight while galloping self-righteously through the streets. Maintaining a tight grip on pitchforks, while wielding a mobile phone (and texting simultaneously).

The possibilities are endless : )

But people wouldn't do any of this unless it made them feel good…

As long as it is someone else in the stocks and you're with the rest of the 'townsfolk' throwing the rotten fruit at them – or today's equivalent of hurling 140 character tweets – you feel better on a couple of levels.

One, it isn't you in stocks. Two, you've been actively involved showing them who's really in charge – us!