On the topic of Senator Joseph McCarthy - his actions
were described by man as a "witchhunt," and it occurred
in the United States during the 1950s, when the late
Senator made indiscriminate charges that "Reds" were
infesting various areas of American life, including the
State Department. Congress set up a committee on
un-American activities, which tried to track down alleged
communist sympathizers.

These were the early days of the "cold war" with the Soviet
Union, and the search for political deviants closer to home
provided a focus for national solidarity against communism.

Although he recklessly smeared the reputations of hundreds
of people, McCarthy could never substantiate his claims.
When he finally began to attack the US Army, public revulsion
led to his colleagues in the Senate to formally censure him,
and his search for un-American deviants came to an end.

Hate is a pretty strong emotion, taking a great deal of effort, diverting effort from much more worth while objectives.

I can't be bothered wasting that much energy on anyone here, or anywhere else for that matter. Yes there are a few I despise, either for their ideals or their attitude, but that takes little effort, & is not all consuming as is hate.

Hate is a thing belonging to the left. You only have to think back to the hugely amusing Labor conferences of yore, when the factions would be hurling their hate of each other at each other across a hall. That disgust is a short term emotion, quickly displaced by something pleasant, not the continuing emotion gnawing at your very sole as is hate.

You can see it again in the US with the lefts irrational hate of Trump, & their consuming hatred of him. I am sure the right thought equally as low of Obama, but you never saw them behaving like rabid dogs because of it.

We have been given the perfect target for hate, by both Gillard & Turnbull, but neither are worth the effort. On the other hand, both are perfect examples of how ineffectual someone consumed by hate can be. An emotion to be very much avoided, it is obviously bad for you.

Foxy very true well said, let us consider just what this self serving man used to get, for a time, the spotlight on him, it was dislike/hate of communism, but as history tells us his figures of offenders was made up, one given number 57, was taken from sauce bottle! it seems we all use these two things at times,remember this was posted in humor and is while true a parody of our sometimes comments on this site, but as I trawled every news site in the last hour, while trying to keep up with the Aussie at the tennis, Trumps outburst at his news conference,along with the leakers views about him, made me think like that king without cloths his supporters are refusing to be the first to tell him he is a mug

Dear Belly,

You know I'm beginning to look a little more critically
at some articles and the reporting that goes with them.
News coverage often represents the voices only of both
extremes of the spectrum or voices of those who are the
most powerful. It's quite difficult these days to find
"objective journalism". Stories are supposed to be
balanced and fair. Fairness used to mean that
a journalist tried
for accuracy and truth in reporting and did not slant a
story . A reader could draw their own conclusions and not
the reporter's desired conclusion.

But in today's media that's becoming harder to find.

Foxy,

"But in today's media that's becoming harder to find."

In my view its virtually impossible to find. Maybe a little easier here than the US but only marginally so.

My solution is to find opposing views and then draw a conclusion from that. eg read NYT and Washington Times. Or watch CNN (!!) and Fox.

Read widely and use your own lifetime experience, which is going to be much better than the average journalist's, to draw conclusions. As Ben Rhodes said after hoodwinking the press on Obama's Iran deal "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. That’s a sea change. They literally know nothing.”

mhaze,

Thanks for that.