One of the most telling revelations Tony Abbott has ever made about himself occurred in his chat with Annabel Crabb on ABCTV’s Kitchen Cabinet last week.
Describing the circumstances that led to his abandonment of theological studies and his goal to enter the Catholic priesthood, Abbott explained that while struggling with a 500 word essay on the desert fathers, he had a conversation with a mate who was about to leave for London to enable the satisfactory conclusion of a billion dollar business deal. Upon hearing his friend describe his venal life, Abbott experienced a Damascene moment. Christopher Pyne will tell you how to correctly pronounce that word.
What the hell, Abbott wondered, am I doing sitting in a seminary writing about the desert fathers, when I could be carving out a future for myself in the world of power, money, and fame?
Well, that’s not a verbatim report of what he says he thought, but it would be, if he’d been truthful. He couched his moment of enlightenment in terms of doing good, however, in the context of the billion dollar business deal, one is given cause to ponder that ambition.
In short, Abbott found God sadly wanting in comparison with what the world could offer, and without much ado, quit his service.
Some may say it was at this point that Abbott embarked on what was to become a lifelong commitment to selling his arse. In my book, arse-selling has been his highest and most consistent achievement, and before too much longer he’s going to need a colostomy bag to contain his excrement when his arse, abused beyond endurance, finally falls out.
So why can’t I call Abbott a cunt, as do so many others?
I’ve long been ambivalent about the co-option of this female body part to perform as the worst expletive Western culture can manage. I acknowledge the admirably explosive possibilities of the cunt word. Its unique ability to convey a profound, rage-filled and terminal contempt is undeniable.
And yet, and yet and yet…
The cunt houses the only human body part whose sole purpose is to provide its owner with pleasure. How this can possibly bear any relation to Tony Abbott I’m damned if I know.
The cunt, pink, plump, shiny with the juices of desire, is a thing of exquisite beauty, hidden from view, shown only to the chosen one, repository of what is most astonishing in human sexuality. When I think of the cunt, the last association I make with it is, yes, you’ve guessed right, Tony Abbott.
The cunt, with its miraculous ability to open beyond imagining when fulfilling the task of delivering new life into the world, does not in the least remind me of Tony Abbott, whose desiccated countenance and impoverished speech patterns symbolise a shrivelling of human spirit I cannot associate with any life-giving qualities at all.
Or am I being too harsh?
In truth, I love my cunt and everything she can do. I have never been entirely comfortable using her name as a means of conveying contempt, though I fully understand why that is done, and I’m not getting up a petition to have it stopped.
This leaves me with the problem of how best to describe Tony Abbott. I like to think of him as a rat-fucking piece of human excrement who sucks dead dogs’ balls. Â I know that is far clumsier than cunt, and takes more breath.
But please, do consider my argument for the beauty of the cunt, and think twice before likening our next Prime Minister to her.
No Place For Sheep 
So, what about those poor sods that don’t have cunt. Any advice or should I just sulk a bit?
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Oh Gerard, I will write a piece on the beauty of the cock. How’s that?
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I have perked up at that; any day is a good day for an erection. 🙂
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There you being all pro-development again 🙂
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I’m willing to share. 🙂
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Rise up, gerard. Rise to the occasion 🙂
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yes.
I worry about the unintentional (?) homophobia by implying the a man’s arse can’t give him pleasure. I would consider asking some gay men who “bottom” about their experiences before making such a statement.
Destroys the integrity of your article.
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“Sophie Wasabella”.
I like that. That has “cruise”, economic, cuts to the chase. Guava, pure guava.
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Yes, I understand this.
My arse has given me much joy over time, simply for being there when I wanted to sit down. You are lucky Hypocritiphobe doesn’t post any more. You would be called a felcher and rimmer and then discover what true homophobia is.
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Go and find a nice woman and start eating.
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I’ve become quite partial to the phrase “Maggot-fucking coprolite.” I shall derive no small pleasure using it as frequently as possible during the next governmental cycle.
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Oh, yes, that’s good. I like that.
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I like smirking-Coprophage to apply to the likes of Tonee-the-Abbot
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When I see Kevin, Julia and Malcolm, I see real people, vulnerable, at times awkward ( Mal and Kev), even shy (Julia), they can touch you and it feels right, you feel for them, you care because they are real…
With Abbott, I take a step back, there’s something cold, lizard-like about him, not a person, whose hand I would want to shake, his gait is awkward, he opens his mouth, but the words have trouble coming out, babies and women are not drawn to him…
There is a hollowness to him, I don’t hate him, I don’t like him, he wakens no passions in me, not for the good , not for the bad, he does not really exist for me…
There is no goodness of the heart, no wit, now humour, there’s eagerness to win for the sake of it, there’s the smirk, and …..oh well, not a person I’d pick to be the country’s PM.
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I agree the Abbot is not likable on the way he presents, but he is much easier to dislike intensely based on the records of both i/ his pronouncements & gaffes, and ii/ his past behaviours.
His sectarian Catholicism has facilitated a Catholic cabal within the Coalition, and that is a concern.
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Brilliant description of him Helvi. I agree.
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Did you listen to Background Briefing to hear how your fucking heroine Gillard went about letting the authorities murder hundreds of refugees then used the deaths as an excuse to traffic and trade them to the neighbours.
If I hear one more word about her being a nice warm person I will fucking scream blue murder.
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A person of genuine personal warmth who charmed just about everyone who ever met her, except for Marilyn it seems. 🙂
Start screaming, but please do it in a soundproof room.
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I know thousands of people who met her and feel the same as me. She is cold, charmless, ruthless and vicious. It is going to take 20 years to unscramble the human rights catastrophe she created.
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She created? She created? Hyperbole, Marilyn.
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No it is not fucking hyperbole, she has left thousands of innocent men, women, children and babies in a living hell for no reason at all.
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I know people who have met her and both like and dislike her for varying reasons.
She actually blocked the endorsement of a friend of mine for Labor, even though she was sleeping with him!
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Give credit where its due, Howard & Reith created. Sadly every Labor leader from Beazley on has chosen to continue in their footsteps in that desperate soul selling quest for votes instead of doing the right thing.
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I hope you are screaming now over the fucking Libs.attitude to refugees,and yes Lab.fucked up in a big way also,no excuses.
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You need. Ur fuckin head read woman just like Abbott and Newman
The
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Also revealing in that kitchen cabinet program was his comment that politics is aboutr theatre, not about improving society, not about the fair go for all, not about the contest of ideas. No, theatre.
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Wonderful wonderful stuff.
I hope you have a great day.
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Thank you! You too.
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I am laughing so hard at, ‘I like to think of him as a rat-fucking piece of human excrement who sucks dead dogs’ balls.’ You go where I fear to tread. Thank you!
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Thank you. 🙂
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Good, but then I don’t think it’s even necessary to appeal to the objective virtues of the vulva in this case. For me, Abbott has never had the substance to be deserving of the title “cunt”.
So what is he then? Here I am reminded of a joke that the girls at school used to tell each other: “what do you call that shrivelled, useless piece of skin at the end of a man’s penis?”
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Call him and his ilk Ankles;someone who is three feet lower than a c”t.
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While I take your point the English language is also a wonderful flexible instrument. I might agree that in a certain light your lady bits have an exquisite beauty, and indeed are fully deserving of an honoured place in our admiration. Yet there’s every chance if I told Tony Abbott to go and get fucked, or just said fuck him then somewhere along the line either the expletives divorce themselves from the need to make a mental picture, or that maybe some female genitalia are involved.
Maybe I’m stretching the imagination, and maybe we’re all just frustrated with politics on what we may suspect to be the most dreadfully portentous election day in a while. Maybe what some of us would like to be stretching is not so much the marginal seat count as the margins of Tony’s capacious arse in a fashion matched only by the birth canal for the giant lie that has been his entire manifesto. Yet there again the birth canal is evoked once more and all we wind up knowing is that we’d liken Abbott to any orifice we may take pleasure in penetrating as painfully as possible…..
Does it really say much about us though, when the downside is he might take on all the character of an entirely opposite gendered appendage in revisiting a 1980’s slogan, “It takes a big prick to fuck a country!”
I did get a laugh out of this guy’s approach though… http://www.dontbeafuckingidiot.com
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Its a real groove-where-the-strands-in-a-rope-meet to the would-be sanctimonious controllers of our public morality when Dr Jennifer Wilson performs a public C-bomb defusing like this. I think it is why they hate her.
I’ve never been really comfortable using the word, either as abuse, or in any other context perhaps because of those very abusive connotations. Jennifer has articulated well why that might have been. Among those who seemingly carelessly seek to expand its usage, I wonder could there have originally resided an element of misogyny?
Whilst I sense that Jennifer instinctively doesn’t like Mr Abbott very much, I’m glad she hasn’t called him one. To have done so would be to have kicked an own goal against misogyny. Good to see her continued flexing of her literary muscle in such invective-laden times.
Interesting, too, etymologically speaking, that the manner in which the strands in a rope are brought together is described as the ‘lay’ of the rope. Nautical, but nice.
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I’m proposing the word “shunt” as an appropriate compromise – I am sure you can all work out various clever ways in which this word has been arrived at.
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Hmmm. I am still considering Rudd the rat-fucker. I promised nine weeks ago I would say no word against Rudd redux. Well, all bets are off after he has failed to Stop the Abbott.
I don’t recall if I’ve ever called Abbott a cunt, because I am rather fond of the organs in question, and they are useful.
Misogynist, sexist narcissist psychopath, yes; cunt, I don’t think so.
I think a new swear word has to be coined. My suggestion for the most powerful evil and dastardly word in the English language? “He is an Abbott!”
It is short sharp and to the point, a deadly insult : “He is an Abbott!”
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Yes, he’s nothing but a fucking Abbott (can be used of females as well).
Sorry mum for using a rude word…
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Please don’t use his surname like this. A very good friend of mine has the same surname!
I would rather call him a neanderthal!
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The suggestion below is that the worst word in the language is “tabbott” – is that better for you?
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I already use that one!
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Well I’m just pissed off because I can’t see how the Liberals will even struggle in the Senate…. There’s taking a bit of a risk, then there’s just plain stupid, and that seems to be where the electorate were at!
I’m sure our little cadre of naysayers and disappeared Ruddites from days of yore will be wallowing in the sheer unmitigated joy of being able to whinge and whine to their little hearts’ content at how utterly awful the Libs are for the next however many years. They’ll dream misty eyed reveries of how a real progressive party ought to be, and plot…… Well they plot Sweet Fanny Adams really, like they did this time when they and their ilk failed miserably to stem the tide of Murdoch sponsored inevitability.
Ya fair dinkum wouldn’t piss in some peoples ears if their brains were on fire!
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What’s going to be funny is when the morons in Boganstan realise there will still be congestion of the roads in Sydney.
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Thanks Marilyn, who’d have thunk you’d ever be the one to bring a smile 🙂
P.S. If JW thinks very little of Abbott then my opinion of Scott Morrison is even lower.
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Marilyn, we can now join you on the high ground. And HG is even higher, on that wall next to Humpty Dumpty 🙂
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High enough to hunt ducks with a rake compared with the putative inner ministry 🙂
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And Doug, have you ever met Gillard or are you relying on the anecdotes of psychos.
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The anecdotes of psychos, of course. No sane person could possibly support the woman who was Prime Minister from 2010 until 2013.
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Absolutely right, no sane person could support anyone who has gloried in being CRUEL, INHUMAN, DEGRADING AND LAWLESS.
I wouldn’t piss on the ALP or LNP members if they were on fire.
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I know that’s not an uncommon saying, and I’ve used a version of it myself, but when extended to such a large group of people perhaps it begs the question as to which few lucky politicians would be so fortunate as to be worthy of a shower of well aimed piss under any circumstances?
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By elimination, so to speak, the ones who would be joyfully micturated upon must be The Greens, Nick Xenophon, Bob Katter, Andrew Wilkie, Clive Palmer (double effort required) and Cathy McGowan.
The Greens, at least, should appreciate the natural and organic origin of the yellow inundation.
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Surely you’re talkin the….
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I don’t believe you, Marilyn. I think you would actually enjoy pissing on each and every one of them. 🙂
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excellent points, however if he isn’t a cunt then he must surely be something? Shall we just call him the most vile thing of all? A Tony Abbott.
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He is an absolute tabbott! The question is, is a scottmorrison an even lower form of life?
Provisionally, the worst insult in the English language : “he is a tabbott!”
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And I love to say Greg Hunt’s name quickly as well!
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You think he is a thorough Greg Hunt, do you Gandalf?
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No, that’s the hole issue : cunts are useful.
there is no known use for a tabbott. It is too crooked to use as a draft excluder, it won’t stay still long enough for a paperweight, whenever it opens its mouth the image is of a rear end of a camel . . .
(sighs)
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Hi doug quixote, you are right to see it holistically.
The image of the rear end of the camel is bad enough, but the wheezy fart of a voice is the killer.
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I’d like to think we could use this quote from Stephen Fry in A bit of Fry and Laurie….
“I hate you, I despise you, I loathe you. Everything about you DISGUSTS me. Your ears, eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, legs, knees, stomach, ribs and bottom make me want to vomit up. You’re repulsive, loathsome, grotesque and insupportable. I want to kill you, I want to twist your nipples off and throw them to the dogs. You scum. You low, corrosive lump of fecal horror,you maniac bastardly turd. I would rather drink stale urine from Norman Fowler’s arse-pit than remain one moment more in your defiling company. You’re filth, you’re cack, you’re the ooze of a burst boil; I abominate you, you towering mound of corrupted slime. Your every utterance is like the slithering hiss of a fat maggot in the putrid guts of a decomposing rat; your face is fouler than the unwiped inner ring of Satan’s rectum.”
But I think we’d have to abbreviate it for convenience sake…..
but ooh look here’s the clip!
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I like the word “twunt”
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I thought our side of politics was about justice, compassion, intelligent factual discussions rather than rhetoric and insults; positive actions instead of endless criticism; acting like adults not petulant children – being calm and rational rather than dummy spitting when things don’t go our way. Shouldn’t the way we demonstrate all this is be by not descending into the quagmire of the last six years, where those on the “other” side are dehumanised and blind hatred against them encouraged? Can’t we show the Alan Jones/Rupert Murdoch/Tony Abotts of the world and their followers that there’s a better way – and start by leading by example?
If I may quote from this page: http://www.unesco.org/cpp/uk/projects/newpage.htm “We have created chasms between people of different skin colours, different ideological persuasions, different religious convictions and different languages. We have adopted ways of producing things and doing business which glorify not the productive aspects of our work but the competitive ones. Competition is useful, competition is even playful, but when raised to the level of seeking the humiliation or the suffering of others, competition is not a proper way in which to pursue the development of a humane world. Perhaps the worst aspect of the culture or war, which even exists in times of peace, is our constant definition of ‘us’ against ‘them’, our constant notion that there is a barrier between who we think we are, the people with whom we interact normally and outsiders. Thus we divide the world between hostile groupings in which we tend to identify the outsider (or difference) as something which must be rejected, looked down upon or viewed as a potential threat to our own behaviour.”
We’re smart, caring people who have the ability to use words to educate and inspire. We don’t have to resort to insults and slogans. We understand that our parliament is not meant to be a forum for mudslinging. We realise that selfish and narrow approaches are not the answer. We understand that if you only have “compassion” for those in your immediate circle, and can’t see your “enemies” as anything but that, then you’re missing the point of being compassionate in the first place.
So how about we don’t call anyone cunts or pricks or bogans or rat-fucking pieces of human excrement or talk about “wanting to penetrate their orifices as painfully as possible” etc. Not because sweary words scare us, but because we should understand that talking like that about ANOTHER HUMAN BEING is inconsistent with the true foundation of left-wing politics. Solidarity.
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What you say may be true,and I’ve probably take your point in about a week. In the meantime for fucksake pick your moment better please.
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You picked a fine time to say that, Justine.
Saw a quote attributed to MLK Snr the other day:
“If you are not getting your point across in a debate, don’t raise the volume, improve the quality of your argument.”
Or words to that effect. Not verbatim.
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Occupying the high ground is all very well, and being all sweetness and light is very satisfying for one’s ego and superego. As HG says, in another week or so we may even agree with you, Justine. But in the meantime, he is a tabbott!
A fucking tabbott.
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In other words, don’t call Abbott a cunt.
Cunts are useful.
And yes, first and foremost, they should be useful to their owners, not mindless misappropriators..
Finally
Jennifer, we knew you wouldn’t stoop to calling Abbott a “mouses ear”, You are more refined than that.and we know that not all women want an Abbott between their legs or even a couple of Bishops.
..
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Bloody rotten luck for Janelle Saffin BTW. It would have slipped my mind to notice excepting Mungo Macallum’s mention in a video posted over at Bob’s place. I think she may have been mentioned here formerly in dispatches approvingly by JW.
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Mungo’s comments were classic, like Ellis he’s a gem.
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Liked his article on the ABC Drum as well. Though I think the subeditor probably got “…. What happens next?” wrong it should have been “….What hope to we have left?” for mine.
Also heard Chris Uhlmann’s been moved on from 7:30… At least that’ll make some people happy I guess.
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Janelle was very good but never theless she voted with the spivs. and chancers to traffic human beings.
And the ALP learn nothing, they want to dump a sitting woman senator in SA to take back the rubbish Don Farrell and Carr wants to resign for the ghastly Howes.
These fucking morons never learn a thing.
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What, you think I’m not ANGRY? You think it doesn’t take a massive EFFORT to overcome and control that? And you think we’re all going to be LESS angry in a week, or a month, or a year, as we watch the destruction unfold? But you can be angry and still civil, and if we’re going to achieve anything, any change, I think we absolutely have to be. Otherwise we should just chuck in the towel and JW should rename the blog “place for sheep” and we can all come here to bitch for the next 3,6,9,12 years. No thanks.
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Well said Justine.
The hysteria that some leftist commentators are showing is disturbing – seems in times of trouble lofty ideals are replaced with shrill bleating.
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Hang on, let’s be clear. It’s not like I support Abbott and co. I might not agree with abusing ’em but I’m certainly never voting for them…or forgetting how I feel about the way they are capable of speaking about – and treating – both ordinary people and anyone in politics who opposes them. Plenty of shrill bleating has gone on there too, as I recall. And I can back that up with facts if necessary. My point is that the left’s “lofty” ideals do exist, are worthwhile, and should be matched by our words. The fact that they sometimes don’t doesn’t make the values any less real or valuable – in the sense of deeper value, not monetary…I’ll admit that at this point the higher ideals of the right are a mystery to me. “Australia is under new management and open for business” indeed. Also, the fact that you “agree” with me here is somewhat negated by your next comment, which proves my point a bit, I reckon.
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Of course you are right about bleating being on both sides however Krudd’s heart rending appeal to a greater standard and then running full tilt to get at the bastard files stood out from the pack!
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Justine,
In line with what I’ve said to others recently, with the passing of each day it gets slightly more possible to swallow your reasoning. Some of us are far from ready yet. Even the Labor party itself isn’t nearly done the bloodletting that seems necessary to make way for some fresh ideas and new faces.
It’s not that your’s is entirely poor reasoning but please realise also that some the debate going back and forth over recent times often pitches the other way with ideologues willing to vote against their natural allies rather than accept much needed compromise.
Furthermore as Abbott comes in it needs to be understood that many of us voted in ways we hoped would provide cause for political negotiation to stay the wrecking ball. Labor members and Greens, especially those in the Senate until next July and those continuing thereafter have a duty to those of us who voted against some of the changes Abbott wants to make. I consider it their job to continue to question climate change denial for example and a complete dereliction of duty were they to fail to keep faith on that issue.
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Jesus shithead, I have been worried sick about you. Pick up the bloody phone.
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Who me? I ‘ve actually worrried about you, too.
I had a favourite girl years ago, who used to call me that.
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Jesus shithead??
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You can Darren Roughhead. why not Jesus Shithead?
She meant Jesus, its just that the other came out instead
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Yes. Paul, take your bloody phone off the hook so I can talk to you. A dear friend died two weeks ago at the age of 61 of a massive heart attack.
Here is a stat for South Australians to ponder – the ALP and LIberal party between them only got 49.6% of the primary vote in SA and Nick Xenophon outvoted the ALP and almost the Liberal party. Also in spite of dirty tricks by the majors and Nick my friend Sarah Hanson Young was re-elected.
Across the country the combined senate vote for the major parties was 67% with WA being one of the lowest with 66%.
And in the house of reps. 32% voted neither of the above.
Democracy is alive and well with dissent it would seem.
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No, Paul.They are warnings about what happens when you have cunts running things.
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Give me a fresh cunt with aptitude and ability rather than the krudd infested, mangy looking twats we just got rid off.
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Easy to say the day after, but while there was hope it would have been remiss to wish somebody whose policies you disagree with on those whose security they threaten. In that sense I think I’d rather hear from an honest Abbott supporter than an embittered Gillard devotee who is so naive as to think her political legacy will survive intact longer under Abbott than it would’ve done under Rudd. Like her or loathe her she brokered the deal for action on climate change, you know, the one Abbott has sworn to trash!
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So you think he’s a smart cunt?
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U from qld u doppy cunt u have to be t support the fuckin clowns from the circus cnewman tabbott
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Disgusting. So many words on this blog about how unfair Gillard was treated – and now this? Well, GO TONY – if he causes all this raging butthurt from Gillard backers, I really start liking the guy.
Obviously, this blog goes off my feed. Gee, and I thought that Tankard lady was bad…
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Speaking of fucking tabbotts . . .
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My turn to remind you not to feed ’em?
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There are so few here these days, we need to use every available tabbott as a very valuable resource.
If we had a useful number of real people, we wouldn’t need the tabbotts of this world.
Gee, its nice to use the very worst insult in the English language so freely! 🙂
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I dunno about worst! What about tabbotsuckers for Pyne & Morrison?
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I doubt Morrison ever sucked a tabbott, HG. They are an acquired taste. Pyne might indeed be a tabbotsucker, along with Julie Bishop, and of course Sophie Wasabella.
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All at once?
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Interesting thought! Though a tabbott is a largish creature, it is of the serial rather than the mass persuasion when it comes to malefaction.
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Well if malefaction is involved maybe we can interest Craig Thompson……
Too soon?
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AGREE
THE HYPOCRISY IS ASTOUNDING!
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Your Abbott cunt is already on the nose, Paul. You know what their policies as well as do, despite all the attempts by them to hide the agenda. Many people will now suffer for fuck all, because of lame brains who wouldn’t take a moment out of their precious self absorption to find out what the election was really about.
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He was always gonna be on the nose to those sniffing at those who dare to upset the born to rule ALP’ers. Many showing their true selves as they bitterly recriminate and attempt to eat their own.
Cue Bob Ellis dragged kicking and screaming into the sunset with a faint “the polls are wrong” war burp cry!
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So what Abbott isn’t going to show his “true self” because he’s in government now? I hope you’re right…..
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Nice word play HG, there will be a lot more of that from the priva-lefties in the future. Cue DQ. The ordinary voter saw the ALP had become a master of the press conference, the cabinet spill meeting and not much more.
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Wordplay it may be, but it’s also observable that this is what a leader is often required to do. How many on the other side might have preferred it for example had Rudd not on occasion shown his true self with the odd petulant outburst. Latham could be similarly chastised, whereas Hawke was more liked for his character flaws than derided.
Your Tabbott on the other hand isn’t much liked for his character, tends to run further to the right particularly on social issues than anyone I can think of (excluding Pell, but not strangely enough the new Pope), and will have lied his slimy arse off to gain power if it is shown that half of what we fear on industrial relations and financial policy come to pass.
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I think you are as biased in your descriptions of ALP leaders as your reflections on Abbott’s character are symptomatic of the baltant hypocrisy shown by those bastions of tolerance the twitterati.
I will agree with your admiration of Hawke but never that turd Latham. Mentioning that prat in the same paragraph – seems to be a case of excuse any Labor figures flaws but only Labor!
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If you’re reading chastisement of Latham or criticism of Rudd’s petulance as pro Labor bias then I think you’d better check a dictionary something. I’m not writing for The Australian here so I don’t have to avoid big words so coalition voters (Rupert’s readership) won’t write in to complain.
As for Twitter I’m not such an aficionado of the medium as to have any real idea what sort of opinion it reflects outside of the feed they run in Q&A.
When it comes to tolerance though, there is the central question of whether Abbott will come to conceive of his role, much as I think Fraser may have, being one of governance for all the people.
It worries those of us who don’t share his convictions that people of faith so rarely comprehend the limits of tolerance being inclined as they are to exceptionalism that in extreme cases tends toward bigotry. Abbott may not personally hold those extreme views, but Scott Morrison might, and Cory Bernardi clearly does, as does sizeable chunk of the right’s constituency. Both parties sold out to Hansonite populism the Liberals just went furthest.
So the litmus test as I see it is these dickheads who thing the election was some kind of referendum on one or another of Abbott’s policies, but mostly scrapping the Carbon Tax. It wasn’t. It was the sacking of Labor because they were internally divided.
One the issue of the Climate Change Green and Labor voters have in my view a right to expect them to represent the need to move towards some form of ETS that acts as a catalyst for reducing emissions as part of a global initiative, but more importantly for driving technology change as our domestic priority in the certain knowledge that being left behind risks the most severe medium to longer term consequences for any developed nation that wants to maintain that status.
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I certainly do not need a dictionary to understand your underwhelming “chastisement” of Latham – i just took issue with its reference as an odd occurence and petulant when in fact it was more aptly described as frequent and outright thuggish.
Thanks for the observation re my obvious inability to comprehend your writings. Snide insult’s just perpetuates disinterest in your view – and frequently this seems to be the favored refuge of the most vociferous. “Engage me, engage me” they scream – and then promptly propel themselves into the gutter should any non-preordained view be uttered.
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Sorry you identified as a Murdoch reader then!
I’m like, read the fucking sentence dude! If you’re not a Murdoch reader then the implied barb probably doesn’t apply to you. And if you are then prove you’re one of the rare erudite ones.
BTW I don’t think your opinion of Latham’s that far off, it’s just that he never made it into government, for perhaps that very reason among others, so it’s a bygone debate as far as I’m concerned.
I must admit that I find it perplexing that when challenged a good many commenters will resort to critique of one’s interlocutory style, as if blogging was meant to be the highest form of prose, but totally fail to have anything to say about the actual issues. Even that is when they’re offered detailed discussion and analysis…..
What am I to conclude based on that?
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Your addressing the wrong person HG – again. I gave an opinion on several leaders, some points found favor with some, some not. But being told to fuck off, called a troll, etc. by the usual suspects is not a worthy response and is treated as same.
A simple read of the posts above invalidates your observation. I am engaged in discussion with you and Doug simply pops in and tells me to fuck off. How about you address your own discussion methods before tearing down others?
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As I’ve said below in a couple of places the article uses Abbott as it’s primary example but really talks more about how the word “cunt” is used in a pejorative sense. So discussion that could be had about why it seems sexist to use feminine genetalia as an insult could easily be as valid had it relied on a different example. It just doesn’t because most of the readership here are sympathetic to Jennifer’s disappointment.
So if putting the issues about language and sexism aside you just want to defend Abbott then by all means just say so. Then at least we can agree to disagree, or have a robust debate. It’s when people chip away at others without really declaring where they stand on issues that it tends to be annoying, and later ingracious, if when asked they fuck about criticising your writing style instead of just coming clean and saying they don’t like your politics.
As for Doug we frequently disagree but I know where he stands and most of the time I think he knows where I stand too. We can converse about issues because we’re generally open to being proven incorrect in our views, and that’s good for me because I don’t really always have firm positions on things so I like to hear others’ views.
Sadly however this is the internet, and trolls do exist. I think the adult way to deal with it if accused is not to become offended by the accusation if it doesn’t apply to you. My view is that if somebody has made an error then it makes sense to ask yourself why. Then, giving them the benefit of the doubt they may have failed to extend towards you, simply clarify your position.
That’s what with the benefit of the doubt I’ve been asking you for…. Clarification! And in all fairness I don’t think we’ve received it. What say you?
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What the green onion does need is a calendar. HG’s comment was two days ago.
He can prove he is not a troll by discussing the issues. If I took exception to every insult or every time I was told to fuck off, I would have self-immolated years ago. 🙂
Discuss the issues!
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Doug, I replied anyway because I think sometimes we get into trading blows childishly out of offence taken and reciprocated when in good faith a clear position could be taken that although contrary makes a vast improvement over a seemingly disingenuous one.
Or at least I think I’m right to say that one of the key characteristics of a troll is their lack of genuine interest in anyone else’s opinion.
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If you have been frequently told to fuck off Doug then perhaps you should listen rather than trying to tell others. I can certainly understand – two lines of yours and and the sentiment comes to mind.
Also HG’s comment was minutes ago you cretin – you well know that wordpress regularly puts things out of order. Stop being a petty, pedantic, fuckwit forum hero Doug Quixote!
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Well I did make a comment minutes ago, and it shouldn’t have elicited that tone of reply, how about settling this down the bottom if things are so confusingly out of order?
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Weirder still. my perfectly valid reply made and dated at 3.34pm ended up beneath HG’s 3.42pm reply!
Mr Green Onion still needs a calendar; he should make a note so he can come back in 2015, for preference. LOL
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Don’t mention preferences…. too political 🙂
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I thought hg’s analysis was good. The actual policies of an Abbott government were never properly released, costed and open to examination prior to an election because this would have diverted attention away from the goal of exploiting Labor’s inner anxieties.
Paul, do you think Murdoch and the rest really gave the ALP a fair hearing?
If not, why not?
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I would not attempt to offer the same opinion on a Murdoch paper as “the rest”. IMO the caliber of current journalists is appalling.
There are a large amount of publications that stridently proclaim to offer the left view yet this seems to be easily accepted whilst if a right wing publication offered the same it would be howled down. I wonder why this double standard with some? Is censoring an opposing opinion so important that they so easily abandon their democratic beliefs?
And lets be fair – if it was good enough for Rudd to play around with the release of his costings then surely one cannot cry foul when receiving the same treatment?
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I think there’s probably stages of disappointment that by around midweek change from sheer outrage to counting the ways that our nemesis is likely to fail. When you think about that one given what he’s promised in a couple of areas then you can almost feel sorry for the mad monk!
None of this is particularly balance or rational, emotion plays a bigger part, but the second phase may endure, because the case for arguing overpromising and under-delivery is seldom one that fails to vex political populists as the Liberals have variously fashioned themselves.
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HG, you must be joking, discussing anything with a troll who says the ALP are the born to rule!
A tabbott if ever I saw one.
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I’m not at odds with Paul Walter?
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And I am not a labor troll who thinks he is the born to rule. My humility is legendary.
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Not Paul Walter, but Paul the green onion : “He [Abbott] was always gonna be on the nose to those sniffing at those who dare to upset the born to rule ALP’ers”
Is that not the line of a troll – even that of a tabbott!
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Back to cunt, as much as I love the word and I even defended its negative use for a long time using the rationale that if is the last taboo then it must be a source of great power (a weak defense, I know, as they usually are when you just want to do something – like call someone a cunt) I have had to capitulate under the crushing reality that it is misogynistic. Though calling someone a tabbot is a mite cruel.
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“My humility is legendary” is right up there with “war is peace” and “fucking for virginity”. Good one PW.
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DQ,
I’ll tell you another fascinating thing about me.
Not only am I the epitome of modesty, but the very paragon of honesty, compassion. and open mindedness as well as, being constitutionally incapable of lying..
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Fark you get worked up Doug. When not satisfied with eating your own you turn your attention to anyone else not conforming to Doug’s world.
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Worked up? Worked up! I am relaxed and comfortable, I’ll have you know.
Just because you are a troll and probably a tabbott, and ought to fuck off, doesn’t mean I’m worked up. 🙂
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Aw Doug you think I ought to fuck off? Seems someone is so relaxed and comfortable on the blog that they act like a little Napoleon. The direction loses any worth though when coming from you.
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Paul,
The essence of posting comments is discussion. If people simply want to shit stir then of course people are going to wish them shown the door. You’ve been offered plentiful enough analysis and opinion yet you choose to engage on matters of style over substance, what did you expect?
Why don’t you just give us your best 500 words on who you think ought to be leading the country and why then we’ll critique your opinions for a change. Because criticism is fucking easy. I can do it walking backwards in a prone position with one hand tied behind my back. Being constructive that takes effort, and effort might be deserving of appreciation, defending the indefensible on the other hand is not something we rate too highly.
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Another fucking tabbott!
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Witty or just shitty? Election mad?
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A nation renamed fucking Boganstan.
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Tragic and true. Did you see the half wit from WA last night on two last night, chucking kanga shit at his mates?
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was a member of the shooters party, not the liberals
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same thing.
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hg, we also must remember how truth is such a relative thing for an individual who talks big on morality, absolutes and standards. He said himself on the ABC, he always tells the truth, but some times more (or less) than other times.
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“He said himself on the ABC, he always tells the truth” is of course a Big Lie in itself.
Can’t lie straight in bed.
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I am a little confused as to how you as a woman can saw such things about Abbott, which are essentially sexist and demeaning whilst previously complaining of similar behaviour by male journalist toward Gillard. Seems hypocritical to me really. Can you explain that? Politely?
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Since when does Abbott wear a dress?
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You mean you don’t know? Strange things happen around the full moon.
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Sorry Doug. It was such a stupid comment I was responding to.
I couldn’t think of a better response on the spot.
Am getting too old for preppie-think.
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what’s that got to do with anything? Can’t you answer in an adult and intelligent manner, rather than sarcasm or abuse?
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I thought that trolls were not allowed here; they seem to be everywhere, I’ll close the door quietly on leaving….
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Seriously dude you don’t come to an article the title of which features the word “cunt” for politeness… I’ll try instead to be respectful of the question if not necessarily being able to avoid distrusting your motives in asking.
Sexism refers to a particular kind of bigotry used to discriminate against a person based upon their gender. Cunt can be a reference to female genitalia, but it is also a pejorative term that in the Australian vernacular isn’t particularly gendered.
Jennifer is making the point that in judging Abbott on his merits she thinks he deserves to be spoken of in a pejorative tone. That is to say that it can’t be stressed strongly enough that the emphasis is on her low opinion of him for the reasons she outlined. And regardless of whether you or I share her opinions or concur with her value judgements they remain judgements rather than the mere prejudices you might find in a truly bigoted approach.
Nor does Jennifer identify Abbott’s gender as part of the problem that she has with him. She refers only to the observation that of all the pejoratives we could use one that infers negativity towards female genitalia would not be appropriate for reasons that she also explains have to do with their overwhelmingly positive nature. There is also the desire to avoid sexism against women inherent in using that word in a pejorative context.
If I might be so blunt, I might say that I wouldn’t piss in Abbott’s ear if his brains were on fire, arguing as I do so that this is a valid expression of a low opinion towards a prominent figure who has recently been a some what divisive presence in Australian public life, and will no doubt continue to be for some time.
All Jennifer is effectively doing is saying “I wouldn’t even call him a cunt because it would demean cunts.”
They’re both crude and angry ejaculations of frustration under the circumstances, but issues with indelicate language aside, they’re opinions, perhaps insults, but neither sexist nor bigoted in the least.
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oops I didn’t really want my photo on here. How do I fix that?
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You can delete or replace the photo in your Gravitar or WordPress account, but it’s too late now we’ve all seen you and minions are on the way 😉
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Well since the secret’s out, and I can’t take it back and the minions are after me, I will just go about in disguise and no one will know that the gravatar is me. An easy solution. Thank you.
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Don’t make the disguise a Tony Abbott mask. It may prove unfortunate 🙂
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Especially in speedos.
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Thanks for that mental image….
I’m sure Abbott will never live it down. Even if he won a Nobel Prize he’d be cartooned accepting it in that Speedo 🙂
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Why?
It looks an honest enough Aussie face to me.
Debra, your last relevant post re the C word- yes, context is all.
I get the point; put crudely the subject of push button words is an interesting subject for cultural investigation, but I understand the upset at the c word’s use as a bludgeoning instrument.
Personally, I have an idea that it rhymes with grunt..earthy gut urrghh…expresses a hunched preparedness for social conflict and it is true that men use the word aggressively amongst themselves during the establishment of hierarchies.
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I understand we have a prejudice against the harsh Germanic words in our language because the Latin ones are posher, but I prefer cunt to vagina for the actual body part. And farty to flatulent and fuck to fornicate. But I can’t get away from the women-hating part of using it as an insult (although I do because I’m a hypocrite who will sell her soul sometimes just to say cunt).
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Yes, I understand.
Its when its used as a depersonalising weapon as if you were an object for study or destabilisation, no more intrinsically valuable than an insect shuffling across the floor.or a piece of furniture
Its diseased, self defeating and self limiting and its concern is to drag the object of attention down to the losers level.
I think loudmouths are genuinely worth avoiding also.
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Maybe you also have the advantage of us blokes in the same way as do black American comedians who tend to use a certain word with an N, two G’s, an E, an I and an R (that isn’t Ginger) about themselves.
I also get the point that Jennifer alludes to that it might just be sexist to keep using cunt when prick would do just fine 😉
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Yes, its interesting what provokes the use of the word, It has a legitimate place in conversation between consenting people where all parties accept words as part of the lingua franca that is expected of the group.
And it has a role in drawing peoples attention when some thing more important needs to be highlighted. A parallel would be women bearing their breasts at a human rights protest, for example,
Then there are oafish and unthinking employ of rough terms and finally, people who maliciously employ words as part of hate speech,
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In the right company, I have probably mentioned before, it is a term of endearment. And there’s logic to that in that a close friend or colleague can accept what would otherwise be an insult in the knowledge than no slight on their character is intended, nor probably ever would be.
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Too right, you old cunt. 🙂
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Aww. I saw what you did there.
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I’d really love the speaker of the house to come out with “the honourable cunt for Warringah has the floor”, especially if its Bronwyn Bishop 🙂
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Okay, I just spat tea all over my computer screen. Don’t do that to me.
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Well my work should be done then 🙂
Think also why when Cathy McGowan in all likelihood wins her seat from Sophie Mirabella she’ll be called upon unironically to give a “maiden speech” despite being referred to as the new “member” for Indi.
Does anyone know how the joke would be funny for a female politician? Or is the language perhaps a little more shot through with patriarchal overtones we fail to notice to the point where rather than wanting to rewrite the vernacular we probably do better to take back and demystify some of these so called “bad words”?
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In political terms it is of course Mirabella who is losing her maiden head. Now she will not be anything special, just a fallen oik like the rest of us.
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An oik with a parliamentary pension though!
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Yes. Doesn’t it make you spit…
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Reblogged this on The Age of Blasphemy.
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Reblogged this on doctorrob54 and commented:
Very well written and oh so true.She took the words right out of my mouth.Must of been while I was eating her.
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Abbot……a lesion. Australian Way Of Life…yes… AWOL
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St.Louis Blues jerseys sale For Best Sale Paypal
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mmmm? pox encrusted son of a cock suckers arsehole!
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Well, a spot on observation, I dialed up the topic on Google and was led to your site, only because I professed the view to my girl friend today that Men have a misogynistic streak built in and that culture allows this venom to discharge at discrete periods of history ( usually when the male identity becomes ‘thin’ ) Your piece was spot on, I have always resented women when I lacked identity, and really there is no male spiritual domain, it seems to be now….. in ‘control’ then its fails you, there is no vision to machismo, its is like a hammer, purely for the impact of now, hammering out the beauty of the world….. how sad, and yet what is war , if not that ?
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also another aspect of ‘no fixed abode’ the idea that our sexuality drifts, and consumerism becomes an anchor, that we all eventually realize has failed us, the distorted certainty becomes the monster that haunts us the most
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Oh I forgot, respect is due, keep up the good work
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Thank you.
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also another aspect of ‘no fixed abode’ the idea that our sexuality drifts, and consumerism becomes an anchor, that we all eventually realize has failed us, the distorted certainty becomes the monster that haunts us the most,, then who do we blame ?
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Take yer point … but … it IS so quickfire ! [grin]
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Call him an ankle,it’s someone three feet lower than a ###t.
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