Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Ageing reactionaries at the ABC still yet to grow up

Saw Phillip Adams droning on about drones on ABC's big ideas last week . His moral outrage unconvincingly focused on yet another  problem he has identified in another.
This was the same week  when , if many of the immature of my generation had learnt anything,  they would   have been deeply challenged by the words and life of Nelson Mandella.
Where is that acerbic wit when it comes to tributes to a real leader ? Perhaps I missed it ? Perhaps the ABC even censor Phillip ?   A more dangerous great leader was not afraid to offer the truth to the audience " what did you expect to see , a reed shaken with the wind? "
·If the ABC  were a mature bunch , they would not have tried to squeeze Mandella into a hero mold of their own making. A windmill touting wanderer whose only cause is changing others in the bad name of revolution; A windmill touting reactionary whose faith is in automatic progress; who would kill there own children and leave them homeless in the faith of such foolishness . Windmill touting , reed focused wanderers who don't stay long enough in one place intellectually to learn  the liberating freedom of knowing  something worth reforming .

The one thing our BB ABC won't be remembered for is their ability to distinguish reformation from revolution, childish preoccupations from truly mature ones.  Hooked on a fast ride to the future they use up the fuel , but provide no landing homes for a future generation.



A young man recalls being at a rally  angry with Mandella
He came to see things in a totally new way.

This man is right. At this moment, he is the father of all of us here, and he is acting like a true parent, refusing to let us get ourselves into trouble.

 I won't be bidding goodbye to a soft man. Rather, I'll be saying goodbye to a man fierce enough to love his people without fear. In doing so, in large measure, he saved us from ourselves. May we never forget him.

If only Australia had more men like himin public life 

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/inquirer/20131215_Amid_hecklers__Madiba_offers_stunning_reply.html#Kl5b6dETiVxVYYlT.99
  • OTHERS said on him
    He loved like a parent, with resolve to protect the young people, all people, from the ravages of rage.
  • Finally a tribute that doesn't turn Mandella into a man like my generation want their heroes to be - a man in their own image: wooses like we have been. What do we want ?what do we need ?A man moved by the wind whose constructions are toppled easily because the foundations of their newest building or demolition or rage project are soft,weak and incomplete.