Anyone see the presentation of the trophy after today's Geelong vs. Hawthorn game? To paraphrase:
Andrew Maher: "Cam, how does it feel to do your bit for cancer research?"
Cameron Ling: "Depression, actually. Beyond Blue."
A sloppy gaffe with even sloppier timing.
I can sympathise. :(
Posted by: m0nty | 07/26/2009 at 01:50 AM
Anyone else skeptical about Kennett's involvement in BeyondBlue or is it just me? It's the sort of ultra-altruistic generosity that could soften any criticism of the prick. As Premier, he demonstrated neither sympathy nor empathy for anyone adversely affected by his decisions. Indeed, he seemed to take some considerable pleasure from all the misery.
And the next person who says to me that he "got things done" better have dental cover.
Posted by: Lad Litter | 07/26/2009 at 08:46 PM
I dunno. He was probably pretty depressed when he got the boot.
Posted by: Tony | 07/26/2009 at 08:55 PM
Lad Litter, I couldn't agree more, and thankyou for letting me know I'm not alone in my cynicism. I would say the same for 99% of ex-politicians and their "causes."
Like actors and their emotional Acadamy Award acceptance speeches. You know they make a living BULLSHIATTING to people [read: acting]. Then what's to say that their blubbery speech isn't also bullshiat? I'm looking at you, Halle Berry.
Woah. Going off on a tangent there. Sorry.
It makes it even worse when the scum feeders attach themselves to a popular cause and pretend they care. Like... I dunno... an AFL football club... or depression. Coz ya know a lot of good people are going to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Not me, Jeffy baby.
Al Gore = Jeff Kennett
Posted by: Big Ramifications | 07/27/2009 at 10:50 PM
BR I get your drift but I'm not a total cynic - Gore champions an unfortunately controversial cause and cops a lot of flak for it. Kennett has got on a hobby horse that deserves attention but the only opposition he might encounter would be when people or organizations are unable to support it to the extent he would like.
But I firmly believe right-wingers are incapable of empathy. So they take up causes only after something bad happens either to them or someone close to them.
Shane Stone and euthanasia - his mother died of cancer;
Nancy Reagan and stem cell research - her husband suffered from Alzheimer's;
Okay those are controversial causes and these proponents had to go against their own constituency. But they opposed euthanasia and stem cell research while it was only other people who suffered. I'd love to know whose depression triggered Kennett's tardy humanity.
Apologies for hi-jacking the blog, Tone. And for getting tangential on yo' ass.
Posted by: Lad Litter | 07/28/2009 at 05:16 PM
I dunno if that's just a "right-wing" problem LL. Anyone will take on a cause if it affects them directly. If every left winger had the same empathetic get-go in them your talking about there wouldn't be much violence, disease and poverty in the world.
As for Kennett, I don't really care if he has self interest in championing this cause or not - at least its out there.
Posted by: Adsy | 07/28/2009 at 10:34 PM
And then there are those who jump off their causes. Hello to you, Peter Garrett.
Posted by: Tony | 07/29/2009 at 11:18 AM
Remember when Sir Ronald Wilson - long retired High Court Judge, and just about to cark it - decided we MUST BE MUCH NICER TO ABORIGINES IT'S JUST AWFUL WHAT WHITE AUSTRALIA HAS DONE YOU ALL SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES!
Yeah, good one Ron. In need of a bit of attention, are we?
Interesting you go bipartisan on this, LL. I had never noticed such a distinct line in the sand. In fact, I have read well written articles [sorry, no links] that posit empathy-dead people have jumped on Left Wing causes PRETENDING to be Left Wing. Case in point: The German Greens party being slowly hijacked by self serving scum politicians.
So we end up having:
*** Empathy-dead Right Wing people pretending to give a sh1t… who don’t give a sh1t
*** Empathy-dead people pretending to be Left Wing people who give a sh1t… who don’t give a sh1t.
For example, are you saying that Kevin Rudd and half his hand cream using mates are Left Wing people who give a sh1t? Ha!
Posted by: Big Ramifications | 07/31/2009 at 05:13 PM
BR, the point was, and remains, that right-wingers are light on for empathy. Not that it's the exclusive domain of green-left types:
Kennett didn't give a hoot about depression until, I strongly suspect, someone close to him was adversely affected. Before then, he'd been quite happy to spread it around outside his immediate circle;
Shane Stone was anti-euthanasia until his mother contracted a terminal illness; Nancy Reagan opposed stem-cell research until her husband developed Alzheimer's;
Dick Cheney tried to water down republican anti-gay measures once he found out his daughter was a lesbian;
Howard waited until his daughter graduated from university and ended her active participation in student union-funded extra-curriculars before abolishing compulsory membership;
the Kennett govt quickly softened it's stance on open-slather property development when they realized a couple of their state councillors were going to have five storey shit-blocks put up next to them.
All of those things were okay when they only affected other people. As soon as the possibility of it affecting them or theirs became real, they did u-turns. In most cases, to worthy causes, it's true. And this is where Adsy is right, the end does justify the means. But if they could feel empathy, we wouldn't have to wait for something bad to happen to them directly before they got on board.
Posted by: Lad Litter | 07/31/2009 at 11:07 PM
It all makes sense now. Right Wing. Got it.
Posted by: Big Ramifications | 08/01/2009 at 12:24 PM
You know what really sh1ts me?
Ya go shopping for a nice ground cover. All the bastard plants in the nursery are flowering. All year round. No matter when you go there.
Ya find a nice plant absolutely covered with beaut flowers. "In bloom 9 months of the year" the label says. Ya go home and plant the bastard... and after a few years you come to the realisation that it only flowers for 1 month, if that. For the remaining 8 months there will be a grand total of 1 PISSANT STONER FLOWER "heeey, where is everyone else, maan?" on the whole thing.
Every plant and bush I've purchased has dudded me on the flowering bit.
Posted by: Big Ramifications | 08/01/2009 at 01:30 PM
Put some potassium into the soil.
Posted by: Random | 08/07/2009 at 06:08 AM
I'll tell you one thing about Kennett, he sure got things done.
Posted by: Cookie | 09/04/2009 at 12:53 PM
So did Ted Bundy.
Posted by: Big Ramifcations | 09/07/2009 at 02:27 PM
Crap Bundy movie on Fox last week.
Bundy: A Legacy Of Evil
Posted by: Tony | 09/07/2009 at 03:32 PM
A better Bundy movie: The Deliberate Stranger.
Posted by: Tony | 09/07/2009 at 03:33 PM