Re-posted following the great server crash. Originally posted by Nicholas Gruen on Sunday, May 27, 2007
When I read the first paragraph of Noel Pearson’s latest op ed my heart sank.
I have watched with awe how the progressive lobby turned al-Qaeda recruit David Hicks into a relentless, irrecusable and finally triumphant national cause from Taliban terrorist to Nelson Mandela of Guantanamo Bay.
These remarkably ill chosen words reminded me of Charlie Perkins occasional lapses into anti-Asian racism and IIRC vile asides about Jews. For the record Pearsons point is ridiculous and shows that hes mixing in some bad company. Of course a campaign like the campaign for David Hicks to be subjected to the rigours and protection of the rule of law would acquire some of the aspects he attributes to it. But thats the inevitable product of the fact that a successful political campaign whomever it begins with, will take on a broad church of supporters and will have to convey its message in the clichés that are demanded or invented by the media in the same way that Australia Post charges you for stamps before it will ship your letter.
But this is by way of an (unapologetic) aside.
Pearsons op ed was a condensation of an essay he published in the Griffith Review and I thought it a pretty strange jumble of ideas after the initial opening faux pas. I think I saw some reference to Pearsons essay on the blogosphere with someone saying, in the light of Guy Rundles attack on it in Crikey! about which I might say a little more on Troppo later that until his full essay was up on the web we couldnt really decide for ourselves.
Well as no-doubt someone has already told Ozplogistan the essay is up on the net. And I am here to tell you with due health warning about my occasional lapses into peremptory (but rarely regretted) enthusiasm that it is magnificent. A masterpiece.
It is a bit long winded and could have been edited back by maybe 20%. And perhaps one of my reasons for thinking it so good is that Ive not read the literature quoted in it, and so it all comes at me in a rush of what seems like very powerful ideas. But there you go, its a great essay. Its long and I didnt even find it a particularly easy read, but I found it quite gripping.
Over the fold Ive tried to write a bit of a survey of what I thought was so good about it together with a few comments of my own. There are substantial slabs of text so you may wish to go read Pearson direct. But its around 18,000 words long so you might like to taste my potted summary and commentary over the fold. Continue reading