I suspect the Professor has been caught speeding past the billabong again. I continue to be amazed at his eloquent loquacity even if not agreeing with his point of view.
I think he would agree with this.
You may have noticed me at an academic conference or meeting sometime in the past — standing by myself at the periphery of the gathering, trying to look aloof or somewhat unfriendly, exuding an aura warning others that I did not wish to be approached. I successfully cultivated that standoffish attitude because of a terrible secret that I was trying to conceal: The title of the academic position that I held at the time was preposterous.
Sounds very Bunyipish eh?
Yes, Wayne, Bunyip has a lightness and brilliance of style that entertains and amuses as well as forcing from readers admiration of his exceptional writing talent . Of course my own enjoyment is enhanced by the fact that I nearly always agree with him. However this contrasts with other blogging right-wingers such as Gerard Jackson and Tim Blair whose prose is pretty hard-going most of the time, in spite of my sympathy of where they are coming from.
This particular post of the Professor’s is one of his very best, told from a mood approaching mild despondency and weariness on his part. You can almost see him shaking his head in despair.
His remarks about Iraq are particularly telling. Nevertheless I was amazed watching the 7 o’clock news on the ABC late this week when Sally Sara’s report contained quite an upbeat message about the progress being made towards the restoration of sovereignty to Iraqis. She even reported an increasing mood of growing optimism from the locals about their improving situation. Amazing. I never thought the ABC had it in them. This one obviously escaped the internal censor!
Ron, I think this calls for a Simpsons quote! (well, paraphrase). Remember when Homer opens up “USA Today” and reads that literacy rates are not declining quite so fast as they were the previous year?
“See, Lisa? Finally we have a paper that’s not afraid to tell it like it is — that everything is A-Okay!”
Yep, ’tis truly a thing a thing of wonder how he manages to wrap the ole’ party line in prose that’s simultaneously pompous, coy, arch and archaic.
(Hey, aren’t PCA&A the PR firm handling the H R Nichols Society and Western Mining accounts?)
You know, I derive no pleasure at all from wading through the rhythmic prose of the bunyip just to be told that people I admire and respect are cockroaches.
It just doesn’t excite my loyalty and adulation glands.
And the prose is only rhythmic in the sense that if you bang a bowl of old fashioned boarding school custard on a bench hard enough, it will slop about for a while..