Hello stranger!
You may have noticed I've been on a slight hiatus over here while I focussed on a few other projects. Well those are now DONE *jumps with joy*. I missed you, really.
So here I find myself footloose and fancy-free and what just happens to occur on my beloved Q&A?
Shoegate! What joy! what fun! A shoe-throwing incident at our own, civilised ABC!
Right, enough of the exclamation marks. If you missed it, former PM John Winston Howard had the Q&A panel to himself last night on the eve of his memoirs, Lazarus Rising being released. Besides speaking about himself in the third person, avoiding a question from David Hicks with a bout of nationalism and again reiterating the difference between being 'sorry' and showing 'regret' - Howard dodged a pair of shoes;
I'm sure I'm not the only person who has wished for Howard to suffer a blow to the head at one time or another (or at all times, particularly between 1996 and 2007), but I would have preferred if Mr Shoe-thrower kept his smelly sneakers on his feet.
It was only moments before the shoe throwing incident that I was getting annoyed at Howard's response to a video question from Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks. He avoided answering the question by stating what a wonderful democracy we have here in Australia where such a question can be posed. I thought he seemed smug - intimating that this freedom we all enjoy had something to do with him. Perhaps he should have utilised that freedom to actually answer some of the questions posed to him, but alas, it was the same old spin from days gone by - no wisdom in retrospect here.
So what of the shoe-throwing? Whilst I do love a spectacle, it irked me. Firstly, the shoe incident is the only thing being talked about - not the reason behind it. The civilian deaths in the Iraq War are rarely reported, discussed or acknowledged in mainstream media. Let alone the high incidences of suicide and mental illness in the youth of Iraq since the 2003 invasion.
Shoe-man was justifiably angry, justifiably outraged, but by resorting to violence, his argument was reduced to a joke. Granted, he was seemingly already a joke; after his initial question a tweet was shown on-screen referring to him as a 'long haired freak' - which I thought was unnecessary. The #qanda Twitter stream was full of nasty comments about the man's appearance as what I would describe as Socialist Alternative Chic. So what would the reaction have been if the shoe-thrower had been a well-dressed, clean-cut, armani-wearing businessman? Or a kindly old lady with a blue-rinse and pashmina shawl?
Looking like an unwashed hippie is a surefire way to not be taken seriously. Even worse, when people like him do stupid things in the name of us 'leftists' he makes us all look bad. I shower, I have clean hair and I am disgusted by Australia's involvement in the Iraq War. I am disgusted by John Howard, his memoirs, his 'legacy' and his continued ignorance and washing of hands over casualties suffered in the name of imaginary WMDs.
Q&A is a fantastic program. There's nothing like it on Australian television. Yes, it is more entertaining when there is a bit of argy-bargy, but like Tony Jones, I was embarrassed by the shoe-throwing. I wanted today's reaction to the program to focus on Howard's cowardly responses to the questions of reconciliation, Weapons of Mass Destruction and David Hicks*.
Instead, we're all talking about the 'long haired freak' and his stinky shoes. We're even hearing Howard's own favourite word being tossed around; unAustralian.
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Finally, allow me some self-indulgence. Of all my Q&A tweeting over the past year, I finally had a stroke of genius with this little ditty;
Oh what fun to have my five minutes of tweety-fame! Unfortunately, I was too slow for a potential on-screen showing *sigh*, but still, it was fun to be trending for a moment or so.
* yes, I understand the irony that I too, am writing about the shoes
All true. And yet...
ReplyDelete...As the dust settles I'm left feeling no regret that it happened. Someone made a political statement. Without putting anyone in danger he reminded us that physical things happen in the physical world. And maybe politicians, especially ones that eagerly send people out in our name to kill and be killed, need reminding of that.
Moreover, that one Q&A ep would have been quickly forgotten. But there's been renewed debate over JWH's sour legacy. And given that he's Abbott's role model, and Abbott came within a whisker of being PM, that can surely only be a good thing.
Btw, did you know 'pashmina' comes from the word 'pashm'? Sounds like something the Holeproof girl might say to her echidna when the others came round: "Go pashm, Rex!"
I think the shoe-throwing aspect of that one episode of Q&A is what WILL be remembered. We'll be seeing it in years to come on shows like "20 to 1 TV Blow-Ups" where D-Grade celebrities can comment on said shoe-throwers unwashed hair and have a good laugh. That's what's disappointing - that the incident will be remembered as a lunatic throwing a shoe without the context. I doubt the seriousness of the protest will be discussed, rather some zany sound-effects will be added & Tania Zaetta will make remarks about the style of shoe & likelihood of her sleeping with shoe-man.
ReplyDeleteYes, certainly it will be remembered. But isn't the context kinda locked in there thanks to the George W one? Also, if there was a "20 to 1 Aussie Political Statements", would we actually be able to fill them all? I mean there were the lip-sewers, but they weren't technically Australians at the time.
ReplyDeleteAnd our use of humour often has a serious undertone; even the GNW piece was basically a statement about how furious Howard had made a lot of non-evils over his 12 year reign of repression.
Oh, and Tania Odds - probably less than usual. ;)