Footy has a Mark Robinson problem

[Bunk Moreland]

Bitter Essendon fan, Caroline Wilson is a far superior and intelligent journalist.

Personal presentation aside, they're exactly the same.

 

[Randomizor]

Personal presentation aside, they're exactly the same.

Except Caro has been right at least once

 

[Jobe Watson]

He beat Jon Ralph by a bee's dick to get the top job at the Herald Sun, he's a pisspot (have you noticed he's always crook, self inflicted?) Not a healthy man by any means, but he does the job pretty well.

Only after the Sun tried desperately to lure Damian Barrett back.

Were definitely starved of options.

 

[Ok Boomer]

Not sure if I should laugh or cry. Both Caro and Robbo are twits.

Personal presentation aside, they're exactly the same.

Common denominator here

 

[rumply]

at least he is better than Patrick Smith

there is some truth to this - I hadnt listened to him on KB's show for a few months until a week ago & it really stood out what a negative, whinging w***er he is so I quickly changed channels. At least Robbo usually looks on the bright side of things.

 

[rumply]

Common denominator here

yeah we've all spotted you for the twat that you are

 

[Custard Guts]

Blasphemers, the lot of you. Reap what ye sew infidels.

 

[Plugger35]

there is some truth to this - I hadnt listened to him on KB's show for a few months until a week ago & it really stood out what a negative, whinging ****** he is so I quickly changed channels. At least Robbo usually looks on the bright side of things.

I usually feel more optimistic about things when I've been drinking too.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Common denominator here

The way they go about it is very similar - both have their sources whom they use (and are used by, in return) religiously, both are "chief football writers" of their paper chiefly because of their contacts.

Caro is embedded at top of the AFL and has direct access to the good mail from there. Not in club land however, where Robbo is better connected.

Caro obviously speaks more eloquently and presents better on television, as I said.

But as journalists, they're two sides of the same coin.

 

[Mofra]

Robbo has done well - a man with little talent for writing, or speaking without slurring, of average intellect, becoming one of the most high profile footy journos in the land.
He gives hope to kids who get Cs in school everywhere.

All hail Robbo.

 

[RohanConnolly]

I think you almost answer your own question.

You are absolutely correct that people deserve equal treatment irrespective of their gender, race, sexual preference etc. But social justice isn't (or shouldn't be) limited to that. Social justice should be about the elimination of hate, particularly hate that doesn't have any real justification behind it.

So when you sneer publicly at various people because they hold a different political position to your own, or their career progression in the media is different to yours, or they work for a different media organisation to yourself, you are directing or at least encouraging others to form opinions about those people not based on their work or their character, but on matters that don't, or shouldn't, count.

To me you're either for the equal treatment of all or you are not. You're either for the elimination of unjustified hate or you are not. You are either for ending bullying or you are not. If you are only prepared to apply these admirable objectives selectively to whatever the latest social justice trends are whilst simultaneously exhibiting the opposite when it suits then my personal opinion is that you are a social justice fraud.

Dear Bruce,

That's quite an eloquent summation of your view, albeit one sadly lacking in evidence. So I'll state my case once, and then, frankly, think what you like.

"Hate that doesn't have any real justification behind it" is in a way how I'd summarise the scribblings of Bolt etc. Except the sinking of boots into various minority groups does have a justification in their case, and it's soliciting attention from a (fortunately) dying but still considerable class of ignorant, scared people, whose paranoia is given a voice.

This is the worst part. Bolt and quite of a few of his ilk don't actually believe what they're spruiking, it's a niche they've milked for all it's worth. To perpetuate that hatred purely out of opportunism without even actually believing much of it is I think even more contemptible. And frankly, that's well worth sneering at.

You say "those whose career progression is different to yours"? What does that even mean? I have friends in all media outlets, some of my best mates work for Murdoch publications like the Herald-Sun, so sorry, that's just complete bullshit.

To your last point, yes, I'm for the elimination of unjustified hate. How do you think that is best achieved? By writing to Bolt etc. and asking: "Andrew, we know you've built a career on exploiting others' misfortunes and it's made you very successful, but can you please stop now"? Because I somehow doubt that's going to work.

I reckon your use of the phrase "latest social justice trends" implies you think it's all a bit of wank, and a fashion statement. In fact, I could hazard a guess that you probably use phrases like "social justice warrior" as a pejorative. So don't pretend you have some higher, more noble objective here, that you're above all this petty name-calling.

Finally, Bruce, you don't know me from a bar of soap. You don't know what I do outside my job. And at a pinch, your views of me are formed off the back of 140-character tweets, which I'd suggest lend themselves to a pretty superficial character assessment. So yep, when you're calling my beliefs on issues that I think are important fraudulent, well, that really pisses me off.

Cheers.

 

[Kram]

Use paragraphs ffs.

 

[Roylion]

So when you sneer publicly at various people because they hold a different political position to your own, or their career progression in the media is different to yours, or they work for a different media organisation to yourself, you are directing or at least encouraging others to form opinions about those people not based on their work or their character, but on matters that don't, or shouldn't, count.

Do you have any specific examples of this?

 

[bourbons]

He has done very well for himself, all things considered...

Yeah, you have to hand it to the guy. Semi-literate bogan and he's pretty much on top of the football world.

 

[Shane Hird]

As I remember someone on Big Footy pointing out when it happened, this is the same guy that can say both "This is a simple game" and "This is a complex game" (well words to that effect) literally within a couple of minutes of each other.

This is what makes Robbo's greatness stand out from the crowd.

The game IS both simple and complex at the same time and us punters need someone like Robbo to point this out to us.

One must carefully digest every waffling sentence Robbo utters and find the hidden message contained in His teachings.

Otherwise you just fill your mind with the endless mind drool that spews forth from other so called ' expert footy journalists'.

As Madonna once said " open your heart and see"..

 

[Shane Hird]

Yeah, you have to hand it to the guy. Semi-literate bogan and he's pretty much on top of the football world.

 

[Shane Hird]

 

[TheHunterCripps]

Think of it as inspiration: if Robbo - borderline illiterate and beyond logic can get this far in life there's hope for everyone. The lucky country.

 

[Shane Hird]

Think of it as inspiration: if Robbo - borderline illiterate and beyond logic can get this far in life there's hope for everyone. The lucky country.

Exactly. You are on the right path to enlightenment brother.

 

[BruceFromBalnarring]

Funnily enough I did in fact write to Bolt over the Adam Goodes stuff. He wrote back. He was polite enough but sadly he remains convinced that the booing was solely caused by Goodes pointing out the young girl in the crowd. I think Bolt is right on many issues, and wrong on many others. But that is my personal view, and I must of course be right on issues and wrong on others also. But this isn't about Bolt.

I do use the expression "social justice warrior" pejoratively. It describes those who would seek to exclude from public discourse others more cautious in matters of "social progression" than themselves. As though they are inherently "ignorant" as compared with those championing the latest social justice cause.

Now, sure, that might be the way of political discourse generally and may be cyclical as well but it also gives rise to "Trumpism", or more locally "Hansonism" and on the other side renders inept and weak more moderate and mainstream representation.

I just think it would be nice if more people wrote about others and treated others with more courtesy and respect. And rather than simply ridicule the views of others, or more precisely the holders of those views, listen to the views and try to understand where they originate, rather than merely dismissing them as ignorant. And that applies to people who write about Caro, Robbo, RoCo, or Jake Niall.

 

[Fire]

Journalists don't make it to the top because they are any good; they make it to the top because they write what they're told to.

 

[Doss]

Journalists don't make it to the top because they are any good; they make it to the top because they write what they're told to.

And further to that point, when they write or say something that is inconvenient, they're sent packing when it comes to something like the AFL industry.

See Grant Thomas.

 

[Fire]

And further to that point, when they write or say something that is inconvenient, they're sent packing when it comes to something like the AFL industry.

See Grant Thomas.

You gotta toe the party line if ya want access.

 

[Mofra]

And further to that point, when they write or say something that is inconvenient, they're sent packing when it comes to something like the AFL industry.

See Grant Thomas.

Dale Lewis comes to mind too - I'd suggest he's been largely vindicated.

 

[Toump Ass]

Bolt and quite of a few of his ilk don't actually believe what they're spruiking, it's a niche they've milked for all it's worth. To perpetuate that hatred purely out of opportunism without even actually believing much of it is I think even more contemptible. And frankly, that's well worth sneering at.

I know a few people who worked in the media and they've insisted that Bolt isn't as extreme as he makes out. I always get laughed at when I tell people this ;(