How did The Panel handle the Woolwich killings? You guessed it—they launched an attack on “multiculturalism”.
The Panel, Radio NZ National, Friday 24 May 2013 Jim Mora, Deborah Hill Cone, Gary Moore
One of the more irritatingly glib commentators paid to chat about fuck-all is the recently divorced Deborah Hill Cone. Her schtick is doing what another Panel regular, Rosemary McLeod, used to do in the 1970s, i.e., sneer relentlessly at progressive and liberal thinkers, denouncing them as “middle class”, “trendy”, “pretentious”, or “hip”. A few years back, Deborah Hill Cone was memorably gazzumped by Brian Edwards on the Panel; after she declared that she was perfectly entitled to speak out against “dole bludgers” and “welfare fraudsters” because she knew “some lower socio-economic sector people”, Edwards riposted: “You mean, you drive past their houses when you’re on the motorway.”
Deborah Hill Cone is neither a deep thinker nor a serious reader; like our Standardistacomrade Populuxe1, she is stupid enough to have taken pot shots at Noam Chomsky without ever having bothered to read him. This afternoon, shortly before 4 o’clock, she treated us to a sample of her sophisticated and morally astute thinking….
JIM MORA: Susan Baldacci, with what the woooooorld’s talking about! What have you got for us today?
SUSAN BALDACCI: Well, it appears from papers released today that the British secret service was recording the telephone conversations of Edward VIII.
JIM MORA: Edward VIII?
SUSAN BALDACCI:[with slight irritation] Yes.
JIM MORA: He was a Nazi-sympathizer, wasn’t he!
DEBORAH HILL CONE: Well, that’s what people DID in the 1930s! [Slurp!] People who went to Nazi rallies in the 1930s, it was like a rock concert, really! [Slurp!]
JIM MORA: Yes it was!
SUSAN BALDACCI: Yes that’s right!
That shallow, dodgy, irresponsible tone would be amplified after the news, when the first topic came up for discussion: yesterday’s horrific murder in Woolwich. Oddly, Jim Mora—or his producers—decided to ignore the real issue, which is that this grisly crime was a retaliation for the crimes committed by the British state every day in Afghanistan and Iraq. That is a difficult truth to acknowledge, but it is the truth.
No need to discuss such unpleasant matters on the Panel, however. Instead, Mora—or his producers—decide to channel Enoch Powell and embark on a long, wandery discourse about the perils of “multiculturalism”. I have never really had any great respect for Gary Moore in the past; this afternoon he confirmed just what a shallow and vapid thinker he is. This rubbishy sub-NewstalkZB chatter went on for a long ten minutes. If their intention was to cloud the issue and confuse everybody, they succeeded brilliantly.
Soapbox…
Gary Moore talks about the need to revamp the Christchurch City Council in the upcoming elections. In contrast to his hopelessly anodyne, mealy-mouthed observations during the “multiculturalism” discussion, he actually has thought a bit about local politics and he is worth listening to.
By contrast, Deborah Hill Cone has a sneer at the “hipsters on the cool side of town sipping their Fair Trade coffee.” Mora and Moore laugh appreciatively at this sparkling display of wit.
At this point, I was (mercifully) interrupted by a person from Petone….
I heard the bit where Hill Cone said she never reads the comments under her op ed pieces – she thinks they are all hmmm as I recall, nasty or a waste of time. So I guess she continues to produce her articles in her own mental bubble.
Yes, the whole multicultural angle missed the whole point of the Woolwich murder.
And I daresay your Visitor From Petone probably saved your life. I turned off 2 minutes in when my apoplexy peaked.
I’ve had two belly laughs today. Graham Norton Show (best ever), and now your feature – the superbly edited “transcript”.
Kia Ora Morrissey. Entertaining on top. The steel of principle underneath. Unlike the (in-the-main) flakes on The Panel. That poor panel must be absolutely sodden with ejaculate.
Hi Felix, I always look forward to your insightful comments and this one certainly didn’t disappoint. You have brought a ray of sunshine into my dark miserable life.
Nice one Felix, what a fine human specimen you are. An example to us all and a role model to our children. Please fuck my sister and forever elevate the quality of our bloodline.
You guessed it—they launched an attack on “multiculturalism”.
Jim Mora, Deborah Hill Cone, Gary Moore