What has in fact happened in the last week has been the rise of decent Australia saying enough is enough. And yes, sponsors like Gerry Harvey have publicly worried that by withdrawing from the Jones program they are taking part in a lynch mob, but they misunderstand. What you are actually doing, Mr Harvey, is refusing to sponsor any further “lynch-mob radio”.
All you need to do is listen to Jones on a good day. As the Bully-in-Chief, Jones’ major exercise every day is to line up the day’s targets and then excoriate everything about them and everything they stand for, impugning the worst possible motives to their every action, before putting them up on the wall and inviting the mob to call him up to throw their own stones, which they gleefully do for hours on end, outdoing each other in their sneering, hooting derision.
Sure, Jones does the whole thing under the guise of “journalism” and “fearless comment”, but the vibe of the whole thing is exactly like a lynch-mob as he masterfully whips the mob up into ever greater rage over any number of sins, including such outrages as trying to help the environment by lowering carbon emissions. It has also been noted that he is never so vicious as when the target is a woman.
Most of Sydney has been aware of this for years without ever taking Jones seriously enough to do anything about it, but the Young Libs episode has changed that. For there, exposed, was the breathtakingly ugly essence of Jones.
Not one of you reading this could ever bring yourself to say what he did about the PM’s father and yet Jones values are so twisted, so downright nasty, he could not only bring himself to say it, but actually think in an unguarded moment it was entertaining!
And the response since, has been wonderful. Yes, yes, yes, no doubt Jones ratings will go up next time as the mob rush back to defend Alan, but this time decent Australia – which is to say the vast majority of the country – is watching closely. Which sponsors will be there with him? I don’t mean now. That is not the test. I mean six months and one year from now. Those sponsors are being watched. The sensible ones won’t touch the Jones show with a barge-pole
via Decent Australia says enough is enough.
Alan Jones and 2GB must realise that they must be good role models for young Australians. Join the petition
I whole-heartedly agree with Dr Manocha. Decent Australians have always been able to recognise what Jones is all about, he’s a power-hungry bully. Decent Australians are indeed saying “enough is enough” because we now know that just ignoring and placating someone who derides their own community never makes them stop! There is nothing enlightening about Jones’ brand of “journalism” and nothing courageous about his so-called “fearless comment”. He is a well-rehearsed and formulaic bully who does nothing to improve the community and everything to divide it. I would hazard to say that such on-air bullying is probably one of the precursors to the ugliness of cyberbullying. Bring on journalists who are prepared approach radio wo have respect for their influence.
I think it is interesting to see a new mentality emerging in Australia in which people who, politely and respectfully, stand up for themselves or for others are accused of being the aggressor. We see this in the article with members of the public who have called for a boycott of Alan Jones’ program being widely described as a lynch-mob. We see this in the federal parliament where Julia Gillard and other female politicians have named a pattern of behaviour displayed over a number of years by Mr Abbott as being sexist, anti-woman and thereby misogynistic, and these woman are accused of playing the gender card to avoid criticism. I have seen this in my own life when I have asked people to not forward me racist emails or called them out on racist comments, only to be subjected to a vitriolic rant about why I am un-Australian and deserve vile things to happen to me. It seems that as a country we lack the ability to reflect on how the things we say and do affect other people, to accept that people are entitled to their opinions without being attacked, and to reflect upon criticism with a view to being better people.