Insults

Alan Jones’ hypocrisy is breathtaking.

Mr Jones this morning opened his radio show (now advertisement free) with claims that the movement of Australians calling on advertisers to boycott his program was about “cyber bullying” and “cyber terrorism”.

Not only is this insulting to genuine victims of bullying and terrorism, it’s an insult to misrepresent the honest groundswell of concern by tens of thousands of decent Australians about his comments.

Continue reading "Don’t believe the bull that this bully was bullied" »

In a foul-mouthed, vitriolic few weeks when everyone from Alan Jones to Twitter trolls have said unspeakably awful things, the sticks and stones of Australia have demanded to be recognised as more damaging than the name-callers.

In a press release headlined NAMES WILL NEVER HURT ME, a group calling itself the United Sticks and Stones of Australia has issued a damning refutation of the widespread presumption of name-calling as the evil to end all evils.

“There are far worse hazards in society than name-calling,” the release reads. “Obviously it’s not pleasant to say a women’s father died of shame because of her conduct. Nor is it nice to urge some lifestyle presenter to get better acquainted with her toaster. But let’s keep a little perspective here.

Continue reading "A timely reminder from the sticks and stones of Australia" »

There was a really excellent point made by a comedian once in one of those deliciously low brow English lad mags which I, errr, borrowed from a friend.

The comedian deconstructed the old insult “I screwed your mother” and asked the perfectly valid question whether the line actually worked as an insult. Put it this way, argued the comedian. If a bloke claims to have had sex with a woman 30 years his senior, surely he’s damning himself worse than anyone’s Mum.

OK, so that’s clearly a light-hearted take on a pretty serious issue. It’s obviously both tacky and disrespectful to insult someone’s Mum in any way. Western Bulldogs player Will Minson admitted as much yesterday after he made an uncouth remark about Port Adelaide player Danyle Pearce’s mum, and has duly been suspended for a week. All the same, there’s an argument that there are double standards at play here.

Continue reading "Are we really so offended by the mother of all insults?" »

What happened
This all started when a bearded, talentless big mouth couldn’t handle a spot of criticism. So instead of flinging a few well-aimed barbs at his critics, he decided to shoot the messenger. What a tough guy.

Let the record show that Kyle deserved the derision. His show contained, among other mind-numbing stupidity, a segment where he felt a guest’s boobs. The ratings didn’t lie. They rarely do. An initial audience of 1.3 million shrunk to a paltry 200,000 within minutes.

Afterwards Twitter went into meltdown canning the show. Enter numerous entertainment reporters and bloggers who duly recorded the Twitter mood. One of them was news.com.au’s Alison Stephenson. Ali is capable of excellent colour writing on her day, but on this occasion, she wrote a completely straight, unremarkable account of the Twitter reaction.

Continue reading "Biggest Moments of 2011 #21 Sandilands scrapes the barrel" »

It was an extraordinary complaint from Tony Abbott. “It’s very difficult to have a sensible debate,” he said, “when you are confronted with a feral government”.

Politicians don’t come any more ferocious and brutal than Abbott. He reverted to the wild the moment he got his paws on the Liberal leadership. His style is pure attack dog, as feral as you’d get. Everything, irrespective of merit, has to be opposed and torn to pieces.

The mining tax is a case in point. It is now glaringly obvious that the benefits of the mining boom should be shared around so that the overall economy benefits rather than just a small and privileged section. Opposition to the tax is shrinking.

Continue reading "Who’s feral now, Tony?" »

Truly great insults can be hard to find. So today’s word, once you think of it, will come in handy for those times when you’re left stumped for the verbal equivalent of a backhand. Taken from the Greek, this eight-letter word is officially used to describe a type of parasite that contaminates food, water, air, faeces, pets and wild animals. It also serves as a truly nasty rebuke, best served to someone who really deserves it.

And on that nice note, welcome to Wednesday! What’s on your mind?

Dope, ignoramus, racist, communist, queen-kisser, Nazi, apologist, shill. Dunderhead, knucklebrain, fantasist, doofus, conspirator, idiot, and twit.

If you recognise these as terms applied to you before you’ve had breakfast on any given working day, then I hope your blog is going well.

The internet has turned insulting journalists into an art form. Now, why waste time on amateur, blunderbuss-style sprays of death threats and comparing a writer to animal genitalia, when you could make a cutting remark every time? In order to help make your sledging as effective as possible, The Punch asked some of Australia’s most widely-read online writers to share the one thing readers say in comments or feedback that makes them want to quit blogging. Their answers may surprise.

Continue reading "Hitting journos where it really hurts: a handy guide" »