Friday, October 19, 2007

Pro-business = anti-worker, as everybody knows

Is it just me or is everyone else also finding the Coalition's saturation union-hatin' bogeyman's-gonna-getcha TV ad campaign intolerably crude and stupid? I've only watched an hour of commerical television (House, Wednesday night; does anybody agree with my best mate that House has jumped the shark?) since the election was called and by the end of it I was already climbing up the walls. The idea that this is going to go on without respite until November 24 (or whenever the blackout starts) boggles the mind.

The 'reasoning' behind these ads appears to be as follows:

1) All them Labor types are 'union officials' or at least used to go out with one which as we all know is the same thing.

2) Unions are there for the support and protection of the workers. That is, they are pro-worker.

3) As everyone knows, if you are pro-worker then you must be anti-business and vice versa, because, as everyone knows, the relationship between business and labour is always simply and precisely adversarial.

4) We haven't actually realised yet that running this argument makes it crystal clear that we are, in an absolute sort of way, anti-worker by definition.


Not being likewise a seer in black and white, I'm not all that thrilled about the unions myself. But that is strictly from a feminist viewpoint and based on bitter experience of masculinist values and tactics observed over many years -- values and tactics exercised mainly by those who have shouldered, bullied and bludgeoned their way into union officialdom in the first place. If I were in charge of an anti-union campaign, it would be run from a viewpoint even more horrifying to the current regime than that of the unions themselves.

5 comments:

Jonathan Shaw said...

My jury is still out in relation to House and the shark. I'm enjoying a postmodern tingle as the current episodes mimic the process of plot development: will we keep the same subsidiary characters or introduce a new lot? Should we have a ruthlessly ambitious woman? What about an old man who isn't really a doctor but is smarter than most who have the qualifications? How about a devout Christian to pit against House's atheism? There's a chance, if they can resolve all this somehow, we'll be back on smooth water ...

Anonymous said...

I must admit that I don't watch HOUSE much but did drop in on it near the end of this week's episode. The major change seems to be that he's now getting other people to kill his patients. It's a plot change I guess.

Don't forget Costello playing the commo card this week. My god, Julia temped for the Socialist Forum 20 years ago and then went on to work for Slater and Gordon. Red to the core! My wife, who was JG's supervisor for a few months, laughed like a drain when she heard that one.

Anonymous said...

House has definitely jumped the shark. Though I'm exceedingly glad to see Anne Dudek (from "The Book Group") turn up as Ambitious Amber, it's obvious the writers also know they're sharkbait by the introduction of so many offbeat characters. The whole premise of the show is that House is the maverick genius surrounded by straitlaced orthodoxy. Surround Hugh Laurie with oddballs and he loses his comic edge - he's always been much better after stepping out from underneath Stephen Fry's shadow.

Plus there's only so many times the bug-eyedly sardonic Laurie can credibly pulll off a just-in-time diagnosis of a ridiculously obscure medical condition without the concept getting predictably tedious. Double plus we don't see nearly enough of Cuddy in her underwear.

"Life", which is on after, is improving. It has a ginger bloke in it, which is always a good sign.

"Is it just me or is everyone else also finding the Coalition's saturation union-hatin' bogeyman's-gonna-getcha TV ad campaign intolerably crude and stupid?"

Bien sure. Talk about graceless under pressure: gratuitous middle-class pork and union-bashing in just the first few days. A despicable rodent to the last.

Anonymous said...

I was sad when the doggie died.

WhatLadder said...

House has always been off the wall, so this new development cannot technically be called shark-jumpage because that implies a change in the way the show is constructed.

Besides, dude, Kumar!

Also,I am enjoying it more this season since Henry the Philosopher is now at Princeton and he sends me pix that look like House external shots.