And That Was the Election that Kind of Was

Occasional pundit and all around media consumer Ben Pobjie comes to us this week with a brief rundown of the election … such as it was. Pobjie presents his audience with an early interpretation of what looks to be a long-running confusion, and he starts by dispelling some very basic myths.

Pobjie’s first task is to dispel the bizarre notion that Australia deliberately hung itself. His joke structure is sound: “Trust me on this: people who voted Labor wanted Labor. People who voted Liberal wanted Liberal. People who voted Green wanted Green. People who voted Family First wanted a lobotomy.”

He is factual and funny and clearly showing his own political leanings all at once. The entry is tagged “idiots”, as Pobjie is clearly disgruntled at the illogical state of political discourse in Australia – in that he rightly wonders why anyone would wish this situation upon their country.

The second point is more trivial and semantic, but still valid for its criticism of political journalism practice.

Pobjie’s parting shot is leveled at Bob Katter, who has begun to gain a cult following. Pobjie illustrates the befuddlement with which Katter tackles hot button issues, but sadly this has served only to make certain corners raise the man to the level of Chuck Norris, another figure thoroughly undeserving of his legend. (A quick consultation of Wikipedia attests to Katter’s somewhat repugnant political views).

Pobjie’s article is successful in that it acts in a “venting” blog form but also as a call for more level headedness and accuracy in political reportage. Pobjie also scores bonus points for enabling people to justify quoting “bitch, please” on a university blog.