Friday, June 25, 2010

Andrew Bolt, thank you.

Now, for people who aren't Australian (not that anyone not Australian will be reading this) I'm going to briefly explain who Andrew Bolt is. He's a man that writes a column in the Herald Sun, a Victorian tabloid。 His opinions often stretch into the right, and he seems ( I can't claim to read his mind, but this is what I have gathered) to not believe in climate change, blame migrants for a fair share of everything ( I incidentally remember almost walking out of a SAC because I felt his opinion was rubbish and insulting. and I had to analyse his opinion in a calm manner. So difficult) and doesn't (as far as I can tell) think there were any forced removal of Aboriginal Australian's for purely racial reasons. I disagree with him on most points.
So, yesterday, I spent the day mooning around the ABC and The Age, in a slight ecstasy over the fact that a female is our prime minister. Not only that, she's a ranga! And not married, atheist ect. ect.
Then I realised that, raised as I was, and given my own left leanings, that I was deliberately doctoring my view.
So I went to the man who's opinion I often hate. Hello Andrew Bolt.
I was pleasantly surprised. Not ecstatically surprised, it only took him a day to start wondering a bit more and for her personal life to come up - but it was done in an analytical way. Not typecast rubbish. So then I skipped over to the Australian. Again, pleasantly surprised. They didn't think she was going to win the upcoming election, I'm not sure they liked her (this is both the Australian and Andrew Bolt) but...
I think, somehow, that no one knows what to make of her. As Bolt pointed out, one of her major supporters was the workers union - and they were pushing the strongest on the miners tax. Yet Gillard's first action was to declare a truce with the mining industry.
I'm not sure what to make of it at the moment. Give it time. Opinions will form. Yesterday, the opinions were still not quite formed. From the people I expected the most venomous response from, they were carefully measured pieces.
For the first time in my known history, I agreed with Andrew Bolt. I thought it would take a miracle for that to happen.

A miracle somewhat like Australia's prime minster being sworn in by Australia's Governor General. Both of them women.

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