Tim Blair (no relationship to Tony) has this amusing article on the cognitive dissonance of a portion of his fellow Australians.
Parts of the list are quite parochial in nature--I don't know a lot about Australian politics--but much of it can be translated if you know anything about the British system of taxation for the BBC, for instance.
Anyway, here are some choice bits from the list:
1 The same people who claim to worry most about future generations surviving climate change have no objections at all to abortion – which kills thousands of future Australians every year.
2 The same people most likely to vote Green are also most likely to live in Australia's least natural environments – our crowded, paved, stupid-filled inner-city suburbs.
3 The same people who claim to crave greater media diversity are often the very same people who resist greater diversity of views within the ABC.
4 The same people again are the least likely to be pay-TV subscribers, despite the access pay-TV gives to the BBC, CNN, Fox News, RAI and other diverse media sources.
5 In fact the same people who complain most about pay-TV happily support the only form of pay-TV you've got to pay for even if you don't watch it – the ABC.
6 The same people who've spent more time than most of us flying around the earth are proportionately more likely to insist fossil fuel consumption is a very grave problem.
7 The same people who fret over the influence of Christianity in the Liberal Party never say a word about the God-bothering of Kevin Rudd and Peter Garrett.
9 The same people who are the loudest in support of drug-free "natural" childbirth are remarkably silent on the matter of drug-free "natural" dentistry.
10 The same people who demand price controls on petrol would scream like a goth in the sun if the sale of their own goods and properties were subject to price controls.
11 The same people who believe Americans have no sense of humour laugh their heads off at The Simpsons.
12 The same people who want to restrict cigarette smoking are invariably inclined towards decriminalising marijuana.
13 The same people who ridicule John Howard for once being an ordinary suburban lawyer become terribly affronted if you call them snobs.
14 The same people who believe the Howard/Bush/Blair governments encourage a climate of fear by exaggerating the threat of terrorism never complain about the climate of fear fostered by Australian of the Year Tim Flannery, who consistently exaggerates the threat of global warming.
15 The same people who were offended by George W. Bush meddling in Australian politics are absolutely fine with Al Gore meddling in Australian politics.
16 The same people who thought anti-terror fridge magnets were a pointless tokenistic gesture nevertheless supported Earth Hour, during which they saved the planet by turning off their lights for 60 whole minutes.
18 The same people who protested against UN sanctions in Iraq later claimed Iraq shouldn't have been invaded because the sanctions were working.
19 The same people who fear nuclear power in Australia don't give nuclear power a moment's thought when they holiday in nuclear-powered France.
20 The same people who publish images of crucifixes in urine don't dare print even a single cartoon making fun of Mohammed.
21 The same people who were ultra-nationalistic during the republican debate these days decry the ugly nationalism of displaying the Australian flag on Australia Day.
22 The same people who fought for women's rights in the '60s and '70s are oddly silent today on the issue of women's rights forf emale Muslims.
23 The same people who denounce creeping US influence in Australian culture often make a great deal of money appearing in US films and speaking in American accents – particularly a person named Toni Collette.
24 The same people who demand every last detail on the location of any planned Australian nuclear power plants decline to identify any of the industries they would prefer to see removed in order to reduce Australia's alleged greenhouse pollutants.
25 The same people who wanted a worker's paradise under Gough Whitlam now bemoan the McMansions, boats, 4WDs and plasma TVs owned by workers under Howard.
26 The same people who complain most about globalisation seem unusually alert to views expressed on international anti-globalisation websites.
27 The same people who demand reductions in energy use in order to solve global warming will turn up in huge energy-munching numbers at June's energy-guzzling Live Earth concert – which aims to solve global warming.
I'm sure we could come up with a whole host of American examples.
1 The same people decrying Don Imus for calling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" buy music from rappers like Mims, and tell you that he's expressing "the truth about life as he knows it."
2 The same people who want us out of Iraq--where we have a strategic interest--want us to interfere in half a dozen other places in the world--where we don't have a strategic interest.
3 The same people offended by protests of the chocolate Jesus think getting Don Imus fired is logical.
4 The same people who got elected in November on a campaign of bipartisan civility shut down debate on bills where bipartisanship would be the best solution, but bribe members of the minority party to sign on to their white flag resolution about the war in Iraq.
5 The same people who scream the loudest about their support of the troops (and don't you dare call them traitors!) gleefully post about "torture" and any malfeasance by U.S. GIs.
6 The same people concerned about innocent civilian casualties in Iraq proudly support innocent civilian casualties through abortion.
7 The same people protesting that they just want to "clean up the airwaves" by firing Don Imus suspiciously only find offensive comments from conservatives, seemingly unable to find any examples of liberal hate speech, including Keith Olbermann's statement that Rush Limbaugh should be fired.
8 The same people outraged at Bill Clinton's impeachment and the "abusive use of the special prosecutor" gleefully supported Patrick Fitzgerald's witch hunt in the non-outing of Valerie Plame.
This is a short list but I could go on. Maybe I will at another time.
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