Why? Just because!

Robert Manne tells us that it’s not a question of what to believe but who to believe. However, if Robert Manne isn’t someone to be believed, we shouldn’t believe him when he tells us that. Should we?

How do we know that he’s someone to be believed? Maybe there’s someone else who can tell us that Robert Manne is someone to believe. But how do we know we can believe that person? Ask Robert Manne, perhaps?

I could go on in this tedious manner for some time.

The unwritten foundation for Manne’s argument is an assumption (or, dare I say, a belief) that he is one of the people we should believe. The logical lacuna in this argument is bigger than the hole left by the ice shelf falling off Antarctica.

The bottom line is that Manne is telling us that we needn’t worry our tiny minds with big issues. Instead, we should outsource our thinking to a big brain like him and the people he tells us we should believe.

Why? Because he’s one of the ones we can believe.

Just ask him.

Unbefreakinlievable!

Rudd's Vegetarian Dummy Spit (not in full)

The Queen said
"Oh!"
And went to
His Majesty:
"Talking of the butter for
The royal slice of bread,
Many people
Think that
Marmalade
Is nicer.
Would you like to try a little
Marmalade
Instead?"

The King said,
"Bother!"
And then he said,
"Oh, deary me!"
The King sobbed,
"Oh, deary me!"
And went back to bed.
"Nobody,"
He whimpered,
"Could call me
A fussy man;
I only want
A little bit
Of butter for
My bread!"

AA Milne

AIDS, bollocks and the Pope

Gliberty is an organ unlikely to express sympathy for Pope Benedict XVI but the increasingly unedifying attack on the vermilioned one is little more than vicious opportunism. Indeed, it’s down right cruel to kick an old man in a dress when he’s down. What’s more, there’s more than a whiff of condescension in the recent attacks.

Last month when flying to Africa the Pope spoke to journalists of the battle against HIV/AIDS, saying that AIDS, "is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, and that cannot be overcome by the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems".

This statement has been summarised, in reports too numerous to cite, as "condoms makes AIDS worse". Plainly, the proposition that condoms makes AIDS worse is bollocks, indeed, bollocks so rank you wouldn’t find them in the mouth of any sane person. A point taken up by the increasingly evangelical Richard Dawkins who wonders, "on what basis anyone can say condoms make AIDS worse. The Pope is either (sic) stupid, ignorant or dim".

Whoa there Dick! Take hold of yourself. Let’s break down Il Papa’s statement.

Can AIDS be overcome by money alone? No.

Can AIDS be overcome by the distribution of condoms? No.

Does the distribution of condoms aggravate the problems of AIDS? No. But, hang on Dick, you’re a professor and all, so you’re smart enough to see why Benedict XVI, the Pope, the Pope of the Catholic Church, you know the bloke who believes he’s God’s representative on earth and His number one conduit to the masses, yes that bloke, the one who’s an octogenarian virgin, would say that, right?

You’re probably even smart enough to know that the Pope isn’t stupid, ignorant or dim, so what was he saying? May be he was saying in an overblown and poorly constructed sentence that distributing condoms alone might aggravate the problem of AIDS, say by making the epidemic last longer, because it focuses on a prophylactic (ha ha) approach and ignores education and the promotion of abstinence and fidelity. And even if you know promoting abstinence or fidelity won’t succeed, there’s little harm in their promotion, provided it doesn’t stop condom use.

Frankly Dick, your stridency and intemperate language are unbecoming and detract from your message.

And what does this sorry episode say for the West’s opinion of African intelligence? Just because an old virgin in a dress says that condoms might aggravate the problem of AIDS, will their use decline? Dawkins might accuse the Pope of stupidity but are he and the others who've lined up to kick the old bloke saying that Africans are stupid?

Africans are just as capable of identifying the Pope’s bollocks as super smart Europeans.