Red, Yellow, Greens

A few days ago, I settled down to eat my lunch. I like to read while I eat, so I picked up the Inquirer section of the weekend Australian (16-17 July). On page 2, center page, I found an article titled "At last, a thorough probe into what drives the Greens machine" by Andrew McIntyre. You can also find it online. now ... I don't know who Mr. McIntyre is, but I do know he edited a book titled "The Greens: Policies, Reality and Consequences". it said so in the little print at the end of the article. I voted Greens in the last elections, but I am by no means an ardent follower. Unlike Mr Mcintyre I (as is evident from the previous sentence) state my bias in my writing, which is not something that could be said for him. The article begins by saying that basically the Greens will lead Australia down the gurgler and that there is little understanding within the Australia public on how damaging their policies could be. However, we can rest assured as Andrew has arrived to save us. He then proceeds to say that "It was the growing perception of the failure of public analysis of the Greens' policies that motivated Connor Court Publishing to commission the book, The Greens: Policies, Reality and Consequences". I don't know this for fact, but I strongly suspect that the book will not be free, which makes me think that maybe the motivation behind it was less about the concern for opening our eyes to the Green malice and more about getting some of those green bills to leave our pockets and make their way in those of Connor Court Publishing. but I digress .... 

The authors of the book took the Greens' policies (as stated on their website) and invited “Distinguished experts in the relevant fields from across Australia …  to assess these policies in the context of Australia's present realities, and to highlight any adverse, unintended consequences these policies might have for the nation”. Clearly, the people behind the book don’t fancy the Greens much, but c’mon … you want to tell me not a single policy has a got even a single beneficial outcome? Is this what you call “a thorough probe”? It is not thorough at all if you only present half the picture.

It then proceeds to tell us that “It is not a jeremiad and it does not wish to trace the historical roots of Green politics, impugn motivations of individual Greens, or question the motivations of their party”. So how come the article title claims it is about what drives the Greens? How can you understand the drive if you do not look at the history and motivations of key figures within that party?

But he keeps the best for last: “The Greens is an important reference for those who would like an informed, thorough and objective examination of the consequences of the policies …”. Let me see here … the guy is plugging his own book, which only looks at the negative aspects of Greens’ policies, neglects to examine the history and he calls that “thorough” and “objective”?

I think it would have been more appropriate to call his article “At last, a way for me to make money out of my anti-Green bias”.

And just in case you did not know – The Australian is part of the Murdoch empire