ABC news is running a Twitter survey where tweeps describe their feelings about Gillard in three words – #gillardin3
Unsurprisingly, comments are overwhelming negative, with tweeps referring to woodenness, populism, disappointment, and a sense of stasis. It’s depressing reading.
Basic messages:
1) She’s lost her way and
Not moving forward/Moving forward NOT/Australia Moved Nowhere/Stuck in Neutral/Stopped Moving Forward/Trying, but stumbling/We’re still lost/floundering pandering mess/meandering meaningless self-defeating
Yes! NO! Maybe?/ Halting, directionless, spineless
2) the disappointment is killing us and
Harrassed, disappointing/Awkward. Disappointing. Exaggerated/ Beware false prophets/Complete epic fail/fail fail fail/Turbulent, disallusioning, inconsistent/Boredom/Pretty damn uninspiring
3) it deflates the spirit.
Pretty damn uninspiring/Inspiration leader (bullshit)/Lowest common denominator/High hopes dashed
4) Opportunities were lost.
Many lost opportunities/A wasted opportunity/What a waste/Rather pissweak effort
5) She can’t get her ideas across.
Terrible mass communicator/Not selling ideas
6) She’s been unfairly treated
Convenient whipping girl/Casual sexism abounds/Up Against Murdoch/unfair media treatment
7) and some of us don’t like redhead women.
Bitch dog woof/Populist trash bag/Sack the ranga/redhead woman lady
8) We voted for Rudd.
Rudderless Ship Crashes/Doesn’t represent me/Toothless usurper puppet/I preferred Kevin
9) She reminds us of Howard.
Howard’s legacy lives/Just like Howard
10) She’s doomed
Deer in Headlights/Waiting for Execution/Shorten’s knife poised/Going going gone/Time’s Almost Up/Surely A Goner
11) and the alternative is worse (i.e. we’re fucked).
Still not Abbott/still beats Tony/Not Tony Abbott/Keeping Tony Away/ Disappointing, Howardesque, lesser-of-two-evils/It could be worse (this person cheated – 4 words)/feed is quite scary. the alternative is worse (another cheater)
12) She’s lagging on gay and refugee rights.
Lacking homosexual equality/homophobe, homophobe, afraid/trite, racist, homophobe
Locks up kids/WhiteAustraliaPolicy
13) Labor lacks ideas
Labor brain freeze
14) and are too close to the Greens/or not Green enough.
Bob’s ranga bitch (see above, sexist and ranga-ist comments)
15) Gillard’s too suburban (class snobbery).
Look at me/Middle Australian nightmare/Terrible accent
16) Gen Ys aren’t impressed.
Complete epic fail/fail fail fail/WTF?/what the fuck?/totally lame arse
17) “this is simplistic”
The last point is right – the whole exercise is a little shallow, even if it is indicative of sentiments toward Gillard. Is ABC so desperate for material that it’s resorted to artificially generating its own news? Can we hope for more, in terms of the quality of political debate? It seems not.
The ABC’s done a word cloud graphic.
Do its editorial policies, which require impartiality, mean that it now has to do a similar thing with Abbott and Brown? I suspect that comments about Abbott would be even more damning.
**ABC did do an Abbott in three (verdict: also crap) but not a Brown in three.
Finnish Whaler 