Australian author and reprobate John Birmingham joins me yet again for another conversation about everything from China to gonzo journalism, from Australia’s federal budget to Irish scammers.
We talk about JB’s books and the end of the world, Israel, Palestine, Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton, gonzo journalism, endometriosis, fans, and Brisbane’s Cafe 63.
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JB has been on three previous episodes of the Edict in July 2018, September 2020, and November 2020.
Thank you, Media Freedom Citizenry
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This episode it’s thanks to John August, Paris Lord, Pete Lawler, plus all the people who supported The 9pm More Autumn Series 2021 crowdfunding campaign.
CONVERSATION TOPICS: Phillip Merrick, plus one person who chooses to remain anonymous.
THREE TRIGGER WORDS: Adam Baxter, Sheepie, and three people who choose to remain anonymous.
ONE TRIGGER WORD: Bede Kelleher, Bic Smith, David King, Frank Filippone, Gavin C, Jonathan Ferguson, Joop de Wit, Mark Newton, Michael Cowley, Mick Fong, Ric Hayman, Ross Nye, and four people who choose to remain anonymous.
FOOT SOLDIERS FOR MEDIA FREEDOM who gave a SLIGHTLY LESS BASIC TIP: David Heath, Errol Cavit, Garth Kidd, Katrina Szetey, Kimberley Heitman, Matt Bowden, Paris Lord, Peter Blakeley, Peter McCrudden, Ruben Schade, Susan Rankin, Tim Johns, and one person who chooses to remain anonymous.
MEDIA FREEDOM CITIZENS who contributed a BASIC TIP: Bob Ogden, Brenton Realph, Chris Scobell, Jason Anderson, Jason Anderson, Karletta A, Kate Carruthers, and one person who chooses to remain anonymous.
And another eight people chose to have no reward, even though some of them were the most generous of all.
Episode Links
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John Birmingham (born 7 August 1964) is a British-born Australian author, known for the 1994 memoir He Died with a Felafel in His Hand, and his Axis of Time trilogy.
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I write books and things. This is sort of like my private club where anyone can hang out to talk about that stuff. So, okay, not that private. I’ll let you know about the stuff I’m doing, the stuff I love, and more importantly, the sort of things I think you might love too. For once, it’s not all about me.
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Bewildering and concerning comments on Australia's Taiwan policy architecture by the prime minister @ScottMorrisonMP in @SBSNews interview with @annajhenderson. .
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The relationship between Australia and China has already reached an all time low, but now senior political figures are starting to talk publicly about war. Today, Hugh White on how likely a hot war with China really is, and why our government seems to be talking up the possibility.
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As the Morrison government attempts a policy of containment against China, it risks the real prospect of war and one of the biggest failures of statecraft in Australia’s history.
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Kevin Rudd: The Morrison government’s recent indisciplined commentary on the possibility of Australian military engagement in a future US-China war over Taiwan is both politically juvenile and potentially damaging to our core national security interests.
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In 1990 Deng Xiaoping is supposed to have said, “Hide your strength, bide your time,” which has caused an entire generation of western military planners to squirt a thin but constant stream of panic wee-wee into their tactical underpants.
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Watch @AbbyMartin interview Israelis in West Jerusalem. It's not just ultra-religious, extremist settlers who use the language of genocide against Palestinians.
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On the streets of Jerusalem, Abby Martin interviews Jewish Israeli citizens from all walks of life. In several candid interviews, disturbing comments reveal commonly-held views about Palestinians and their future in the region. Israeli-born human rights activist and anti-Zionist, Ronnie Barkan, explains why these attitudes dominate Israeli society.
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The prominent 12-story building in Gaza City that was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike on Saturday not only housed the offices of media organizations including The Associated Press and Al Jazeera.
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It appears @AustralianLabor @SenatorWong want it both ways. Want to recognise Palestine as a State but say they support a two-state solution. Which is it? Caught out again.
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I need to talk about Cafe 63.
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The Grass Mud Horse or Cǎonímǎ (草泥馬) is a Chinese Internet meme created as a mocking protest against Internet censorship and the Great Firewall. It is a word play on the Mandarin words cào nǐ mā (肏你媽), literally, "fuck your mother", and is one of the 10 mythical creatures created in a hoax article on Baidu Baike in early 2009 whose names form obscene puns.
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I am worried, even terrified, I tell you. And only Border Force’s strong and manly hands will unclench my worrified buttocks of fear. A foreign crime wave full of foreigners is sweeping our fair city and I quake in anticipation of the swift and terrible action by the Department for Blaming Foreigners for Everything. It is time for the blacksuits to go to war with the Irish.
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To be a successful creator you don’t need millions. You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients or millions of fans. To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans.
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Every modern city has one week’s worth of food to feed itself. Then it will collapse.
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Gonzo journalism has now become a bona fide style of writing that concerns itself with "telling it like it is", similar to the New Journalism of the 1960s, led primarily by Tom Wolfe and also championed by Lester Bangs, George Plimpton, Terry Southern, and John Birmingham, and is considered a subgenre[citation needed] of New Journalism.
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A treatise on the Varieties of Realistic Experience.
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Gonzo Today is an open, source multimedia, educational, grassroots PR and Marketing platform, which places value on the individual and not the dollar. GonzoToday, as it exists today, is an online collective of volunteer amateurs and professionals across the full spectrum of arts and creativity within the fields of writing, graphic design, illustration, art, audio, video, etc. etc. The list goes on. Our mission is to provide an alternative model to corporate mainstream media, which operates under one fundamental difference: the currency we use to measure our bottom lines.
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Medical Webinar - Part 1 - Awareness. The first installment of our webinar series on awareness and information about Endometriosis.
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Endometriosis is a common disease in which the tissue that is similar to the lining of the womb grows outside it in other parts of the body. More than 830,000 (more than 11%) of Australian *women suffer from endometriosis at some point in their life with the disease often starting in teenagers.
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I know you came here for the profanity and disturbing metaphors but indulge me while I do a little bit of actual jernalisms. Lets look at this week’s Lady Budget.
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#bitcoin changes *everything*…for the better. And we will forever work to make bitcoin better.
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Scientists monitoring the ruins of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine have seen a surge in fission reactions in an inaccessible chamber within the complex. They are now investigating whether the problem will stabilise or require a dangerous and difficult intervention to prevent a runaway nuclear reaction.
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Reform UK leader Richard Tice is opening a pub with actor Laurence Fox. "It will be the home of free speech and right-wing comedy. It'll only be British food, no vaccine passports, no masks". @iromg | @TiceRichard | @LozzaFox
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Series Credits
- The 9pm Edict theme by mansardian via The Freesound Project.
- Edict fanfare by neonaeon, via The Freesound Project.
- Elephant Stamp theme by Joshua Mehlman.