I am always quite staggered at how some newspapers can pay good money to columnists who consistently dish up some of the most silly, illogical, uninformed and misleading commentary out there. They actually pay people to write such foolishness?
I guess so. Plenty of suitable candidates come to mind here. But one who always can be counted on to cough up the goods is Herald Sun columnist Susie O’Brien. One could easily teach a course on logical fallacies and specious reasoning just based on her columns alone.
Consider her piece in today’s HS – it is a real doozey. It is another incredible performance by the resident secular left pro-deather. Her article has to do with Kevin Rudd’s new front bench. It seems that Attila the Hun has just been appointed to a position, and ol’ Susie is spitting chips about it.
Yes, one utterly evil and reprehensible character has managed to get a position in Rudd’s team, and Susie is just not gonna take it. She is demanding her head – all in the spirit of love, acceptance and tolerance of course. I refer to Victorian Senator Jacinta Collins, who has been given the role as the new Mental Health Minister.
So what is so bad about her? Is she a neo-Nazi? Is she with the KKK? Is she an axe murderer? Nope, she is far worse. You see, she is actually pro-life and pro-marriage. That makes her absolutely unfit for the job, and she of course must go at once.
You can almost hear the steam pouring from her ears as she lays into poor Jacinta. Wow, what a withering attack on a decent woman. For simply believing that it is wrong to kill defenceless unborn babies, and for daring to believe that marriage is to be between a man and a woman, she is treated worse than Jack the Ripper.
Most of the piece involves rehashing some of her pro-life and pro-family statements. Yep, this is one terrible Senator to care about unborn babies and families. How evil can you get? Susie tears into her over her pro-life stance, and informs us for example: “We must remember pregnant women who are considering termination” – they are “vulnerable members of our society”.
And those babies about to be ripped to pieces, or about to be burned to death, or about to have their brains sucked out, are somehow not vulnerable members of our society? It seems Susie and I are reading from some very different dictionaries here.
Her uninformed and loaded remarks about homosexuality fare no better. Consider this whopper: Jacinta’s pro-marriage position makes her untenable as a Minister because of “clear links between discrimination of gay people and depression”.
Um, no Susie – wrong again. As I carefully document in my book Strained Relations, this is one big myth pushed by the activists. But it is without any evidence. Indeed, simply take the most pro-homosexual cities on earth, such as Amsterdam or Sydney or San Francisco; homosexual rates of depression and suicide there are just as high as in Hoboken or Horsham.
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And get a load of this one: Jacinta is a hate-filled bigot for daring to suggest “that ‘stable, biological parenting’ should be fostered ‘as a social norm’.” Wow, Jacinta actually said that? That is dreadful! Imagine actually saying children need a stable family, and it is in their best interests to have their own biological parents! Whoa, Jacinta, where are you getting all that intolerant poison from?
Another absolute howler is this one: “Yes, we want more women on the front bench, but we also want people – men or women – who are going to promote fair, anti-discriminatory attitudes. And in my book, that means pro-choice and pro-gay marriage.”
Yes, I also took a while to stop laughing at that one. According to the divine Ms O, the height of fairness and non-discrimination is to unfairly discriminate against unborn babies and the institution of marriage. Right, gotcha. Nice to have all that so nicely cleared up.
But her clear winner of the day surely must be this gem: “Either there needs to be a portfolio reshuffle, or Senator Collins needs to pledge that she will not let her personal views get in the way of her management of the portfolio.” Did you just read that? Can you believe she actually wrote that?
Please tell us all young Susie, just what exactly was Julia Gillard doing as Prime Minister for the past three years? You mean to tell me her personal views on abortion for example never once got in the way of her management? They never impacted her performance, and never once impacted her decision-making and policy suggestions?
Indeed, do you mean to tell me that her very last act as PM – getting the pro-abortion drug RU-486 slashed from up to $800 down to a measly $12 a pop – had absolutely nothing to do with her personal beliefs? You mean being a founding member of Emily’s List, and even its Constitution author, had nothing to do with her time in office and her stance on issues?
Puh-leeese Susie. But wait – there’s more. She closes with these words of wisdom: “I think some of her views are dangerous and antithetical to a just and fair society.” Yep, caring about the most vulnerable members of society – the unborn, and children and how they are raised – is dangerous and unfair. I see. Thanks for that Susie.
The simple truth is this: in this perverse and twisted column, we actually learn a whole lot more about Susie than we do about Jacinta. And in my books, I will take Jacinta and her views any day of the week. She clearly loves life and family, while Susie hates both.
24 Replies to “Foolishness Masquerading as Informed Commentary”
Isn’t Susie allowing her personal views to cloud some issues and not see clearly?
Jo Deller
I’ve never figured out why News Ltd. keeps Suzie O’Brien on the payroll… There’s got to be more capable leftard journalists out there… I mean our Universities are just spewing them out, yet to call Suzie’s writings imbecilic is probably a compliment at best… I actually come away at least 30% dumber having forced myself to read any of her infantile garbage… I always thought when writing an argument one was supposed to interact with ones opponents arguments and keep abreast of the current literature… These ideas seem to have never penetrated Suzie’s brain… Her articles all seem to just be her way of trying to absolve the guilt she feels for having murdered her unborn child so as to further her career… Just saying…
Joel van der Horst
I guess you noticed, Bill, that every one of the people who have commented so far on this hate-filled rant of Susie’s has taken her to task for her ridiculous comments. They have been very reasonable in their analysis, but Susie’s responses show that she is not open to reason.
Jan Greig
Moments like these you get some clarity from the other side. Its always a dead give away when they say that pro-life or pro-marriage positions are ‘personal’. This is always their tactic; to sideline conservative positions as only good for personal views and not for the public square. This is their usual slight-of-hand tactic to neutralise positions they don’t agree with.
Damien Spillane
Disgraceful journalism.
Ross McPhee
Is she trying to play the theocracy bogeyperson as well?
Ross McPhee
Bill, this piece you have written today NEEDS to be published in some major newspaper!! Are you allowed to comment on the link? many thanks & God’s richest blessings over you and your family.
Liz Gee
Bill, most of the replies at the link are against her!! Praise God, I have commented too.
Liz Gee
Thanks Liz
In the old days the HS often printed my articles – but no more. They don’t even seem to print my letters anymore. But we can all try nonetheless to send in letters to refute her silly piece. Send them here:
Thanks Bill for your response to this sad piece of ‘journalism’ – it’s a shame your comments don’t see the same sort of daylight as hers, so I hope more people share on social media like I just did!
Peace †
Tivoli Vaiotu
Hi Bill, I have never read a Susie O’Brien article before (or a Herald Sun opinion piece), so I gave it a try. Wow, and another Wow! Talk about uninformed. In response to Posters she says thinks like “I know there is research out there.”
Comments like ” we know there are clear links…” and “a majority of people in our society ” are nothing but inflammatory guff. Where are the statistics and/or figures? Based on whose studies? Galaxy Polls, she claims, and we know how reliable and unbiased they are!
I think she learnt what she knows through the process of Osmosis of Public Opinion.
She is either hired to write for the Lowest Common Denominator in this country, or, is part of that level to write something so fallacious, uninformed, unsubstantiated nonsense. Even the leftist writers on The Punch were more coherent and logical, and that is saying a lot.
Matthew Patchon
I trust that Susie “will not let her personal views get in the way of her management of (her) portfolio.” Or is it part of her job specification to be so hateful and biased?
John Bennett
I could write an essay on Ms O’Brien’s trash but probably in vain. Your readers have covered it pretty well because it really needs only a few words: “Lower than the dregs of Journalism” A pre-schooler would show more humanity and intelligence, devoid of the pathetic, ingrained ignorance and bias exhibited by Sosie O. It is only one example of just how endemic bias, in varying degrees, has settled through the MSM.
May the Loving Creator of ALL humans endowed with gifts of true compassion and understanding spare us from any further ‘journalistic’ excrement via SO or anyone else.
Please forgive my language. That’s how it hit me.
Peter Phillips
Hi Bill,
You may have missed Ms O’Brien’s response to one of the many comments to her article today and it left me gobsmacked. Verbatim I quote it below.
‘Homosexuality is normal. It’s as normal and natural as anything else. What do you think it is? Abnormal? that’s just offensive.
Susie O’Brien
Tue 02 Jul 13 (09:25am)’
Keep up the good work Bill and the Faith.
Elizabeth Hamilton
Susie O’Brien is at her totalitarian best in her column (H/S 2/7) “It is of great concern that one of the people elevated to the Rudd government front bench is anti abortion….it wouldn’t matter quite so much but the person in question is Victorian senator Jacinta Collins, who is the new Mental Health Minister.” Surely that is just the portfolio for confirming how damaging abortion is to the psyche of a women? Perhaps that’s what really worries Susie? Ordinary Australians aren’t as intolerant as the mouth pieces for the abortion lobby. They don’t believe the front bench should be denied pro-life parliamentarians. She charges senator Collins with being anti euthanasia “which gives people with terminal illnesses the right to die in dignity.” This is outrageously insulting to the medical and nursing professions who have NOT been practising euthanasia all these years but whose patients HAVE been dying in dignity. “I think some of her views are dangerous and antithetical to a just and fair society” she concludes. These would better describe O’Brien’s own views. Abortion is dangerous for babies and in Australia where politicians strive to give everyone a fair go, unjustly unfair.
Denise M Cameron
These people make my head spin. Tori Sheppard who writes opinion pieces for The Advertiser is cut from the same mold. Good to have an opinion. Better to have an informed one.
Greg Sadler
Hi Elizabeth, I couldn’t tell whether Susie was trolling with that comment or honestly believes that nonsense. If homosexuality were normal, it would not count around the 1-2% of the general population!
Matthew Patchon
I am so tired of the same drivel being published week after week by the likes of Susie O’Brien and Tory Shepherd…They are very typical of today’s relativistic world…Ironically Shepherd’s column says as it’s tag line ‘straying from the flock’….more like ‘typical of today’s herd’!
Jeremy Woods
Hi Bill, I wonder if her articles are edited prior to publication? I don’t think they are. It’s beyond my understanding how any editor worth his standing could allow such unmerited drivel pass his desk. I want to vote 1 Susie O’Brien for the flibbertigibbet gong of the year award and most probably she wont need to ever pass it on.
Michael Mercier
Is clear thinking and unbiased reporting now a thing of the past for all journalists? Maybe Susie O’Brien missed that class when doing her Journalism Course!
I simply found her article very offensive and her criticism of Senator Jacinta Collins’ views totally obnoxious.
John Ferwerda
Bill, I was about to write to Senator Jacinta Collins, Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, to offer moral support after Susie O’Brien’s tirade against her. I’ve had second thoughts after reading in today’s HS a letter from Ms Collins in response to S.O.
After her defence, the senator concludes: “The Federal Government is proud to fund support services to LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex) Australians and women in need, and I am committed to continuing these programs”.
As I believe the senator to be deeply pro-life, this comes across as a perfect example of gross double-standards. Or is it simply a matter of PC?
Peter Phillips
Many thanks for pointing that out Peter
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Susie O’Brien proves true the words of a wise minister I know:
“Opinions are like armpits. Everyone’s got them and most of them stink”.
And hers cause among the worst stink of them all.
Mario Del Giudice
The singling out women in Australia as a vulnerable group is almost always, if not always a cunning ploy to make sure that feminists get what they want – power, control influence over men.
Isn’t Susie allowing her personal views to cloud some issues and not see clearly?
Jo Deller
I’ve never figured out why News Ltd. keeps Suzie O’Brien on the payroll… There’s got to be more capable leftard journalists out there… I mean our Universities are just spewing them out, yet to call Suzie’s writings imbecilic is probably a compliment at best… I actually come away at least 30% dumber having forced myself to read any of her infantile garbage… I always thought when writing an argument one was supposed to interact with ones opponents arguments and keep abreast of the current literature… These ideas seem to have never penetrated Suzie’s brain… Her articles all seem to just be her way of trying to absolve the guilt she feels for having murdered her unborn child so as to further her career… Just saying…
Joel van der Horst
I guess you noticed, Bill, that every one of the people who have commented so far on this hate-filled rant of Susie’s has taken her to task for her ridiculous comments. They have been very reasonable in their analysis, but Susie’s responses show that she is not open to reason.
Jan Greig
Moments like these you get some clarity from the other side. Its always a dead give away when they say that pro-life or pro-marriage positions are ‘personal’. This is always their tactic; to sideline conservative positions as only good for personal views and not for the public square. This is their usual slight-of-hand tactic to neutralise positions they don’t agree with.
Damien Spillane
Disgraceful journalism.
Ross McPhee
Is she trying to play the theocracy bogeyperson as well?
Ross McPhee
Bill, this piece you have written today NEEDS to be published in some major newspaper!! Are you allowed to comment on the link? many thanks & God’s richest blessings over you and your family.
Liz Gee
Bill, most of the replies at the link are against her!! Praise God, I have commented too.
Liz Gee
Thanks Liz
In the old days the HS often printed my articles – but no more. They don’t even seem to print my letters anymore. But we can all try nonetheless to send in letters to refute her silly piece. Send them here:
hsletters@heraldsun.com.au
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Thanks Bill for your response to this sad piece of ‘journalism’ – it’s a shame your comments don’t see the same sort of daylight as hers, so I hope more people share on social media like I just did!
Peace †
Tivoli Vaiotu
Hi Bill, I have never read a Susie O’Brien article before (or a Herald Sun opinion piece), so I gave it a try. Wow, and another Wow! Talk about uninformed. In response to Posters she says thinks like “I know there is research out there.”
Comments like ” we know there are clear links…” and “a majority of people in our society ” are nothing but inflammatory guff. Where are the statistics and/or figures? Based on whose studies? Galaxy Polls, she claims, and we know how reliable and unbiased they are!
I think she learnt what she knows through the process of Osmosis of Public Opinion.
She is either hired to write for the Lowest Common Denominator in this country, or, is part of that level to write something so fallacious, uninformed, unsubstantiated nonsense. Even the leftist writers on The Punch were more coherent and logical, and that is saying a lot.
Matthew Patchon
I trust that Susie “will not let her personal views get in the way of her management of (her) portfolio.” Or is it part of her job specification to be so hateful and biased?
John Bennett
I could write an essay on Ms O’Brien’s trash but probably in vain. Your readers have covered it pretty well because it really needs only a few words: “Lower than the dregs of Journalism” A pre-schooler would show more humanity and intelligence, devoid of the pathetic, ingrained ignorance and bias exhibited by Sosie O. It is only one example of just how endemic bias, in varying degrees, has settled through the MSM.
May the Loving Creator of ALL humans endowed with gifts of true compassion and understanding spare us from any further ‘journalistic’ excrement via SO or anyone else.
Please forgive my language. That’s how it hit me.
Peter Phillips
Hi Bill,
You may have missed Ms O’Brien’s response to one of the many comments to her article today and it left me gobsmacked. Verbatim I quote it below.
‘Homosexuality is normal. It’s as normal and natural as anything else. What do you think it is? Abnormal? that’s just offensive.
Susie O’Brien
Tue 02 Jul 13 (09:25am)’
Keep up the good work Bill and the Faith.
Elizabeth Hamilton
Susie O’Brien is at her totalitarian best in her column (H/S 2/7) “It is of great concern that one of the people elevated to the Rudd government front bench is anti abortion….it wouldn’t matter quite so much but the person in question is Victorian senator Jacinta Collins, who is the new Mental Health Minister.” Surely that is just the portfolio for confirming how damaging abortion is to the psyche of a women? Perhaps that’s what really worries Susie? Ordinary Australians aren’t as intolerant as the mouth pieces for the abortion lobby. They don’t believe the front bench should be denied pro-life parliamentarians. She charges senator Collins with being anti euthanasia “which gives people with terminal illnesses the right to die in dignity.” This is outrageously insulting to the medical and nursing professions who have NOT been practising euthanasia all these years but whose patients HAVE been dying in dignity. “I think some of her views are dangerous and antithetical to a just and fair society” she concludes. These would better describe O’Brien’s own views. Abortion is dangerous for babies and in Australia where politicians strive to give everyone a fair go, unjustly unfair.
Denise M Cameron
These people make my head spin. Tori Sheppard who writes opinion pieces for The Advertiser is cut from the same mold. Good to have an opinion. Better to have an informed one.
Greg Sadler
Hi Elizabeth, I couldn’t tell whether Susie was trolling with that comment or honestly believes that nonsense. If homosexuality were normal, it would not count around the 1-2% of the general population!
Matthew Patchon
I am so tired of the same drivel being published week after week by the likes of Susie O’Brien and Tory Shepherd…They are very typical of today’s relativistic world…Ironically Shepherd’s column says as it’s tag line ‘straying from the flock’….more like ‘typical of today’s herd’!
Jeremy Woods
Hi Bill, I wonder if her articles are edited prior to publication? I don’t think they are. It’s beyond my understanding how any editor worth his standing could allow such unmerited drivel pass his desk. I want to vote 1 Susie O’Brien for the flibbertigibbet gong of the year award and most probably she wont need to ever pass it on.
Michael Mercier
Is clear thinking and unbiased reporting now a thing of the past for all journalists? Maybe Susie O’Brien missed that class when doing her Journalism Course!
I simply found her article very offensive and her criticism of Senator Jacinta Collins’ views totally obnoxious.
John Ferwerda
Bill, I was about to write to Senator Jacinta Collins, Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, to offer moral support after Susie O’Brien’s tirade against her. I’ve had second thoughts after reading in today’s HS a letter from Ms Collins in response to S.O.
After her defence, the senator concludes: “The Federal Government is proud to fund support services to LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex) Australians and women in need, and I am committed to continuing these programs”.
As I believe the senator to be deeply pro-life, this comes across as a perfect example of gross double-standards. Or is it simply a matter of PC?
Peter Phillips
Many thanks for pointing that out Peter
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Susie O’Brien proves true the words of a wise minister I know:
“Opinions are like armpits. Everyone’s got them and most of them stink”.
And hers cause among the worst stink of them all.
Mario Del Giudice
The singling out women in Australia as a vulnerable group is almost always, if not always a cunning ploy to make sure that feminists get what they want – power, control influence over men.
Janice Tooh