Stir up the emotions of Benny-Ratz’s little people
My understanding of a lot of things in life has changed quite radically over recent decades. Once upon a time I was an ardent believer in the great value of democracy and the “intelligence” of the great masses of ordinary citizens. Today I believe two unlikely soul mates, the former pope, Benedict-Ratzinger and one of the richest men in the world, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, have a better understanding of the mind of the ordinary citizen than anyone else.
Way back in 1979, long before he became pope, the then Cardinal Ratzinger observed “The Christian believer is a simple person: bishops should protect the faith of these little people against the power of intellectuals.” Today I see that as the cultural belief of many leaders in the institution. Rupert Murdoch has long been a critic of the public broadcasters such as the BBC and the ABC with their appeal to toffy, thinking audiences who compete against the “ordinary citizens” – the “little people and simple people” whom he sees as his prime audience.
Murdoch has been running a campaign for decades to bring down the major public broadcasters – who compete against his commercial broadcast and media companies. Andrew Bolt provided one of the best assaults his house journalists have yet mounted via this interview with George Pell. Rupert, I believe, has no lofty political or intellectual ambitions. His ambitions are principally centred around audience numbers, advertisers and, through them, financial profits. Like Benny-Ratz, Rupert also appreciates that the average person is “simple” and wants to be protected from ideas, intellectuals and any heavy thinking. The whole communication game, as far as Rupert is concerned is all about stirring up the basest of the human emotions. Ironically, they are almost diametrically opposed emotions: on the one side stirring up over-the-top-sentimentality; on the other stirring up aggressive outrage, xenophobia and hate. The vast masses of citizens do not work themselves up into a sweat over ideas and ideologies. What they most seek is perpetual entertainment and distraction. Rupert and the commercial broadcasters and tabloid press provide this in bucket loads of over-the-top-sentimentality mixed in the next minute stirring up outrage, xenophobia and even hate.
The great irony at present – and a hugely unexpected one at that – is that the audience ratings for the public broadcasters have been soaring through the roof. The “little people” have seemingly started turning to the public broadcasters in search of intelligent and real “news and information” (as opposed to “fake news”). Furthermore Rupert has actually had to sack or stand-down legions of his underlings and even close many of his newspapers. His audience ratings have been tanking in ways previously not seen [SEE: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/apr/14/dozens-of-australian-newspapers-stop-printing-as-coronavirus-crisis-hits-advertising]. The complete banning of sports events has dried up his pay television audiences and he’s had to stand down huge numbers of staff in his electronic media channels.
It seems this tiny virus, that nobody can see with the naked eye, has achieved more for humanity and our collective sanity than a million public broadcast channels and all the thinkers and intellectuals who have ever been born.
Brian Coyne is editor and publisher of www.catholica.com.au
John Menadue is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations. He was formerly Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.
Comments
14 responses to “BRIAN COYNE: The Bolt-Pell interview: It was “vintage Murdoch””
Well, I’m sorry to have to agree with Benny-Ratz and Rupe but the vast majority of people are poor pathetic brain-dead zombies who care only about partying, football and general trivia. This applies even to my own circle, including family. I can say that confidently here without upsetting the apple-cart because none of them will ever read anything on this blog-site.
John ‘The Snob’ Thomas
Thanks for your comment John ‘The Snob’ Thomas. I loved it. I’ve been trying to argue for yonks: the bigger problem society faces at present is not from the Donald Trumps of this world, it is from the dawning reality that around half the population actually look up to them as leaders and who will, more than likely, re-elect him at the coming Presidential election. It’s just like the German people turning to Adolf in the 1930s to their eventual steep personal cost. It’s not only in America but happening all around the world. “The people” – the vast masses; Benny-Ratz’s “little people and simple people” are petrified; the proverbials are running down their legs such are their levels of anxiety at present amidst the uncertainty unleashed by this pandemic. They were scared before the pandemic but the carona virus has unleashed an entire new level of anxiety. No priest, bishop, pope or saviour is capable of taming this level of anxiety.
I’m becoming increasingly sanguine that anything can be done to change the global mood. I’ve been writing for ages that “we’re dealing with forces in the human psyche here that are more powerful than the forces at the centre of our Sun that power the entire solar system”. I’m referring to these “forces of fear and anxiety” in a significant, and ultimately powerful sector of society, who are very afraid at the moment. How does anyone overcome that? In the end even the one who was believed to be “the Son of God” couldn’t defeat the Scribes and Pharisees and “those with all the answers”. They had him strung up, tortured and crucified.
Is the only possibility that we have to endure the long wait until a bit of sanity returns to the masses? The one small, statistic offering hope at present is that the masses do seem to be returning to news channels like the ABC and SBS in search of intelligent and real news. It’s but a small hope at present though. It’s not that the vast masses are unintelligent. I believe it is partly due to the lack of time we all face to become experts about anything much, and our great, perpetual need for entertainment and distraction. Fear is still the overwhelmingly most powerful force in the human psyche. The genius of the Donalds and the Ruperts of this world is that they know how to exploit it in ways that virtually defy rational explanation – or any Deity.
As you so succinctly observe, John Thomas, Benny-Ratz’s little people and simple people are highly unlikely to be reading [i]Pearls and Irritations[/i]. There is some hope though that they seem to be discarding Rupert’s channels and tuning in to the public broadcasters!
Whatever else the storm of controversy your observation has triggered, Brian, you have perfectly nailed your explanation of the nature of paradox by lucidly demonstrating the extent to which the power-hungry, in both the Catholic Church and media-driven state, will go to satisfy the populist appetite for mindless simplicity and unalloyed hero-worship.
Hi Paul. In the north west we get the Sky Channel on free-to-air. I would indeed resent even one cent of my money going to the Murdoch empire.
Brian Coyne – thank-you. Never could I have imagined the ugliness of Pell/Bolt and Murdoch so clearly visible.
All right–rail against the Murdoch media–but nothing in Coyne’s piece provides the slightest clue about the Bolt – Pell interview. It is poor journalism. Those of us who avoid the Murdoch media would not have any idea what Coyne is on about.
Bolts interview with Pell was a crazy brave type of move under the circumstances of no sport and collapsing revenue. The public has collectively never been more outspoken in its hatred of child sex abusers. Pell got off his charges at the last gasp albeit on the understandable justification of reasonable doubt.
He is however permanently and perhaps more seriously reviled for his uncontested role in moving known offenders rather than sacking them or referring them to the police. They weren’t just let off they weee rewarded with fresh pastures.
So for Bolt to be no doubt under orders to give Pell a puff piece interview will strain Murdoch’s relationship with his audience.
Congratulations Brian if you sat through Bolt and Pell. I lasted five seconds.
The big worry globally at present is NOT the existence of all these narcissistic, neo-liberal leaders who are like a scourge of locusts. The bigger worry is that around 50% of the population actually believe these narcissists are capable of making their nations, or themselves (Benny-Ratz’s “little people” and “simple people”) Great Again. Despite this pandemic the opinions polls are indicating that those responsible for all society’s problems at present are more popular than ever. How does anyone explain this rationally?
Goodness me, Jerry Roberts, are you admitting that you actually pay good money to hear Rupert’s house mouthpieces spread his ideological claptrap?
Meanwhile, Murdoch and his underlings (with apparently uncritical inquiry from Fran Kelly) rail against the evil Google and Facebook for stealing his precious content. But don’t these evil forces direct readers to his (paywalled) websites? It is no wonder he is getting little traffic from those sources if he insists on requiring people to pay for content that does not otherwise appeal.
If Murdoch’s market is the little people, why does he care if the rest of the potential audience is attracted to public broadcasters? In the current emergency preceded by the previous emergency (bushfires), the ABC has served the community well and even the little people are realising the value of public broadcasting. Time to go upmarket, Rupert?
He cares, Richard, because beguiling the little people is essential to the power obsession instilled, no doubt, at the feet of Sir Keith in a house full of servants at the height of the Great Depression with the spectre of revolution abroad. Why else would he lose so much money propping up his failing local mastheads if not to remain the ideological force majeur that he is? That bust of Lenin at Oxford was surely a taunt.
Brian I like your thoughts on the power of media to engage with and toy with the minds of the public (thinking and non-thinking). As you say: this tiny virus has a power of its own, virulent enough to change the way we think about our culture, the planet, and our own lives which is good, also it entices us to nurture and care for each other with Christian values (love for one another). The planet is breathing more easily whilst planes are grounded and traffic greatly reduced, lets hope that a new compassionate world order will emerge from the chaos.
Depressing but all too true Brian. Thucydides said much the same thing – most people won’t take the trouble to divine truth inclined as they are to believe the first story they hear. Rupert, and Packer before him, have done a impressively cynical job inculcating petty bourgeois values, contrary to their own economic interests, on a huge slice of the working class.