Reference :- One encounters a great many lies being spread by the media these days.

 Reference :-  The most damaging consequences of lying are seldom explored . 

Here at The Sky Reply the lads have decided to investigate the consequences of spreading  huge lies , otherwise known as " Whoppers  " .   I have perused their preliminary report , in which they have divided Whoppers into two categories , as below . 

"Type 1 Whoppers " 

These are obvious lies that nobody believes from the outset .

"Type 2 Whoppers "

These are lies that successfully deceive folk . 

Generally speaking  , "Type 1 Whoppers " greatly damage the credibility and reputation of the liar . They are , therefore , counterproductive . 

Speaking generally again , "Type 2  Whoppers " can stir popular support for the liar's cause in the short term .  However , often such Whoppers are eventually uncovered , at which time they become similar to "Type 1 Whoppers " . But  a great deal of anger at being deliberately deceived is usually fomented .  

The lads decided to label these exposed lies "Type 1A Whoppers " .  These Whoppers are far more damaging than the standard "Type 1 Whoppers " .

It is not unusual for a successful liar to eventually believe their own Whoppers .   These Whoppers fit the "Type 2 " category , but the lads have decide to label these self-deceiving lies as " Type 2A ,Whoppers " , since they have additional ramifications .    They explain it like this . 

  A charlatan could be enriching himself  by selling a snake oil remedy for diabetes that was killing people . If said charlatan comes to believe his own sales pitch , subsequently  develops diabetes , and then treats himself with his snake oil remedy , he will die .    Entire nations and empires have often fallen because they believed their own propaganda .   According to the lads at The Sky Reply , the " Type 2A Whopper " is the most dangerous of  all.  It is often found in statements like " we stand for democracy , equality of opportunity , free speech and the rule of law " .....that sort of thing . 

Anyway , enough of that , the lads' project is still in it's infancy . 

I see in the news today that Mr Netanyahu has declared to the world that there is no starvation in Gaza .  

The lads have not yet invented a label for that particular Whopper .  But it's definition might include ....... pretending to believe your own lies in order to stay out of prison .  Or perhaps ...pretending to believe your own lies in order to facilitate genocide .   Since everybody knows that he knows he is lying , and Mr Netanyahu also knows that everybody knows that he knows he is lying , perhaps the lads might label that a "Type 2B. Whopper ". 

How would I know ? 

Your comrade , 

Ken .  

 

 

 

  

 

Reference :- The lads at the Sky Reply have become obsessed with one topic .

 Reference :-  After this post , I have made the Sky Reply team promise to change the topic of our fireside chats . 

 Last night's conversation went like this , almost verbatim . 

" I see that the Palestinians are now being herded into a concentration camp . " , Gabbo said . 

" Don't call it that . It is called a " humanitarian city " . Calling it a concentration camp has Nazi connotations , which is antisemitic . " , I said . 

" Senior Israeli officials in the IDF and the Knesset call it a concentration camp . ", Monte said .  

" That is just loose language , gentiles can't say that . " , I said . 

" Israel's oldest newspaper , Haaretz which is printed in Hebrew,  ran an editorial yesterday under the deliberately ironic heading  "  The Most Moral Concentration Camp in the World " , Ken junior said . 

" Well if one of our newspaper editors did that , they would face being arrested for violating  antisemitism laws . They would have to say " The Most Moral Humanitarian City in the World. " , I said . 

" They like to call the IDF the most moral army in the world , yet over the past two weeks four soldiers have committed suicide because of what they saw or did in Gaza .  IDF soldiers are killing themselves  in record numbers  and thousands have been hospitalised suffering from PTSD . " ,  Gabbo said . 

" Just goes to show how hard it is maintaining the standards of the world's most moral army . " , I said . 

" So will a couple of soldiers kill themselves each week due to the stress of maintaining the most moral concentration camp in the world ? " , Ken junior said . 

" Humanitarian city you mean ? " , I said . 

" Whatever . " , Ken junior said . 

" A mob called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,  or GHF , will run the camp ... I mean city , so IDF soldiers will be less involved .  " , I said . 

" So maybe GHF soldiers might start committing suicide ? " , Gabbo said . 

" Nah , those guys are all hard men and mercenaries , not like those 18 year old kids in the IDF . ", I said . 

" Sort of like Nazis you mean ?  I guess that explains why they have already been gassing refugees to death at food distribution sites  . " ,  Gabbo said . 

" There you go again with the antisemitism . You will find yourself in big trouble if you don't watch yourself . " , I said .  

Anyway , I have told the lads that Gaza is now a verboten topic . It's time we ran a human interest story based in Kooralya , so I am sending all three of the lads to interview a chap who has just opened a wood turning workshop in the main street .  I told the lads to concentrate on his occupation , which should drive all thoughts of Gaza from their minds .  

Your comrade , 

Ken  

 

 

 

 

Reference :- Here at The Sky Reply we have been having a quiet time .

Reference :-  It is hard to stay motivated when the days here in Kooralya are so cold and wet . 

 Lately the Sky Reply team has been huddled by the fire doing very little .  Ken junior found a copy of a book by some chap called Arthur Koestler. It was in a dusty box of books we inherited from the estate of a strange relative we called cousin Ivan , who we think was a Hungarian refugee . 

The book is called " The Roots of Coincidence " , and as you might expect it describes the mechanisms by which coincidences might come about .  The lads , being impressionable youths , found it mesmerising . Personally I was unimpressed .  Monte pointed out that the book is exactly 149 pages long , which is the capacity in cubic inches of the motor in the Holden ute that we used to bring cousin Ivan's stuff home . 

Although this is factually true , is it a coincidence ?  It is my view that coincidences are something we manufacture . We can find them anywhere if we look . The lads and I launched ourselves into a great debate regarding the definition of a coincidence .  But enough about that . It goes without saying that my arguments were the more persuasive , and I won the debate , which was like the icing on the cake , since today happens to be my birthday . 

Anyway , I see on the tele that Mr Netanyahu recently had to cut short being questioned during his trial for corruption because the IDF had just bombed Damascus without warning .  That sure was a lucky break .  Mr Netanyahu has enjoyed a lot of lucky breaks lately .   Like the sudden discovery by Mossad that Iran was weeks away from building an atomic bomb , just as the world was becoming outraged  by the bombing of a child's birthday party in Gaza .  Those chaps in Mossad are a canny crew .   The International Atomic Energy Agency and the CIA were adamant that no such program existed..the idiots . 

In further news , we saw that one of those IDF soldiers from the most moral army in the world had accidentally fired a shell from a tank into a Catholic church in Gaza , killing three people and wounding ten , including the parish priest who has strong connections with the Vatican .    The shell missed the cross atop the church by about a three feet .  That sure was lucky , because a smashed Christian cross would make a powerful image that the media could exploit .   Ken junior reckons the gunner was aiming at the cross and missed .  Personally I reckon that since the average age of an IDF soldier is 19 years , the inexperienced gunner pulled the trigger by mistake while he was trying to find one of those Hamas terrorists who hide behind human shields . 

The Pope is very techy about the incident , which means 1.4 billion Catholics around the world probably feel the same .    Some might try to weaponise the unfortunate accident , labeling it  " anti-christian " , but nobody with two neurons to rub together would fall for such cynical propaganda . 

The ICC might try to call it a war crime , but nobody listens to them these days .  Clearly it was just a coincidence that a stray shell hit a Catholic church .  Besides , the Catholics are no friends of Zionism , you only need to listen to what the Popes have been saying for years .  Little wonder that Mr Netanyahu was four days late with his condolences when the last Pope passed away . 

Time to take Dog outside for a wee. 

Your comrade, 

Ken  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference:- Sky News Australia has developed a penchant for hyperbole .

 Reference:-  When hyperbole is overused, the power of language is diluted  . 

Dear fair-minded Sky News broadcasters , 

 Far be it from me to claim expertise in the field of " news you can trust , opinions you can't ignore " , but I must say that your banner headlines and hyperbolic language are damaging your credibility . 

Most folk are not stupid , and can recognise when somebody is " crying wolf " , as they say.  It is disappointing for viewers to click on a banner headline featuring words like  " Crazy lefty wants to destroy Australia " only to find a short video that shows a professor of economics gently suggesting  that multinational companies should pay their fair share of tax . 

Anyway , it's probably easier for you to understand my point if I give an example ......there are many more of course .  Recently you described an unfortunate brawl at a restaurant in Melbourne as an " antisemitic horror attack  " .    We have brawls here at the Kooralya pub from time to time , and even  if somebody gets a black eye or a bloodied nose , we would never describe such a brawl as a " horror  attack "  And if it was an Aboriginal mate of Gabbo's who got a black eye , or Ahmed , who runs the Post Office , we would not call it an " anti-aboriginal or  anti-islamic horror attack " .  We would look to the cause of the brawl for an explanation . 

Gabbo's mate  might have tried to chat up somebody's sheila , for example .  Or Ahmed might have lost somebody's parcel .   

Flinging the word " horror " about  so liberally shrinks your vocabulary . 

Around the same day that people were shoving each other around at a fine dining establishment in Melbourne  , possibly spilling their Chardonnay , dozens of children in Gaza were blown to pieces by a 500 pound bomb that the Israeli military dropped on a 6 year old child's birthday party .  Limbs and other body parts were collected in bags , but it was impossible to identify all the bodies .    Obviously if shouting and shoving and spilling chardonnay are " horrors " , then you need to find another word to describe blowing children to smithereens .  But what word would suffice ?

Clearly if you had described the scuffle at the eatery as " an ugly scene  " , that would leave you the option to use the word " horror " when describing brutal infanticide  .  As it happened , you apparently decided to skip over reporting the massacre of children , since , like the end of a game of Scrabble , you were running out of useful words .  I mean , with the word " horror " already taken , and by inference it's synonyms ,   you could hardly describe bombing a child's birthday party as " an ugly scene " .   Could you ? 

There are around 600,000 words in the English language , and it is important for journalists to use them accurately .    

Anyway , if you have found this helpful , please like and subscribe . 

Your comrade , 

Ken .  

PS.    Arabic contains around 12 million words .  This is why much Sufi poetry, considered by many to be the most sublime poetry ever written , is impossible to accurately translate into English . Sure makes me wonder if we are underestimating the richness of an entire culture .  Just saying . 

 

Reference:- The adjective " antisemitic " has lost it's mojo .

Reference :-  It's time for Mr Netanyahu to introduce a new label with which to demonise those who oppose his Zionist project . 

Dear Mr Netanyahu , Sir , 

That was quite a setback you suffered when Justice Angus Stewart of the Federal Court of Australia  ruled that anti-zionism cannot be conflated with antisemitism .  To make matters worse , Amnesty International has made the same declaration ( those leftist cry-babies ). 

Clearly there is now no point in playing the antisemitism card each time protests against your final solution to the Palestinian question erupt...and those protests are becoming quite a feature in the media these days . 

I see that the British have introduced a new law proscribing Palestine Action as a " terrorist group " .  This is a step in the right direction for your plan . However you must proceed cautiously , as I will explain . 

But first , you appear to have encountered a timely opportunity in Australia , where soon after the Federal Court ruling  distancing anti-zionism from antisemitism was made public  (on about  page 30 of our newspapers ) some mentally unwell chap from Sydney inexplicably flew to Melbourne to scorch the paint on the door of a Synagogue .  You must make the most of this , and label it as a hideous terrorist attack .  Sure , it's not exactly the same as dozens of kids being blown to smithereens in Gaza by a 500 pound bomb , but it does give you something to work with .  You would be surprised at how Sky News and their comrades can beat up a story and create nationwide outrage .   

Anyway ,  here is some advice , if you will pardon my presumption .  In the UK , hugely popular personalities , including Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame ,  have come forward in support of Palestine Action , defying the draconian  new UK law . It is unhelpful when the lawmakers you lobbied make comments like  "  we accept that (the law)  is draconian , it's meant to be  . "    This angers the great unwashed .  Far better to say " This is a regrettable decision we were forced to make in the interest of law and order " .  Something like that .  As it stands ,  protests against the draconian law are already erupting throughout the UK , with damaging implications for your cause .  

Here down under, the situation is less dramatic . However, you should not have  " demanded " that the Australian Government take similar draconian actions .    Aussies don't appreciate being ordered around by their own authorities , let alone some fat soulless foreigner with warrants out for his arrest . 

In the future , instead of making demands , you should use polite language .  " We earnestly hope " would be better received in the Antipodes than " we demand " .  

I do hope that you take this feedback in the same spirit in which it has been offered .  It's  understandable  that immersed as you are , in a quagmire of war and genocide ,  while facing punishing legal challenges both international and domestic  , you might find little time to research the cultural sensitivities of the lesser nations , and thus commit an unintended faux pas . 

On a happier note , I think you still have a chance to succeed in your plan to replace the now mojoless word "antisemite " with " terrorist " in the media discourse about humanitarian  protest movements .  The Sky News anchors are probably already on board with that .   Just don't go too hard too early .  

Your comrade , 

Ken  

PS   If anybody in authority is monitoring these posts , I would like to state that I categorically do not support the protest group...I mean terrorist group .... Palestine Action at all , despite agreeing with almost everything they say .  I mean , what is anybody going to achieve by spraying paint about in deliberate acts of vandalism ?  How is that going to draw attention to a cause ?   

 

 

Reference:- The UK High Court has made an historic ruling .

Reference :-  Non -violent protest group Palestine Action is now banned after being declared a proscribed terrorist group .   Mr Netanyahu must be pleased . 

 Dear Mr Netanyahu , Sir , 

  It must warm the cockles of your heart to see those Palestine Action group rabble-rousers  declared a terrorist group under UK law .   Palestine Action has a minimum of 750,000 supporters , who risk a 14 year jail sentence if they don't zip their lips about your solution to the " Palestinian question " .  Of course , the outcome of this historic ruling remains to be seen . 

Some folk think that the great unwashed will back down , allowing you to press on with your final solution unhindered  . Others think that even more protests will erupt .  The team at The Sky Reply are too distant from the centre of the controversy to judge the situation .   Although here down under we have thus far eschewed the introduction of sweeping laws criminalising opposition to horrendous war crimes , one never knows when this might change .   Accordingly , the Kooralya chapter of the Free Palestine movement has decided to call itself  "  Palestine Inaction "  .    Obviously this is the grammatic opposite of " Palestine Action " , which means they could not be accused of supporting the newly proscribed terrorist group . 

The manifesto of Palestine Inaction is quite straightforward .  They use their right to peaceful protest to express their disgust at the inaction of governments who fail to support international law , and turn a blind eye to war crimes against Palestinian civilians .   

It's all very complex , Mr Netanyahu , is it not ?  Since you grew up in Philadelphia , and are almost my age , I imagine you would have seen Stanley Kubrick's great sword and sandal epic  " Spartacus " . 

Remember the penultimate scene ?    Spartacus steps forward to identify himself before Crassus , in the hope of sparing his comrades .  " I am Spartacus " , he says . 

But then , one by one , others come forward shouting " I am Spartacus ! " , in a courageous and moving  display of solidarity  . 

What if 750,000 come forward in support of Palestine Action ?   It costs 40,000 sterling each annum to keep one prisoner in jail .  That is 560,000 quid over a 14 year sentence .  Multiply that by 750,000 and  the figure starts to approach half a billion quid . And that is just the flagfall .  Half a billion quid is the equivalent of ten years of military aid to Israel supplied by the UK .  See the problem ? 

It makes no sense to waste 10 years of military aid cha-ching by incarcerating enough folk to seriously deplete the workforce and cripple the GDP of the UK .  Far better to simply tolerate the peaceful protests until they fade away due to the inclement weather occasioned by the inevitable onset of British winter . 

It may be annoying , but as everybody knows , you never hesitate to " turn the other cheek " for the sake of diplomacy and your long term goal of peace . 

Your comrade , 

Ken .  

 PS  Ken junior objected to this dispatch . 

" It was the British Government's decision to criminalise the protests, not Netanyahu  and the Israel lobby " , Ken junior said . 

" Was it ? " , I said .   

( Ken junior is at an awkward age , so I felt it best to humour him . ) 

 

 

 

 

Reference :- When the definition of a set is broadened , the number of members of the set increases .

 Reference :-  Antisemetism is on the increase . 

The repairs on our tele aerial failed to withstand the howling winds . This left us with  few options for entertainment , so we resorted to an outdated diversion known as "  conversation "  . 

What with all the talk of antisemetism these days , Gabbo ( himself occasionally subject to  racial discrimination )  was keen to talk about the definition of antisemetism . 

I won't bore you with the details of our long winded discussion , just the conclusion  . 

" It seems like you can't express concern about Gaza or the plight of the Palestinians in the West Bank or criticise Netanyahu without being accused of antisemitism  . " , Gabbo said . 

" Very true, Gabbo " , I said 

" What about the claim that antisemitism has been weaponised by the government of Israel to crush dissent and conceal war crimes ?  " , Gabbo said . 

" That is antisemitism  too " , I said 

 I enjoy being able to educate  the younger generations , and look forward to the day when I am asked to define " woke " . 

Your comrade , 

Ken.