THE NAKED CITY: LOUD MOUTHS, BIG MOUTHS AND FOUL MOUTHS

The unsuccessful assassination of Donald Trump was greeted with both solemnity and outrage by many politicians and media commentators in this country. How much of it was actually genuine or heartfelt is hard to gauge given the intense dislike of Trump by numerous journalists and a number of politicians right across the spectrum. You would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in some of the less conservative newsrooms to hear the off the cuff comments. Of course it would have been a brave person to come out and vent their real feelings by saying it was a shame Trump was not removed permanently from the political landscape.

When Jack Black cancelled the remainder of the Tenacious D world tour after a throw away assassination joke on stage from his bandmate Gass, Black claimed he was blindsided by the remark – even though many in the audience responded with laughter. In a statement on Instagram he wrote “I would never condone hate speech or encourage political violence in any form.”

To some the cancellation of the tour seemed an extreme reaction when perhaps the immediate apology from Gass would have allowed it to continue. Some have suggested Black was simply protecting his lucrative Hollywood film career by taking such a drastic stance and avoiding the wrath of the conservative media when he returned to the US.

In Sydney, shock jock Kyle Sandilands responded by banning the duo from his program for life for the “don’t miss Trump next time” comment.  He spruiked “someone’s promoting the assassination of another human being? Seriously, regardless of whether you like someone or not, wanting someone killed and promoting it is the worst thing I’ve ever heard in my life”.

Whether that would include Vladimir Putin or Kim Jong Un or in the past Hitler, Mussolini or Pol Pot remains to be clarified but Kyle is the same radio presenter who in 2009 suggested on air that actress Magda Szubanski would lose considerable weight if she was confined to a concentration camp – amongst a plethora of similarly tasteless comments over the years.

Outrageous comments by the shock jock fraternity are an almost daily institution in the USA where freedom of speech is often taken to extremes. In 2004 the radio duo of Marconi and Tiny, broadcasting in Portland Oregon, were axed after airing an audiotape of the beheading of American Nick Berg by Iraqi militants. The tape was played repeatedly on their morning show overdubbed with comedy noises and a laughter track.

It’s no secret that the king of US shock jocks Howard Stern courted controversy daily and in 1995, following the fatal shooting of singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, he mocked her death by playing gunshots over her music. Using a fake Hispanic accent he broadcast, “this music does absolutely nothing for me. Alvin and the Chipmunks have more soul. Spanish people have the worst taste in music.” He was later forced to eat humble empanadas by apologising live on to the Hispanic community in Spanish.

There was obviously anger over the Trump shooting given the collateral damage that saw a rally attendee killed and two seriously injured, not to mention America’s sensibilities when it comes to political assassinations. This was certainly reflected in the concern of the Australian media coverage and the reactions of prominent politicians, regardless of their true feelings about Trump.

However in a country like the US where gun violence and mass shootings are a common occurrence, public reaction differs from one incident to another. The 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, that saw the deaths of 26 people, 20 of whom were children, brought mixed reactions from the American public. Many were genuinely shocked whilst others worried that it might bring about a reduction in the second amendment gun rights.

In Australia, history tells us that politicians who cross the line of public morality, whether by their actions or a series of appalling and contemptible statements, are often disowned by their party and banished to political oblivion. You have to ask whether any Australian pollie would have survived had he been secretly recorded on video referring to women in terms of his celebrity and status by stating:

“They let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy.”

Verified by the Washington Post, if was of course Donald Trump who made that sickening statement, overheard on a hot mic whilst chatting with Billy Bush from Access Hollywood. The rest of the recording is equally vile. MAGA voters weren’t particularly upset and it’s since been immortalised on bumper stickers, caps and t-shirts in the US – embraced by those who subscribe to Trump’s litany of lies, abuse and bullshitting.

Here in Australia with our coverage of the current election race, Trump’s past misogyny is of little concern. The bizarre and disturbing political soap opera currently taking place is all that matters, with few journalists and commentators from the mainstream prepared to dig really deep into the new messiah’s long and often well documented history of sleazy behaviour – not to mention a grab bag of mixed psychosis.

Check out – https://www.psychopac.org/ and https://youtu.be/JrvlkiHmTos