Contrary to lefty Murdoch-derangement, one thing I’ve noticed about the Murdoch media compared to, say, the Age, Guardian or ABC is the genuine range of opinions. After all, the Australian regularly gives column space to the likes of Phillip Adams and Peter van Onselen. Where is the equivalent in the echo-chambers of the left-media? Try to imagine Chris Kenny getting a spot in the Grauniad. The ABC is such a lefty wasteland that it literally called its one show hosted by a ‘conservative’ (in actual fact a wet, blue-green Liberal ‘moderate’), Counterpoint.
Unfortunately, that commitment to ‘broad church’ commentary means we also have to put up with regular columns by Nikki Gemmell.
Oh, lord. In the dictionary under ‘fatuous middle-class white feminist’, it has Gemmell’s photo. It’s a strange kind of masochism that has me still reading her interminable whining about the most inconsequential bullshit in the entire universe. This is the writing of a someone with so little to complain about that her life is apparently dominated by such riveting questions as how to share newspapers properly in cafes, the awfulness of large trucks and the wonderfulness of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. We’ll let that last one speak for itself.
This week, we were treated to the terrifying spectacle of having to share a dinner party with La Gemmell. Which I imagine to be a circle of Hell to horrible for even Dante to describe. Or an episode of The View.
Showcasing the middle-class white feminist’s particular brand of non-self-awareness, Gemmell wonders why men can’t get a word in edgewise amidst all the clucking and chattering.
This exact situation played out at a recent dinner party. Ten of us. All coupley and cosy in that dinner party way (which I usually shy away from as a stricken introvert), but this was a fascinating social experiment. All males around me, and to keep the flow I was constantly hitting balls to them in the form of questions. None were returning serve, not a single one. All lovely men, and all endlessly expounding on their work, health and interests without any curiosity in return – as if this was as expected from the pliant conversation assistant in their midst.
So… she was constantly grilling them with an endless stream of yakety-yak and wondering why they didn’t do the same? Most likely they were just too exhausted from dealing with the non-stop barrage.
The lack of self reflection gets even more stunning.
Is it about cementing a certain status? Have they been socialised to dominate a conversation? Do they expect the female to be silent, servile, accommodating?
She’s just admitted that she’s the one dominating the conversation. Did she not notice this little slip? Probably they were silently praying she would be silent, for just five seconds. Please, God, make her at least stop to draw breath.
To lob one of her own questions back at her: ‘Is it just utter cluelessness’ that makes her prattle this conceited tripe?
To again paraphrase her own words: ‘I suspect so: many lovely [women] have absolutely no idea they’re doing this.’
But the flip side of all this is that magical, breath-of-fresh-air man who actually asks questions. Who has the courage to be honest. Vulnerable. Male daters take note: Women remember the man with the questions. The one who shows a genuine interest in another’s life. Because my single girlfriends all agree: the man of generosity, who asks the questions, is striking amid a sea of the incurious.
He’s also almost certainly gay.
The comments on the article by male readers should make food for self reflection. Should. As if the average white middle-class feminist would for an instant actually listen to anything a man has to say, rather than reflexively screeching in outrage:
Better to keep silent than risk a public execution for transgressing the woke orthodoxy. Congratulations to contemporary leftist feminism for silencing men into indifference […]
Perhaps they were terrified they would end up the subject of yet another of your negative articles? […]
Yeah right, ask questions and next thing a bloke will be up on the woman’s Facebook chat as ‘prying, creepy, the whole conversation was a stalkfest...’
Feminists like Gemmell have spent decades bullying men with exactly the same vicious tactics they bully other women with, then they’re outraged that men are too wary to even talk to them. But even that sees them damned as ‘incels’.
