When men talk about feminism on television
Poor old Weekend Sunrise.
How could the show possibly known in advance that if it put Mark Latham on live to debate gender politics that it would lose control of the segment.
So how could its “special investigation” into whether men are misunderstood – “Does society need to have more empathy for me?” – possibly do anything but bring greater understanding for the issue that’s so well suited to breakfast television?
After all, Latham’s recent appearances on the likes of Karl Stefanovic’s debate show The Verdict and his clash with Jonathan Green at the Melbourne Writers festival went so smoothly.
Dr Mumbo did come away feeling sorry for host Andrew O’Keefe though, who arguably could’t win whatever he did.
If AOK had remained silent, he’d have looked complicit in Latham’s personalised attacks. But in the end, his vocal defence of feminism left talking over his female guests while they tried and for the most part failed to get in on the action.
Eventually, The Guardian’s Van Badham did get a word in edgewise from the Melbourne studio. But The Telegraph’s Miranda Devine must have wondered why she’d given up her weekend lie-in to join them on the sofa while co-host Angela Cox didn’t get to do much more than point her pen.
Dr Mumbo imagines the atmosphere between everyone must have been terrific in the studio after the segment ended.
Come on. Mark Latham won that stoush hands down. He called out AOK for being the left wing participant that he is and VB for the anarchist left wing nutjob she is. He also provides bloody good entertainment, and that’s the name of the game.
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Nobody books Latham hoping for reason and perspective. The book him hoping for a shitstorm that people will talk about later.
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I think Mark Latham is obnoxious, arrogant, and rude – but in this ‘debate’, I think that he wasn’t the one in the wrong. Obviously a lot of his comments helped nothing and his views will never change, but the other participants made unsubstantiated claims that they treated like gospel truth, yelled over him, and smugly brushed off whatever he was saying.
Latham’s big problem is he blunty states his opinion on touchy subjects which always gets a response like that. For example, his point about Women’s only carriages is completely fair, and something that I’d never considered. I’m not against the idea of women’s only carriages but the fact that O’Keefe and Van Badham acted like he was a disgusting fool for raising it just shows them to be the lesser in the argument.
Worst of all, as a host, O’Keefe was smug and childish.
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Well done Mark Latham, articulated what needed to be said, if these lightweight breakfast hosts want to have serious debates they need to lift their game a few notches.
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I never in a million years thought I would defend Latham, but yeah he was probably the most sensible through this debate.
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Well thank goodness for the comments here. Empathy for men is obviously alive and kicking, which is an enormous relief given how marginalised and overlooked they are
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I think that’s pretty hard on the co-host. Out of all of them she was able to diffuse the situation and argue that personal attacks are a bit childish. I thought it came across as mature and professional.
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Gee Mark is not very nice in this interview.
Even if his view differs from everyone else’s, he really didn’t put his view forward in a way that it could be even considered, instead it just turned into a shouting match.
A OK is alright, he is a good host and a decent communicator… even if he was inserting his own opinion, as the host ge should have been given the respect deserved for being in charge of a national television show.
We seem to think it’s OK to lose respect for others when things aren’t going our way.
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Mark is my hero. A lone voice of common sense in the face of overwhelming political correctness.
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Mr OKeefe could hardly be mistaken for a good host, when he attempts to grandstand and polish his own escutcheon with a populist argument disguised as his own principals and personal opinion.
This was a clambering for the medal of honour, in the fine old populist style.
The drivers were looking for a controversial game, and they got it, too bad the team was not up to fielding and controlling the ball in play.
When playing the ratings game in cut price television, controversial male/ female stouches, angry loud men finger pointing, and women bleating for peace in our time, is what the field is set for. It stands in place of drama, and is so much cheaper to produce. Tie this in with a cash give-away, and you have a solid formula for cheap-side television production.
Real debate and solid facts on the subject, are the last things required by such an exercise.
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O’keefe you are a CLOWN
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