It was Gareth Evans at the time of Bob Hawke’s demise in December 1991 who metaphorically tapped Hawke on the shoulder and said:- “
“𝐏𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐠”
He could just as easily have been talking to and tapping Albo over his blind support of the voice.
Albo’s remarks when speaking about the voice and the full 25 page document that “I haven’t read it. Why would I?”, speaks to something more broadly, and that is the tendency for people generally not to read but at the same time to have an opinion about something they admit not to having read anything about.
Just like Albo.
Just think about that for a minute.
The Prime Minister is trying to sell us on a concept designed to permanently change the constitution and the way we are governed but about which and by his own admission, he hasn’t read.
Research indicates that to the extent that people read the news, they barely read past the first 5 or 6 paragraphs and then form their views based on that cursory glance.
Albo’s robust and upbeat comments about the voice are just another high profile example of this phenomenon.
Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh used to refer to the “drive by media” when referring to the media’s cosmetic and artificial approach to news events sparing the detail and going for the “if it bleeds it leads” shock, horror, bombshell headline hit.
With the development and proliferation of social media I have refined and ramped this by tweaking Limbaugh’s bon mot as “drive by opinion”.
That is, social media allows for anyone to comment on anything at all without any knowledge of the subject. And it’s all too obvious.
It’s similar to driving through a small town or a suburb and making an assessment of the place and the people who live there from inside the cocoon of your air condition bubble after cruising down the main street on your way through.
“Drive by opinion” is the perfect analogy for what passes for much debate and commentary today, even from the Prime Minister.