Former Trot-turned-neo-con Keith Windschuttle is a stooge.
In essence, in its January 2009 edition, Quadrant, which the windy Windschuttle edits, published an article that was not only bad but fraudulent, and this fact has been exposed in today’s Crikey. See: How Windschuttle swallowed a hoax to publish a fake story in Quadrant, January 6, 2009. (Margaret Simons has more deets: More on the Hoaxing of Keith Windschuttle | Let slip the dogs of culture war…hoax updates | More Hoax Updates – Dogs of Culture War | More Follow Ups on Hoax… | More from The Australian on the Hoax.)
Personally, I’m not sure what all the fuss is bout. After all, this is the same corporate-sponsored, squinty-eyed little rodent what reckons “To describe the process [of colonisation of Australia] as ‘genocide’ is to use hyperbole that is unsupported by the historical evidence” — to acclaim from all the usual suspects. (Not known for having much of a sense of humour, a certain taste for the absurd is nevertheless revealed in the following: “Quadrant magazine is the leading general intellectual journal of ideas, literature, poetry and historical and political debate published in Australia.”) The article itself is just another in the continuing greenwash of corporate scientific prerogatives — of a kind that the other former Marxist revolutionaries of the Revolutionary Communist Party specialise in.
In The UnAustralian, Mister Windschuttle complains that “Crikey editor Jonathan Green should be aware that his publication’s involvement in the manufacture of this story is unethical. Green should counsel his writers on the meaning of the term beat-up and inform them that when a publication gets a reputation for such practices, it loses its readers in droves,” he said. In response, Crikey editor Jonathon Green said: “Look it was a good story and it’s not my job to save Keith Windschuttle from himself”.’ (Keith Windschuttle admits Quadrant ‘hoax’, Samantha Maiden, The Australian, January 6, 2009).
Quadrant also has the dubious privilege of having published former National Action Fuehrer Michael (de) Brander on ‘Alexander Solzhenitsyn and the West’ in the March 2005 edition.
See also : Windschuttle on Chomsky (April 16, 2008) | Windschuttle on Chomsky (2) (April 17, 2008) | Scare Campaigns and Science Reporting, Sharon Gould, Quadrant, Volume LIII Number 1-2, January-February 2009.
The Windschuttle That Shakes the Blogosphere: the biter gets bit (overland) | Windschuttle Sokaled (Larvatus Prodeo).
This is hilarious.
I’ve studied this loathsome character from three angles in my education. First, in Aboriginal History since settlement (invasion), where academics laughed at him, then were shocked at his academic ineptitude/prejudice, then were appalled when the Howard/neo-con assault on history made it acceptable to publish this drivel in the national paper.
Second, I studied his ‘work’ in terms of epistemology in history. Ralph Schlomowitz asked in a 2005 seminar whether Windschuttle’s ‘work’ should be considered history by other historians. I argued that to include his material we would have to redefine history; to approach a subject with such a deliberate and stated bias is quite difficult to justify in logic and philosophy when we place so much value on empirical methods.
Third, I studied his work as a part of the international neo-con (ie revisionist) trend of history inspired (and sponsored) by the Thatcher/Reagan revolution. It’s interesting that it took so long for it to infect Australian history (ie beginning in late ’90s) than it did the rest of the world.
I just found a quote from an essay I did five years ago re:Windschuttle, racism and history. This is Uncle Keith’s idea of Islam. When comparing ‘Islam’ to ‘the West’, he writes: “Western superiority in every major area of human endeavour, especially political and individual liberty, is patently obvious to everyone.” I hadn’t read that quote for a couple of years, but it still takes my breath away. Reference is: Windschuttle, K., ‘The Cultural War on Western Civilization’, New Criterion, January 2002, Vol. 20, No. 5, p.4.
That’s all for now, will check back later. As you can tell @ndy, I’m quite passionate on the subject so if you want any refs or have a question or input, please post it here.
RAHOWA!
“It’s interesting that it took so long for it to infect Australian history (ie beginning in late ’90s) than it did the rest of the world.” This may be related to the fact that Fatcher’s Britain began in 1979, Reagan’s rule a year later, while Oz enjoyed a Labor Gubmint ’til ’96.
14!88!Hutt hutt hutt!
You guys are *such* lefties, wasn’t (Political)WindShuffle one? Shouldn’t he have figured this out since he used to be down and knew their ways?
Okay I see you did say he was a ‘Trot’, well there you go, ADD here, was he a full blown communist though or really the ice-pick-in-the-back-of-the-head-guy follower? You know you say trot to me and straight away I’ll say ‘trots’ in correction and ask why did he choose to race the buggy behind the horse.
Keef is a member of the chattering classes, and received his unholy baptism in Godless Communism at the University of Sydney in the late ’60s. In ’68 he edited Honi Soit. He also edited a leftist publication called Old Mole in 1971.
“…There was a moment in the mid-late 1970s when the CPA newspaper, Tribune, still sold 6000-7000 copies, the SWP [DSP] newspaper, Direct Action, was selling a similar number and so was the SLL [SEP] newspaper Workers News, which means between them socialist newspapers were selling about 20,000 Australia-wide. That approached the level of the CPA’s sales of its press at its peak during in the late 1940s…”
Keith Windschuttle denies existence of outrage at his ABC Board appointment
The Chaser
Thursday, 29 June 2006
Controversial historian Keith Windschuttle has dealt with the storm over his appointment to the ABC Board in his customary fashion, publishing an article in Quadrant denying its existence. “I have seen no proof of any outrage and can only conclude it does not exist,” he said. “And I reject the suggestion by lesser, evidence-based historians that I should try reading newspapers, listening to the radio or checking my email.”
Windschuttle finds that squinting helps him not to see indisputable historical fact
Howard said that the criticism of Windschuttle’s appointment was typical of what he termed the ‘black armband’ view of the ABC board. “People shouldn’t be wringing our hands over the negative aspect of the Government’s appointments to the ABC Board,” he said. “They should instead look at the positive aspects, such as the fact that we haven’t appointed Alan Jones yet.”
The Friends of the ABC’s reaction to Windschuttle’s appointment was mixed. “Ordinarily, we would think this was a disgrace of the highest order,” a member said. “But compared to Janet Albrechtsen and Ron Brunton, he’s highly qualified and politically moderate.”
It’s understood that the next vacancy on the board will be Eddie McGuire, signing up for one of the only jobs in television he doesn’t already hold. “We figure he has so many conflicts of interest that he’ll be refreshingly independent,” Communications Minister Helen Coonan said.
ABC staff are in favour of the appointment because unlike all previous appointees, McGuire has actually set foot inside a TV station before.
The Government said it had toyed with the idea of appointing someone independent who had relevant broadcasting experience and the best interests of the national broadcaster at heart, but ultimately decided not to overturn decades of ABC board tradition.
Being a former commie just makes me think he’s an opportunist and an Era Surfer – 60s and 70s everyone wanted to be a goddamn hippie, Clint Eastwood and Leigh Matthews almost singlehandedly saved men and mankind during this period. In the 80s it was a time of transition and the 90s and 2000s were the rise of the neo-cons. It’s surprising how many neo-cons were former commie sympathisers, and how this Democratic Revolution is the key to success and salvation for the Middle East and Central Asia. Sounds like the ol 60s and 70s lefties to me.
“This may be related to the fact that Fatcher’s Britain began in 1979, Reagan’s rule a year later, while Oz enjoyed a Labor Gubmint ’til ‘96.”
Perhaps, but these broad changes in historical opinion seem to have their own dynamism and agency; they are not completely reliant on governmental politics, but can certainly be supported by such. The ideologivcal minefield of post-War German historiography is one, albeit extreme, example of this.
While we did shift to the economic right with the Hawke/Keating govts, we didn’t take on the full neo-con ideology til Howard, and even then only reluctantly in some areas.
Now that I think of it, the insularity of Australian history has a lot to do with it. When we used to look to ‘Mother’ England, every rewriting of history had relevance to Australia, but since we discovered our own history around the ’60s, international trends in history do not translate as easily into the Australian version.
Hmmm, will think about this one.
I wish we had a Barack Obama instead of Rudd. How can Rudd let his Soul Glo?
I’m not plugging it, I’m onto my 8th beer and wonder why we can’t let out soul glo.
You guys are either mean or brainwashed. Windschuttle’s fact-based work is just like Thucydides in the bland reportage of available facts. Spin it how you like, he’s the Westerner par excellence, and I suggest you look up the old English words “sedition” and “treason” in your dictionaries, because to NOT see the self-evident validity of the below statement is denial – that is, you Don’t Even Know You’re Actually Lying.
“Western superiority in every major area of human endeavour, especially political and individual liberty, is patently obvious to everyone.”
Good luck escaping the academic indoctrination!
Windschuttle as latter-day Thucydides?
Huh.
I didn’t know Unkle Keef had Greek parents.
The moar you know…