While 99 per cent of people lead normal, reasonably balanced lives, in which the emotions of life and death are seen as vastly more important than party politics, inside Australia's media bubble there's a group of activists with a different mindset. They regard all aspects of life as inherently political.
Thus for Bolt, Whitlam's death had nothing to do with the passing of a father, a grandfather, a brother – the mournful sorrow of a grieving family. It was solely a political event, requiring a right-wing response.
But it wasn't just Bolt. If the sounds of fury in his household had been one-off, an aberrant domestic dispute between husband and wife, it might have been possible to ignore his vindictiveness.
]Regrettably, Bolt's response was typical of the right-wing hunting pack.
Like a gang of skinheads kicking over tombstones, Gerard Henderson, Greg Sheridan, Miranda Devine and Rowan Dean also rushed into print, vilifying Whitlam within days of his death
In a piercing commentary on his own values, Henderson said that
[praise of the former prime minister had made him unwell, forcing him to "lie on the floor with a wet towel on his forehead
".
This is part of a pattern in our national life –
an echo of Alan Jones' slur that Julia Gillard's father had "died of shame
".
Australian conservatives don't do death well
Rhetorically, they claim to respect the institutions of family and democracy, but in moments of loss and personal tragedy,
their true nature surfaces displaying a subhuman meanness of spirit
.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/critics-display-meanness-of-spirit-on-whitlams-dea...And the roids are whinging that someone booed the Lying King. Hypocrites...
Forum
Pages: 
