It's at the gutter level, it's pure playground childish taunts and rants, not debate.
I agree some posters try to engage on policy but they're few and far between and it can be exhausting dealing with the constant barrage of rubbish.
Surely this forum reflects the media environment where the ammo is coming from. The Murdoch press is genius at feeding the public appetite for gossip, smut, intrigue and nonsense. Let alone the genius tendency to confuse opinion with fact...factoid rubbish.
So it's almost inevitable that, instead of substantive policy discussion, posters on the forum trawl through this nonsense and indulge in petty smut wars. It's impossible to get those moderated as off topic but clearly they are.
Then you have media monster that must be fed 24/7 and politics is a very unattractive proposition indeed for anyone who doesn't have a bland, mistake free CV. Anyone who hasn't made mistakes, hasn't lived.
Gillard's step daughter (if is that is who the person in the pic is) clearly is making some whopper mistakes...especially with the tatts. The photo shoot was a bit of a mistake. Is she likely to try to enter Parliament? There are some MPs with tatts who keep them well hidden, so the chances are that as a result of the photos shoot, she might not make it.
The more interesting issue, surely around decision making is, has she had the same advantages in life that the Abbott north shore girls have had?
It seems like you would really have to work at failure if you are an Abbott daughter, because it's all set up for you to succeed.
You aren't allowed to ask these questions because you'll be accused of envy and class war.
But those are the serious questions that are worthwhile asking, IMO.
