The profession of opinion.

In my search for information about our local Labor candidate Francis Ventura, I can across this written by Andrew Bolt on his blog quoting Ventura's blog (now with no content!) ::

But the circus continues, with Ventura letting fly on the flag and the Queen, whom he rates lower than a “local community volunteer”:

I’ll put this bluntly. I oppose our current flag. I accept it for now because it is ours, but I don’t think it truly represents us.
For one, we are not British. Despite the convict past, this country is not British, like it or not. The Queen is irrelevant here. We are not an aristocracy; I would pay the Queen as much respect as I would pay anyone else. Apart from being born into royalty, she does not compare to true heroes such as William Cooper, Martin Luther King, Ghandi and all the local community volunteers who try to make this world a better place. This country will require a flag change, and we need to reject the Monarchy at the next referendum on the republic. The Republic of Australia, sounds good, doesn’t it? We have built our own nation, Britain is no longer significant.

A word to the student. The name of your hero is actually Gandhi. 

What disturbed me was the last line. It was disingenuous and condescending.

It made me wonder why a person would go on the attack over someone's spelling. It was trivial compared to the main point about the flag and republic.

I seems to me that for some people its a profession. That Bolt and the shock jocks are paid for strong opinion and in the process, just be nasty.

I don't mind stong opinion. It actually helps me contrast and form my own opinion more sharply.

The nastiness just makes me lament the world and the nature of humanity. Where is the generosity of spirit. The first commandment of loving your neighbour as yourself?