I hold no brief for P Hanson who is a vacuous, shallow opportunist.

Neither do I know Jessica Rowe who, I gather, is a journalist married to a Sydney “media personality” but not the one who wears, I think, a red bandana.

I may be wrong, but then again, celebrity media couples in Sydney are ten cents a dozen.

They are not on my immediate opinion gathering radar.

Hanson, on the other hand, has been a one-off, whingeing, querulous, political loser posing as the voice of the people.

Unfortunately such individuals these days are also approaching ten cents a dozen and in all persuasions of the rainbow.

Apparently, Rowe interviewed Hanson for her podcast, The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show, giving the red terror yet another opportunity to sprout her mindless, disconnected tripe.

No, I don’t know where you can listen to the JRBTS nor am I in any hurry to find out, but others found the whole concept of someone giving Hanson airtime to hang herself with so unacceptable they demanded the blog be withdrawn.

It’s not as if making the podcast available was going to increase atmospheric carbon levels or raise global temperatures except in those who find her random illogicality terminally infuriating.

Australian of the year Grace Tame bowled the first ball when she declared: “Pauline doesn’t need help to be heard, but those whose oppression she’s both driven and reinforced do.”

Now forgive me, but I’ve had some close-up personal experiences with Australians of the year when it seemed to me the AOTY’s brief was to engage with all Australians, respective of their race, creed, gender, politics, opinions, location, blah, blah, blah — you know, the usual things.

That may annoy a particular AOTY but, like fleas and dogs, it goes with the gig.

What did Rowe do in the face of these indignant demands?

She retreated and asked the podcast be withdrawn.

Well, I’ll be a 1930s German librarian!

As a regular commentator, I seem to be able to annoy more than occasionally just about every side in a discussion, with stints even in the Facebook naughty corner to prove it.

You can guarantee a letter to your editor from one of Australia’s multitudinous self-appointed moral guardians is a sure sign you have got under their skin and annoyed them.

How satisfying is that feeling!

A personal letter is even more satisfying, particularly when they can’t even spell your name correctly.

If you don’t like what I write or you disagree with it, don’t read it. Simples!

Abstinence can be beneficial for your state of equilibrium.

That’s your choice, just as it’s my choice to hit the mute button or off switch when a particular person, commentator or program annoys me.

And increasingly the ABC.

I am not any less informed by that decision and my blood pressure remains at manageable levels even though, on occasions, I can’t help myself and delve momentarily into a masthead whose opinions I know will be disagreeable to me.

That’s usually when my other half directs a contemplative period in the home naughty corner.

However, I’ll continue to decide how to Rowe my own boat.

The decision to ignore Hanson should be mine and mine alone and not from the gratuitous intervention of a few noisome empty vessels.

After all, they are rapidly passing ten cents a dozen.

Ross Eastgate OAM is a graduate of the Royal Military College Duntroon and military historian who writes a weekly column on defence issues and blogs at Targets Down.

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