Kate
by KATE HUNTER
In times of trouble, some people turn to the Bible or the Koran, or to Twitter or Facebook, or websites like this one.
More and more, I’m turning back to books. Mainly I reach for To Kill A Mockingbird. I open it at random and ask, ‘What would Atticus do?’
Atticus Finch wasn’t a real man of course, just words beautifully arranged by a gifted writer, but his wisdom is real and it makes as much, if not more sense now as it did fifty-something years ago.
I picked up my copy again last night, exhausted after following the tawdry Alan Jones sideshow…
‘Well,’ (I’m paraphrasing Jones here) ‘I might have said something mean, but lots of people were mean to me first.’
‘Not as mean as you,’ the crowd yelled back, ‘You were super mean.’
‘Well, I didn’t mean to be mean publicly. And anyway, people pay me to say what I think and if that’s perceived as mean, then too bad.’
Blah blah blah.
What happened to turning the other cheek?
In all this, it seems to me the Prime Minister is the only person with the grace to do it. Is she too upset? Too angry? Too busy? Whatever her reasons for not engaging, I admire her reserve.
I tell my kids – as I’m sure plenty of parents do – it takes two to fight, but only one to stop it, and it doesn’t matter much who started it.
Today there are too many channels running fuel to the fires. Everyone wants to be right, everyone fights for the last word. We televise apologies and judge their sincerity. We call for boycotts and sackings, when the eloquence of silence would serve just as well, or better.
There’s a scene in To Kill A Mockingbird where an angry mob gathers in the Finchs’ front yard, trying to intimidate Atticus into giving up his defense of ‘that nigger.’
His kids were scared.
‘They wanted to get you, didn’t they?’ asked twelve year old Jem when the mob finally dispersed.
‘No son, those were our friends,’ replied Atticus gently.
Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch
Now, Atticus wasn’t talking about commenters on Twitter, or talkback radio hosts, but men who carried guns as easily as cans of Coke. He listened to them, talked with them, behaved like a reasonable man. He knew there would be no winners in the trial of a black man accused of raping a white girl, and that the only way to effect change was with persistent kindness.
Even when people insulted him and physically threatened his kids, he kept his fists down and his words pleasant. And he accepted being a part of a society that created the troubles in the first place.
‘This is their home,’ Atticus said when his sister suggested said the children should leave town until things calmed down, ‘We’ve made it this way for them, they might as well learn to cope with it. This (rape trial) is just as much Maycomb County as missionary teas.’
Later, when the father of the accuser spat in Atticus’s face all he said was, ‘I wish Bob Ewell wouldn’t chew tobacco.’
Atticus Finch remained friendly with people who used the word ‘nigger’, who condemned an innocent man to death, because he knew people change when they’re influenced by regular people living well, not by shouty mobs thundering outrage.
To put it in 2012 terms, he un-friended nobody.
Atticus Finch simply got on with his work, and with raising his kids to be decent people, in times far more threatening than ours.
Kate Hunter is an advertising copywriter with over 20 years experience and one Gruen Transfer appearance to her name. Kate is also the author of the Mosquito Advertising series of novels. You can buy them here.
Where do you turn to in times of trouble? (And it’s okay… we couldn’t read that sentence without singing the rest of the Beatles’ song either.)
Comments
67 Comments so far
I’d like to know when we lost our sensitivity to each other, and will we ever get it back? An old goat such as Alan Jones really seems to have no understanding of how others may feel. Perhaps he needs to step into another’s shoes, or consider how he would feel if someone had said that to his mother or wife.
But isnt this the bain of our society? Look around at all the wars that are started by petty disagreements. From as simple as a line in the sand representing a border, to more complex issues about faith.
One day we will figure out that our egos are the biggest destructive force on this planet and either we eat our humble pie and start to care about each other, or we kill each other off on a global level, as we see happening in Syria and Egypt. Many say WW3 is just around the corner. I don’t know if it is true, but it seems it wouldn’t take much to start it with egos of our magnitude. I hope we can channel our inner Atticus Finch next time we encounter an issue that sets us off.
loading...
Debra, I disagree with you in respect of the ego. I regard it as our most valuable asset and certainly I cultivate mine endlessly. BUT, it is vitally important, I think, that it is cultivated for the greater good of all. Imagine what could be done if we all used our egos in this way, and cultivated them towards this end.
loading...
Now that I totally agree with! But we haven’t used the ego in this way as yet, and therefore it has been our point of destruction! We need to use our egos in this way, and by that, we can turn the world around
loading...
I can’t see that any of this Alan Jones stuff is relevant, because Alan Jones himself isn’t relevant. From a phenomenological point of view, it is very useful and instructive in only one way – having a female Prime Minister, we can all now sit back and observe, as slowly, one by one, the real power-possessing misogynists are cloying together and revealing themselves for what they are. These people, as they reveal themselves, can then be completely ignored and discounted as unworthy of our attention.
loading...
so well said, thank-you
loading...
You’re welcome ‘anonymous’. I might add that we could call this period of time a “coming-out” for all the misogynists. I also add that my own father came out as a misogynist once – he was the senior research scientist for Water Resources and his direct superior was the Minister for the Environment and when at the age of 60 he got a female Minister (Janice Crozier) he retired early because he couldn’t stand the thought of working for a woman. As women become more and more visible and prominent politically and otherwise, we are going to see a lot of this “coming-out” of misogynists. Once we had gay people “coming out”. Now the misogynists are coming out, not voluntarily, but out of their own resentment for women they are condemning themselves.
loading...
That’s a really interesting point, Ali. Thanks.
loading...
I have read to kill a mocking bird 6 times. A classic beautiful master piece. I believe as well that the words relate to our social situation today.
loading...
WWAD?
loading...
Hehehe, I just googled images of Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch and who was on the second line of images? None other than our Kate Hunter!! You lucky lucky thing!
loading...
I’m sorry, I think this is pathetic. Invoking Atticus Finch to suggest that everyone should refuse to engage in the Alan Jones affair is equivalent to moral cowardice. The only one entitled to do this (for obvious reasons) is the Prime Minister, but I would expect her to go into bat on behalf of anyone else who had been abused in this way. Standing up for public decency is important, challenging bullies is important and demanding an improvement in the standards of public discourse is something that we should have tackled long ago.
loading...
Hey Lisa, Like so many others, I DID engage. I was on Twitter baying for blood over the weekend. Then I started to feel it was all getting a bit ugly, depressing and pointless. I’m glad the sponsors have pulled out, but I’m suspicious they’ll creep back with the listeners. Personally, I’m choosing to take a long term view. To vote with my ears and my wallet and you know … with my vote. Turning the other cheek is different to turning a blind eye.
loading...
I can’t agree with this.
There are some things we shouldn’t turn the other cheek to and shouldn’t be silent about. While silence doesn’t imply agreement with Jones’ comments, in this instance it would equate to moral cowardice.
Julia Gillard can, as the wronged person here, afford not to comment. She knows she has the high ground. But she has said she will never speak to Jones again, nor appear on his program. There is power in that sort of silence and refusal to engage.
Jones’ comments have garnered this reaction because they represent a symbolic bottoming-out point in the civility of our public discourse. In response, a line in the sand has been re-drawn, reminding those in public life about what’s fair game and what isn’t.
True, many of the attacks on Jones have themselves been less than civil. That’s regrettable, and certainly nothing Atticus Finch would condone. But let’s not lose sight of what’s brought us to this point, or the need to reclaim our polity from haters.
loading...
This is beautiful, and I love it!
I have a horrible habbit of fighting people who’s oppinons can’t or won’t be changed. This is a much better way of going about it.
From now on I’ll remeber to ask, “what would Atticus do?”.
Nice xx
loading...
What a lovely book. And interesting that author whose name escapes me somehow was a good friend of truman capote when he was writing in cold blood. anyway, To kill a mockingbird is a masterpeice. Just love the description of the porch swings, the gossips, the way childhood play of ghosts and monsters was soooo real and the way that ladies had to apply talcum powder by late morning (or somesuch). Yes I think in times like this there is much to be gained by retreating to re-read. And whenever I’m feeling un-empathetic I think about atticus’ advice to Scout about walking around in somebody else’s shoes.
loading...
Her name was Nellie Harper Lee, but she wrote was Harper Lee. She was actually friends with Truman Capote since childhood, and the character Dill Harris in ‘Mockingbird’ was based upon Truman.
loading...
Furthermore, Gregory Peck and Harper Lee became firm friends. One of his daughters named her daughter Harper.
loading...
One of my favourite books. I know people who became lawyers because of Atticus Finch. What an amazing man Harper Lee’s father must have been. One of my fave scenes in the book is when Sheriff Heck Tate hands Atticus a rifle and says, ‘You take him, Mr Finch’, when faced with the rabid dog. You’ll recall the kids thought their father was a decrepit old thing. Not that I’m endorsing Atticus Finch be handed a rifle and told to stop Alan Jones… LOL! It’s a joke, by the way. Please publish my comment.
loading...
Kate, you clearly have a thing for Atticus:
http://www.mamamia.com.au/parenting/the-best-parenting-book-you-will-ever-read/
Which to me means you clearly have great taste.
loading...
Good observation AllyL
What woman doesn’t have a thing for Atticus??
Looking forward to Kate’s next article: “Topless photos of Atticus Finch published by French magazine…” or “He’s a gentleman, great with kids, a lawyer… so why is Atticus still single?”
loading...
I like to imagine that in the sequel Atticus got together with Miss Maudie across the street.
loading...
YEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!
loading...
I love that we have a couple of people – Atticus and Miss Maude – in literature, but who don’t have a romantic relationship.
loading...
Wonder if all this romantic supposing would happen if Gregory Peck wasnt the face of Atticus
loading...
And funnily enough I posted a link to that article this week for my bookclub as we discussed TKAM this week, such a good book!
loading...
Jones spends ten years lying, cheating, abusing the law, hurting the innocent, crucifying the weak and spitting on truth, justice and freedom and the moment somebody complains, somebody says “shhhh. stop making a ruckus”.
I think you’ve confused Atticus Finch with a coward. Finch went to that court room and used the system to seek justice. That’s exactly what people want for Jones: justice. Justice for the lies. Justice for his hate. Justice for the lives he’s ruined and the disgusting world he has created. Your silence is his fleeing the town, Kate. And I won’t have it.
loading...
Hi Steve, I’m not saying we should sit on our hands and do nothing. The people we need to be influencing are Jones’s listeners – who might be our neighbours, parents, workmates. Calling them racist lying misogynists won’t do much good.To do that we need to do more than sign petitions and be outraged on Twitter.
loading...
Tit for tat name calling/bullying does nothing to solve the problem. It merely makes one a part of the wider problem.
loading...
Influencing Allan Jones’ listeners. Laugh. Scared, old, racists who live in Howards battler suburbs in Sydney. Would never have voted for anyone but LNP all their lives. Some would have voted DLP in the old days. The Abbott is close to Jones and sees him as mentor as per George Pell. The gulf in society is growing. The educated young who are this countries future will move towards more enlightened politics. As climate change bites all the idiots and climate change deniers will drop into irrelevance. The IPA, right wing shockjocks and the neo cons such as Abbott and co will fight for as long as possible against science and reason doing the bidding of the fossil fuel industry. Lets talk about how this planet is going to be unihabitable for our grandchildren rather than wasting time on the Jones of this world.
loading...
People like Alan Jones thrive on the attention. Take that away, and they’ll surely lose the fuel in their fire.
its just like my mum used to say – stop giving them a reaction and they’ll stop tormenting! mind you, she was talking about my younger brother!
loading...
Kate, I am proud to say that when I heard the comment that Alan Jone’s made referencing the PM’s late father I was appalled and disgusted. I didn’t doubt for a second that Jones needed a good telling off. A damn good telling off.
Day three, or is it four, and the damn good telling off has turned into a witch hunt.
You’re right. Atticus Finch un-friended no one. Having read the book, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, I can say that Atticus was a champion of justice who didn’t go on a witch hunt to find justice.
loading...
it is a lovely fiction and a lovely dream – a great story to be inspired by – but real life is a little different and can’t be scripted. Seriously, let’s all be silent in the face of bullying, prejudice, misogeny, racism? I don’t support an eye for an eye, or hate for hate, but taking a stand against basic indecency is important. There are serious issues in amongst all this. If someone said that my father had died of shame i hope everyone wouldn’t turn the other cheek. But then my father turned the other cheek and didn’t stand up for his family when they needed him most so i can’t really compare. You can’t reason with people like Alan Jones and he would likely have spat in the face of Atticus over and over and called on his followers to rise up against him. To respond or not respond is a choice you make in the face of each situation – in this one, as a country, i think it’s time we call enough is enough and do more to call out the bullies, not less. Many children have turned dangerously inward when they have tried to just ignore the actions and words of bullies. Silence and inaction is not the answer.
loading...
I think you’ve taken this too literally. The message I read from Kate’s words is don’t fight hate with hate, it makes us no better than Alan Jones himself when we responed with aggression.
How can the we keep the message of our dissapproval from being diluted when reverting to Jones’ own tactics to drive the point?
loading...
When law students are asked to name someone they admire, Atticus Finch is a common answer, which always fills me with hope. The other more recent way of assessing an ethical issue is to ask “what would Dumbledore do?”
loading...
“It is our choices, far more than our abilities, that show what we truly are”
Ahhhh Dumbledore! How I love you and Mr Finch!
loading...
Oh Kate… a voice of reason and clarity. Such a wonderfully written column.
loading...
Thanks kate for bringing a touch of class to a smutty news story. you rock
loading...
Outstanding work Kate! I hope Alan Jones reads it too. Tanny
loading...
I think that there is little chance that Alan Jones reads mamamia (he might be a more well rounded person if he did)!
loading...
WWAD? Second only to WWBD (What Would Buffy Do?)
loading...
“it takes two to fight, but only one to stop it, and it doesn’t matter much who started it.”
We named #2 son’s middle name Atticus, partly after Atticus Finch and partly for the Roman Titus Atticus who is often said to be the first publisher of books (he used slaves to copy books so they could be sold by him)
loading...
Tha’ts really interesting Renee, have you read the Robert Harris books about Cicero , another fine lawyer who was a friend of Titus Atticus?
loading...
Awesome artlcle!
Class is permanent. Insults and anger never make the person look gracious and always make you look weak and at times feral.
loading...
Lovely piece. I try to think along these lines. That throwing more mud just makes you muddier. Not sure I always succeed. I think though that I should go and re-read TKAMB. It’s been a while.
loading...
Off I go to dig out my very worn copy of To Kill A Mockingbird….awesome piece Kate.
loading...
To Kill A Mockingbird was the most formative text I read at school. It’s one of the reasons I went to law school (although my idealistic, bright eyed ideas of chasing justice and changing the world were quickly beaten out of me) and I consistently find myself asking WWAFD.
Great article!
loading...
After just reading divided and confusing opinion about all this in the australian i felt quite depressed then i happened on your lovely article. This has made my day or rather made me get on with my day and stop worrying about all the hate.
loading...
This is why Mockingbird is my favourite book. In a way, Atticus was a real person because the character was based on Harper Lee’s father.
Well done on such a good article.
loading...
Well said /written Kate!
loading...
i love that book and only read it for the first time a few years ago…great article, great message!!
loading...
Great post Kate, if only we all had the grace and humility as Atticus Finch, going to find my well read copy.
loading...
Beautifully written, as always, Kate.
loading...
Brilliant piece.
loading...
To Kill a Mockingbird is, to my mind, the greatest US novel if the 20th century. I love that book – sure its idealistic but there’s so much in him I would like to see in myself.
Thinking of the Jones saga, I remember Atticus’ advice to Scout about stepping inside another person’s skin and walking around in it for a while.
Too many of us fail to do it.
loading...
Greatest American novel. Cormac Mc Carthy “The Road”. by far. A love story of a father for his son and a terrible warning of what we could become. But only for grownup readers.
loading...
I want a What Would Atticus Finch do t-shirt and a What would CJ do t-shirt (West Wing)
loading...
YES!
loading...
Excellent article, however I doubt that Alan Jones asks what anybody else would do, he simple asks, “Now what would Alan do?”
I simply cannot get over that man (I know Attitus probably would). However, Years ago, my husband received a lot of publicity for his role in his chosen profession…and Alan Jones, a man my husband had never met, declared publicly, that he had taught my husband everything he knew!
My husband still to this day has never met Jones. Bizarre isn’t it? What would Atticus have done here?
loading...
What would Atticus Finch do? A question we should all be asking, more often.
Brilliant Kate, as always.
loading...
Ditto ditto
Dec reads To Kill a Mockingbird at school next term. I think I’ll get Cam to read it too. More people in the world need to have read it.
loading...
No, Bec.
There are some things we shouldn’t turn the other cheek to and shouldn’t be silent about. While silence doesn’t imply agreement with Jones’ remarks, in this instance it would equate to moral cowardice.
Julia Gillard can, as the wronged person here, afford not to comment. She knows she has the high ground. But she has said she will never speak to Jones again, nor appear on his program. There is power in that sort of silence and refusal to engage.
Jones’ comments have garnered this reaction because they represent a symbolic bottoming-out point in the civility of our public discourse. In response, a line in the sand has been re-drawn, reminding those in public life about what’s fair game and what isn’t.
True, many of the attacks on Jones have themselves been less than civil. That’s regrettable, and certainly nothing Atticus Finch would condone. But let’s not lose sight of what’s brought us to this point, or the need to reclaim our polity from haters.
loading...
Most sensible thing I have read here on the topic .
loading...
Well said.
loading...
Couldn’t agree more. Excellent article Kate. If more people took this approach the world would be a much nicer place!
loading...
I love that Mockingbird was mentioned here. I’m using it in my English class along with Twelve Angry Men as a companion text. I’m pleased to see that my students are really learning so much about life and the power of the individual to bring about change, then and now from these texts. Just shows that true wisdom never ages. I think there are definitely lessons wider society could learn from texts like To Kill a Mockingbird.
loading...
Kate – this is the most resonant thing I’ve read in a long time. “people change when they’re influenced by regular people living well”. Love it.
loading...
I love everything about this post, Kate. So many ideas to ponder…
Living with honour and grace need not be LOUD!
loading...