Oh, the irony! Human Rights Commission appears to have received a s18C Racial Discrimination Act complaint from a Twitter troll. **WARNING: Offensive Language/Graphic Image**

Snapshot from ABC Media Watch Episode 28 on 11 August 2014

Excerpt from Mike Carlton’s The Sydney Morning Herald column on 24 July 2014 which elicited a very hostile response:

The onslaught is indiscriminate and unrelenting, with but one possible conclusion: Israel is not fighting the terrorists of Hamas. In defiance of the laws of war and the norms of civilised behaviour, it is waging its own war of terror on the entire Gaza population of about 1.7 million people. Call it genocide, call it ethnic cleansing: the aim is to kill Arabs.

As none other than Malcolm Fraser tweeted this week: "If any other country went to war killing as many civilians, women and children, it would be named a war crime." But it is not, although the UN is asking the question of both sides.

Yes, Hamas is also trying to kill Israeli civilians, with a barrage of rockets and guerilla border attacks. It, too, is guilty of terror and grave war crimes. But Israeli citizens and their homes and towns have been effectively shielded by the nation's Iron Dome defence system, and so far only three of its civilians have died in this latest conflict. The Israeli response has been out of all proportion, a monstrous distortion of the much-vaunted right of self defence.

Carlton asserts he was then subjected to a barrage of abusive emails on his Gmail account and I tend to believe him. Unfortunately, in tit-for-tat, he was less than polite in his replies.

News Corp now reports that two 18C Racial Discrimination Act 1975 complaints have been received by the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Unless there has  been a third complaint, the second complainant appears to be Simon Goldstein (@simongolds), who until his Twitter account was suspended last week (presumably for offensive, abusive, racist language and graphic images) described himself as a Jewish-Australian teen, UQ student, anti-Hamas, Pro-Israel, Young Liberal! Brisvegas, QLD.

This is the last photo of himself Simon posted on his account and this is his message:

Simon's account appears to have a distasteful history: 

Unfortunately, I rather suspect that the Human Rights Commission will never be fully aware of the pressure that trolls hunting in packs can bring to bear, especially if they are encouraged by the attitude of Murdoch’s minions.

On the other hand, I'm sure the Liberal Party is well aware of the vile side of the Young Liberals organisation and appears to tolerate its members' excesses. 

'like a cane toad in a rose garden'

Sydney Morning Herald columnist Mike Carlton has provided some wonderful imagery in a piece he wrote about Chris Kenny, a scribe who pens pieces for The Australian.

In today's Herald Carlton wrote (in part):

The Tories and their army of media toadies wage their war on the ABC with increasing fury, sniping here, a charge from the big battalions there.
Whimpering in the trenches is one Chris Kenny, once a factotum to Lord Downer at the peak of his global glory, now a minor columnist for The Australian and a hugely unwatched talking head for Sky News. As he tells anyone who'll listen, he is much insulted by a Chaser comedy sketch on ABC TV last September which showed him Photo-shopped, pants down, apparently in carnal congress with a canine.

.......

Queensland's finest legal mind, the saponaceous George Brandis, is also up in arms. As federal Attorney-General, he is outraged by the ABC's mockery of Kenny. But, perversely, he remains bent on removing section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act, thus clearing the way for Melbourne's village idiot, Andrew Bolt, to resume his racist sneering at indigenous Australians. So it's OK to rubbish black academics but not Murdoch hacks.
It was hilarious watching Soapy bluster his way around this daft contradiction on Q&A last Monday. Seated next to the fragrant Lisa Wilkinson, squat and unblinking, he looked like a cane toad in a rose garden. No doubt he would defend to the death my right to say this.

Sauce Source: SMH, 15/3/14

Another north coast voice on the wider stage

Letter to the Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 March 2014

Beware the glass house

I see the G8 is likely to be cut back to G7 in response to Russia's actions in the Crimea (''Australia may use G20 role to pressure Putin'', March 4). Will this necessarily lead to a further drop to a G5 as the West tries to evade accusations of hypocrisy by no longer ignoring the illegalities of the British and American invasion of Iraq?

Perhaps Putin's real offence was in ignoring correct protocol by not first alleging that Ukraine had weapons of mass destruction. Without this important first step others might think that its aim was just to try to maintain contact with its Black Sea naval fleet and naval base, or in the case of Blair and Bush, just to steal some oil. The world is much more forgiving if at least the courtesy of a plausible excuse is given beforehand.

Dermot Nunan 
Maclean NSW

Source: SMH Letters, 5 March 2014

About those Coalition promises

       

A Clarence valley resident's view of the Coalition's promises

Work Choices: "Dead buried and cremated?" This has now become Tony Abbott's biggest lie yet. SPC were offered $25 million if they would put their workers back on the minimum wage only, which is $16.90 per hour, meaning a loss of $15,000 to $20,000 per year, which would send these workers who are paying off home and car loans bankrupt. Another proposal that Abbott is making is that the workers can trade off their penalty rates if they wish to change their hours of work. This is the start of the smashing of the conditions that we the unionists fought for over the years so that our children and grandchildren will be entitled to a decent day's pay for a fair day's work. This could eventuate into being the demise of all workers' rights.

Promises that were made before the election seem to mean nothing to this Coalition. What they told the electorate to get elected is completely different to what they are doing since they were elected.

Charles Lincoln Gulmarrad

Source: SMH, 22/2/14