So 2015 ends as it begins with no major improvement to the ABC's news service. A new MD in March but no promise of any changes in editorial content or quality.
Anyway wishing you all a Merry Christmas and best wishes for the coming leap year.
An eye on ABC NEWS: Keeping the bastards who keep the bastards honest - honest.
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Friday, June 5, 2015
Winding Down
Short post to let readers know, if you hadn't guessed already that posting is on hold for the time being as more important things take precedence.
If you have any interesting ABC stories suggest passing them on to Media Watch Dog - follow the link on the right.
If you have any interesting ABC stories suggest passing them on to Media Watch Dog - follow the link on the right.
Friday, April 10, 2015
Missing Curry: Availability Cascades
Judy Curry remains one the few sensible people in academia when it comes to Climate Change. Her latest post explores the notion of Availabiity Cascades and Climate change...
Is climate change making us stupid? I fear that the answer is ‘yes.’ This problem is exacerbated by politically correct climate change orthodoxy, enforced by politicians, advocates and the media in an availability cascade, which is destroying our ability to think rationally about how we should respond to climate change. As a result, we have created a political log-jam over this issue, with scientists caught in the cross-fire.
Is climate change making us stupid? I fear that the answer is ‘yes.’ This problem is exacerbated by politically correct climate change orthodoxy, enforced by politicians, advocates and the media in an availability cascade, which is destroying our ability to think rationally about how we should respond to climate change. As a result, we have created a political log-jam over this issue, with scientists caught in the cross-fire.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Missing NEWS: 25 years of satellite temperature monitoring
AS ABC are unable to look outside their groupthink culture on climate change we just thought you'd like to know that its been 25 years since Roy Spencer and John Christie started monitoring global temperatures by satellite.
The graph below a nice summary of their findings.
A chart put together by John Christy, director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, that reflects how the temperature satellite data (the green line) contrasts with temperature models SOURCE
A recent interview with Roy and John to mark the occasion appears HERE. It won't be on the ABC.
The graph below a nice summary of their findings.
A chart put together by John Christy, director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, that reflects how the temperature satellite data (the green line) contrasts with temperature models SOURCE
A recent interview with Roy and John to mark the occasion appears HERE. It won't be on the ABC.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Pre-1910 Stevenson Screens - BOM does not know!
Australia has a rich history of scientific endeavour. For weather observations most states had standardised Stevenson Screens installed by the 1890s yet the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) only extend its official national temperature series back to 1910, conveniently skipping over the Federation Drought when temperatures appear to be higher than present. Through correspondence with the Federal Government's environment Minister Greg Hunt (see reply from the BOM below) we find that the BOM does not even know precisely how many stations were fitted with Stevenson Screens or when this occurred. Worth repeating. Our premier meteorological organisation fueled by $100's of millions of tax dollars, that is tasked with the responsibility for looking after our weather data, does not know where or when Stevenson Screens were installed, and is unable to supply this data in a digital format. The hand written ledgers probably collecting dust and disintegrating somewhere in BOM's data vault. Un - %$&##$@ - believable!
The enabling legislation for the BOM includes the following functions
Sadly the BOM is clearly not fulfilling its functions. Sadly the government couldn't care less.
Sent Environment Minister Greg Hunt
The enabling legislation for the BOM includes the following functions
(1) The functions of the Bureau are:
(a) the taking and recording of
meteorological observations and other observations required for the purposes of
meteorology;
(b) the forecasting of weather and of
the state of the atmosphere;
(c) the issue of warnings of gales,
storms and other weather conditions likely to endanger life or property,
including weather conditions likely to give rise to floods or bush fires;
(d) the supply of meteorological
information;
(e) the publication of meteorological
reports and bulletins;
(f) the promotion of the use of
meteorological information;
(g) the promotion of the advancement
of meteorological science, by means of meteorological research and
investigation or otherwise;
(h) the furnishing of advice on
meteorological matters; and
(i) co‑operation with the
authority administering the meteorological service of any other country
(including a Territory specified under subsection 4(2)) in relation to any of
the matters specified in the preceding paragraphs of this subsection.
Sadly the BOM is clearly not fulfilling its functions. Sadly the government couldn't care less.
Sent Environment Minister Greg Hunt
February 18, 2015
RE:
Availability of data from weather stations with standard instrumentation prior
to 1910
Dear
Minister,
The Bureau
of Meteorology currently produce a series of homogenised weather products (eg
ACORN). These only extend back to 1910 due apparently to the lack of standard
equipment (Stevenson Screens) across the country. However a large number of
weather stations had Stevenson screens installed prior to 1910.
I recently
enquired with the BOM about the availability of data for one such station at
the former Musgrave Telegraph Station in northern Queensland (refer email
attached) and was advised that records prior to 1991 have not been digitised.
This
station, and others along the telegraph line were equipped with Stevenson
Screens and appropriate thermometers and rain gauges from 1887. It is
remarkable given the controversy surrounding climate data that our Nation’s
repository of weather data have not digitised and made available the complete
data record for stations such as this (ie stations with standard equipment) so
they can be incorporated into national climate data or made available for use
by university and independent researchers.
Can the
Minister provide an answer the following simple questions:
1. How many
of the nation’s weather stations had Stevenson Screens installed prior to 1910?
2. Which of
the nation’s weather stations had Stevenson Screens installed prior to 1910?
3. Will the
minister ensure that data from these stations is digitised and made freely
available online for study?
Regards
Marc
Hendrickx
The Minister's minion at the Bureau replies. Astonishingly, when it comes to Stevenson Screens, BOM do not know where or when!
Monday, March 23, 2015
Monday reading
From Wiki...Nepotism is favoritism granted in politics or business to relatives. The term originated with the assignment of nephews to cardinal positions by Catholic popes and bishops. Nepotism is found in various fields including: politics, entertainment, business, and religion.
From Quadrant... Family values at Their ABC
From Quadrant... Family values at Their ABC
Antarctic sea ice: ABC get it wrong again
ABC gets the facts wrong on Antarctic sea ice in this report...
Arctic sea ice is smallest size on record over northern winter
At the other end of the planet, the NSIDC said earlier this month that sea ice around Antarctica was the fourth-smallest for summer. Climate scientists say the apparently contradictory trend may be tied to changing winds and currents.
What NSIDC actually said:
By sharp contrast, sea ice in Antarctica was at satellite-era record high daily levels for much of 2014. On September 22, 2014, Antarctic ice extent reached 20.11 million square kilometers (7.76 million square miles). This was the first year in the modern satellite record that Antarctic ice extent climbed above 20 million square kilometers (7.72 million square miles).
we pay for rubbish like this!
Arctic sea ice is smallest size on record over northern winter
At the other end of the planet, the NSIDC said earlier this month that sea ice around Antarctica was the fourth-smallest for summer. Climate scientists say the apparently contradictory trend may be tied to changing winds and currents.
What NSIDC actually said:
By sharp contrast, sea ice in Antarctica was at satellite-era record high daily levels for much of 2014. On September 22, 2014, Antarctic ice extent reached 20.11 million square kilometers (7.76 million square miles). This was the first year in the modern satellite record that Antarctic ice extent climbed above 20 million square kilometers (7.72 million square miles).
we pay for rubbish like this!
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
A bucket on Media Watch
We have been more than a little side tracked of late. This piece by Roger Franklin at Quadrant a must read for anyone still believing that ABC does not have a problem with bias.
A Media Watch Staffer’s Abbreviated CVBack in January, the show that professes to keep the press honest went to town on The Australian for reporting on an acoustic engineer's findings in regard to the possible health effects of wind turbines. Turns out the item's researcher has worked as a deep green propagandist
I do recall a study of voting intentions of reporters including ABC staff and the result was....
It's easy being Green at the ABC, survey finds
MORE than 40 per cent of ABC journalists who answered a survey question about their political attitudes are Greens supporters, four times the support the minor party enjoys in the wider population.
The journalism survey, the largest in 20 years, has found the profession is overwhelmingly left-leaning, with respondents from the ABC declaring double levels of support for the Greens compared with those from Fairfax Media and News Limited.
The survey of 605 journalists from around Australia found that just more than half described themselves as having left political views, while only 13 per cent said they were right of centre.
This tendency was most pronounced among the 34 ABC journalists who agreed to declare their voting intention, with 41 per cent of them saying they would vote for the Greens, 32 per cent declaring support for Labor and 14 per cent backing the Coalition.
A Media Watch Staffer’s Abbreviated CVBack in January, the show that professes to keep the press honest went to town on The Australian for reporting on an acoustic engineer's findings in regard to the possible health effects of wind turbines. Turns out the item's researcher has worked as a deep green propagandist
I do recall a study of voting intentions of reporters including ABC staff and the result was....
It's easy being Green at the ABC, survey finds
MORE than 40 per cent of ABC journalists who answered a survey question about their political attitudes are Greens supporters, four times the support the minor party enjoys in the wider population.
The journalism survey, the largest in 20 years, has found the profession is overwhelmingly left-leaning, with respondents from the ABC declaring double levels of support for the Greens compared with those from Fairfax Media and News Limited.
The survey of 605 journalists from around Australia found that just more than half described themselves as having left political views, while only 13 per cent said they were right of centre.
This tendency was most pronounced among the 34 ABC journalists who agreed to declare their voting intention, with 41 per cent of them saying they would vote for the Greens, 32 per cent declaring support for Labor and 14 per cent backing the Coalition.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Monday, February 23, 2015
Media Watch-Dunning Kruger in action
The Australian report on Media Watch Ineptitude. A case study of Dunning Kruger effect...
The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability to be much higher than is accurate. This bias is attributed to a metacognitive inability of the unskilled to recognize their ineptitude. Conversely, highly skilled individuals tend to underestimate their relative competence, erroneously assuming that tasks which are easy for them are also easy for others.
Legal move threatened over Media Watch report ACOUSTIC expert Steven Cooper is considering launching legal action against the ABC’s Media Watch program for its portrayal of him and his research on the effect of the Pacific Hydro wind turbines on local residents.
On the February 16 edition of Media Watch host Paul Barry dished out a stinging criticism of Mr Cooper’s seven-month study conducted at Cape Bridgewater in southwest Victoria — and the reporting of it by The Australian’s environment editor Graham Lloyd and Network Seven’s Today Tonight.
However, in damning the report, the Media Watch team hand- picked a group of pro-turbine “experts” — with no real expertise in the field — ignored submissions from genuine acoustic experts, misrepresented Mr Cooper, selectively and incorrectly quoted the National Health and Medical Research Council, ignored balancing quotes in the newspaper reports and made a number of factual mistakes.
Following his utter disbelief at Media Watch’s misrepresentation, as well as pending legal action, Mr Cooper has also sent a letter to the ABC demanding a retraction.
And
In response to the Media Watch report about The Australian’s coverage of wind farms
THE Media Watch report of February 16 (“Turbine torture: do wind farms make you sick?”) is littered with mistakes, omissions and misrepresentations from the opening scenes.
The program represents blatant advocacy for commercial interests over the widespread concerns of a genuine minority group who deserve thorough investigation of their complaints.
The Australian provided balanced, factual reporting of a national issue of public interest where Media Watch indulged in what amounts to little more than ad hominem, ideological propaganda.
The Media Watch program misrepresented the National Health and Medical Research Council position that the quality of existing research into the possible health impacts of wind turbines is poor and that it will fund more high quality research.
The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability to be much higher than is accurate. This bias is attributed to a metacognitive inability of the unskilled to recognize their ineptitude. Conversely, highly skilled individuals tend to underestimate their relative competence, erroneously assuming that tasks which are easy for them are also easy for others.
Legal move threatened over Media Watch report ACOUSTIC expert Steven Cooper is considering launching legal action against the ABC’s Media Watch program for its portrayal of him and his research on the effect of the Pacific Hydro wind turbines on local residents.
On the February 16 edition of Media Watch host Paul Barry dished out a stinging criticism of Mr Cooper’s seven-month study conducted at Cape Bridgewater in southwest Victoria — and the reporting of it by The Australian’s environment editor Graham Lloyd and Network Seven’s Today Tonight.
However, in damning the report, the Media Watch team hand- picked a group of pro-turbine “experts” — with no real expertise in the field — ignored submissions from genuine acoustic experts, misrepresented Mr Cooper, selectively and incorrectly quoted the National Health and Medical Research Council, ignored balancing quotes in the newspaper reports and made a number of factual mistakes.
Following his utter disbelief at Media Watch’s misrepresentation, as well as pending legal action, Mr Cooper has also sent a letter to the ABC demanding a retraction.
And
In response to the Media Watch report about The Australian’s coverage of wind farms
THE Media Watch report of February 16 (“Turbine torture: do wind farms make you sick?”) is littered with mistakes, omissions and misrepresentations from the opening scenes.
The program represents blatant advocacy for commercial interests over the widespread concerns of a genuine minority group who deserve thorough investigation of their complaints.
The Australian provided balanced, factual reporting of a national issue of public interest where Media Watch indulged in what amounts to little more than ad hominem, ideological propaganda.
The Media Watch program misrepresented the National Health and Medical Research Council position that the quality of existing research into the possible health impacts of wind turbines is poor and that it will fund more high quality research.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
ACTON update
BOM have finally put up the daily min records for the ACTON weather station. This provides another case where the records need to be adjusted. In its Special Climate Statement 48 BOM asserted on page 4...
"On the 17th, Canberra (39.7°C/11.2°C) had its largest diurnal range on record, 28.5°C"
Looking over the records for the Canberra heatwave in January 1939 we find the exact same diurnal range was recorded at the ACTON station on January 13 1939 when this first class weather station recorded a max of 41.9 and a min of 13.4.
BOM continue to disregard history!
"On the 17th, Canberra (39.7°C/11.2°C) had its largest diurnal range on record, 28.5°C"
Looking over the records for the Canberra heatwave in January 1939 we find the exact same diurnal range was recorded at the ACTON station on January 13 1939 when this first class weather station recorded a max of 41.9 and a min of 13.4.
BOM continue to disregard history!
The BOM's ACTON weather station in 1921-according to BOM it may as well not exist!
12/2/2015...Reply from BOM after we pointed out their error...(seems like they have been infected by ABC disease)
12/2/2015...Reply from BOM after we pointed out their error...(seems like they have been infected by ABC disease)
Dear Marc,
The Special Climate Statements are prepared to describe major climate events close to the time that they occur.
For this reason, the reports indicate that the data are valid at the time of writing, and each report provides the date that the final data were sourced.
This provision is necessary since the data may change subsequently for a number of reasons, such as late-arriving manual observations, or subsequent quality control and analysis that may revise the data.
Special Climate Statement 48 was prepared on the 19th January 2014, and carries the following advice.
"This statement is based on data available as of 19 January 2014. Some changes may occur as a result of late-arriving data or the Bureau’s routine quality control procedures.”
Rainfall records in particular are commonly subject to such revisions, and the Bureau does not typically amend previous reports unless a substantial update is required.
In this case, there has been no change to the data considered in the report at the time of writing. The record referenced in Special Climate Statement 48 is for Canberra Airport (station numbers 70014 and 70351). This is detailed in table 3 of the report.
While recently digitised data from Acton has not yet been quality controlled, the observations for January 1939 are consistent with surrounding locations, and show that the 1939 heatwave was one of the most significant on record for the southeast. This information is already provided in the report.
"Over most parts of this region, it ranked alongside the heatwaves of January-February 2009, January 1939 and (from the limited information available) January 1908 as the most significant multi-day heatwaves on record.”
Regards,
Climate Analysis Section
The Special Climate Statements are prepared to describe major climate events close to the time that they occur.
For this reason, the reports indicate that the data are valid at the time of writing, and each report provides the date that the final data were sourced.
This provision is necessary since the data may change subsequently for a number of reasons, such as late-arriving manual observations, or subsequent quality control and analysis that may revise the data.
Special Climate Statement 48 was prepared on the 19th January 2014, and carries the following advice.
"This statement is based on data available as of 19 January 2014. Some changes may occur as a result of late-arriving data or the Bureau’s routine quality control procedures.”
Rainfall records in particular are commonly subject to such revisions, and the Bureau does not typically amend previous reports unless a substantial update is required.
In this case, there has been no change to the data considered in the report at the time of writing. The record referenced in Special Climate Statement 48 is for Canberra Airport (station numbers 70014 and 70351). This is detailed in table 3 of the report.
While recently digitised data from Acton has not yet been quality controlled, the observations for January 1939 are consistent with surrounding locations, and show that the 1939 heatwave was one of the most significant on record for the southeast. This information is already provided in the report.
"Over most parts of this region, it ranked alongside the heatwaves of January-February 2009, January 1939 and (from the limited information available) January 1908 as the most significant multi-day heatwaves on record.”
Regards,
Climate Analysis Section
Canberra Weather Station
Last year we took the Climate Council to task for ignoring the 1939 Canberra heatwave (see HERE). The high quality data available from Canberra's first weather station at Acton ignored because it somehow doesn't fit the alarming story. Looking over the NLA's Trove site today came across the photo below showing the station setup at Acton in 1921. Hard to deny, but somehow they managed it with a straight face!
Monday, February 9, 2015
Does this guy know anything?
Classic put down at Catallaxy from Judith Sloan....
Oh, please, Verrender get your facts straight
There is only one thing you need to know about the final decline of the ABC and that is the appointment of ex-Fairfax journalist, Ian Verrender, as Business Editor, a person who hates business with a passion.
What was Mark Scott and the board thinking? Verrender came to the ABC with a dubious reputation and zero broadcasting skills. His appearances on the television are truly embarrassing.
Rest via the link; the closing paragraphs a classic.
Oh, please, Verrender get your facts straight
There is only one thing you need to know about the final decline of the ABC and that is the appointment of ex-Fairfax journalist, Ian Verrender, as Business Editor, a person who hates business with a passion.
What was Mark Scott and the board thinking? Verrender came to the ABC with a dubious reputation and zero broadcasting skills. His appearances on the television are truly embarrassing.
Rest via the link; the closing paragraphs a classic.
Saturday, January 17, 2015
OMG! Climate Out of Control!!!!
ABC's Online headline...Climate 'out of control'
Sometimes the picture doesn't match reality! Run for the hills....or.. perhaps ...The Beach!
Follow the link and we find the eminent climate scientist responsible for the alarming statement, none other than Greens Leader Christine Milne. We await the Nobel prize announcement. In the meantime the temperature plateau that marks the first decade of the new millennia continues causing further problems for the models on which Ms Milne's alarmism is based on. But you won't hear about it from the Science deniers at the ABC.
Follow the link and we find the eminent climate scientist responsible for the alarming statement, none other than Greens Leader Christine Milne. We await the Nobel prize announcement. In the meantime the temperature plateau that marks the first decade of the new millennia continues causing further problems for the models on which Ms Milne's alarmism is based on. But you won't hear about it from the Science deniers at the ABC.
Sometimes the picture doesn't match reality (Part 2). Graph from the post "Will a return of rising temperatures validate the climate models?", at Prof. Judy Curry's site. Perhaps ABC could have sought her opinion!
Monday, January 12, 2015
The PC brigade
This cartoon by Glenn McCoy nicely sums up my reaction to ABC's recent news coverage...There goes Mark Scott arms raised.
More of McCoy's work at...http://www.gocomics.com/glennmccoy
Another by Mike Ramirez nicely sums up the ABC's contribution....
Another by Mike Ramirez nicely sums up the ABC's contribution....
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Rainy day reading
Some reading for a rainy day...
Are we really all Charlie? No, no and shamefully no
Andrew Bolt Herald-Sun
They lie. The Islamist terrorists are winning, and the coordinated attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and kosher shop will be just one more success. One more step to our gutless surrender.
Al-Qaeda in Yemen didn’t attack Charlie Hebdo because we are all Charlie Hebdo.
The opposite. It sent in the brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi because Charlie Hebdo was almost alone.
Unlike most politicians, journalists, lawyers and other members of our ruling classes, this fearless magazine dared to mock Islam in the way the Left routinely mocks Christianity. Unlike much of our ruling class, it refused to sell out our freedom to speak.
Its greatest sin — to the Islamists — was to republish the infamous cartoons of Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten which mocked Mohammed, and then to publish even more of its own, including one showing the Muslim prophet naked.
Are we really all Charlie? No, no and shamefully no.
#enoughwiththispandering
Geoffrey Luck - Quadrant
The chatterers at the ABC can quote the like-minded all they like about the understandable alienation Islamist butchers must feel, but events are outstripping their ability to bury the grim reality of near-daily outrages beneath feel-good pap. In Europe, while their leaders waffle, average citizens have had enough
GL in comments at Quadrant...The assiduous avoidance, by two (ABC) reporters in Paris and the studio presenter, of any reference to Islam, Islamic terrorists, jihad or the role of religion or ideology indicates strongly an editorial direction and policy. It is to be hoped that this will provoke energetic protests to the ABC.
Are we really all Charlie? No, no and shamefully no
Andrew Bolt Herald-Sun
They lie. The Islamist terrorists are winning, and the coordinated attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and kosher shop will be just one more success. One more step to our gutless surrender.
Al-Qaeda in Yemen didn’t attack Charlie Hebdo because we are all Charlie Hebdo.
The opposite. It sent in the brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi because Charlie Hebdo was almost alone.
Unlike most politicians, journalists, lawyers and other members of our ruling classes, this fearless magazine dared to mock Islam in the way the Left routinely mocks Christianity. Unlike much of our ruling class, it refused to sell out our freedom to speak.
Its greatest sin — to the Islamists — was to republish the infamous cartoons of Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten which mocked Mohammed, and then to publish even more of its own, including one showing the Muslim prophet naked.
Are we really all Charlie? No, no and shamefully no.
#enoughwiththispandering
Geoffrey Luck - Quadrant
The chatterers at the ABC can quote the like-minded all they like about the understandable alienation Islamist butchers must feel, but events are outstripping their ability to bury the grim reality of near-daily outrages beneath feel-good pap. In Europe, while their leaders waffle, average citizens have had enough
GL in comments at Quadrant...The assiduous avoidance, by two (ABC) reporters in Paris and the studio presenter, of any reference to Islam, Islamic terrorists, jihad or the role of religion or ideology indicates strongly an editorial direction and policy. It is to be hoped that this will provoke energetic protests to the ABC.
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Don't say the I word
Gerard Henderson in today's Australian comments on ABC's coverage of the Islamic terrorist attacks in Paris.
ABC must confront the inconvenient truth about Islamic terrorism SO Paris is the most recent city to experience a dose of what Monash University academic and former ABC Radio National presenter Waleed Aly has termed a “perpetual irritant”. However, to everyday Parisians, the murder of Charlie Hebdo staff and two policemen was by no means an “irritant”.
The latest attack by an Islamist group on a democratic society again pointed out the difference in approach to such events taken by most members of the general public and some members of the intelligentsia. To the former, jihadist inspired murder is just jihadist inspired murder. To some commentators, on the other hand, murderers have complicated intentions along with motives that appear other than what they are. Still others decline to call a jihadist a jihadist.
On early Thursday morning news broke in Australia on the latest terrorist attack in France. In Sydney, ABC Radio 702 issued the following tweet: “Waking up and learning of the overnight violence in Paris? Here’s some of the history of Charlie Hebdo.” To which one tweeter responded: “Overnight violence? How about calling it an ‘Islamist terrorist attack’? That’s what it is.”
Follow the link to read the rest.
Also in the Oz today a great piece by Brendon O'Neill:
Western freedom of speech was under attack long before the Paris killings
THE global cry of “Je suis Charlie” in response to the bloody massacre of satirists and cartoonists in Paris has been heartening.
From Paris’s Place de la Republique to London’s Trafalgar Square to the streets of San Francisco, thousands of people have gathered in silence, holding up pens, in memory of the 12 people killed in the brutal assault on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
The pens symbolise the freedom to write, to draw, to express in print what lurks in one’s mind. An attendee at the gathering in London spoke for many when he stated simply: “I’m here to support freedom of speech.”
Yet while these quietly angry gatherings have spoken to a deep well of human solidarity, they also feel a little too late.
For the ideal of freedom of speech has been under assault for years in the West, battered by law and by mobs and by super-sensitive cliques of offence-takers, everywhere from France to Britain, Scandinavia, the US and Australia.
And it has been in part this silent war on free speech, and particularly the institutionalisation of the crazy idea that it is bad to offend people’s sensibilities, that has encouraged Islamists to think they have the right to stamp out Mohammed-reviling material.
Follow the link to read the rest.
ABC must confront the inconvenient truth about Islamic terrorism SO Paris is the most recent city to experience a dose of what Monash University academic and former ABC Radio National presenter Waleed Aly has termed a “perpetual irritant”. However, to everyday Parisians, the murder of Charlie Hebdo staff and two policemen was by no means an “irritant”.
The latest attack by an Islamist group on a democratic society again pointed out the difference in approach to such events taken by most members of the general public and some members of the intelligentsia. To the former, jihadist inspired murder is just jihadist inspired murder. To some commentators, on the other hand, murderers have complicated intentions along with motives that appear other than what they are. Still others decline to call a jihadist a jihadist.
On early Thursday morning news broke in Australia on the latest terrorist attack in France. In Sydney, ABC Radio 702 issued the following tweet: “Waking up and learning of the overnight violence in Paris? Here’s some of the history of Charlie Hebdo.” To which one tweeter responded: “Overnight violence? How about calling it an ‘Islamist terrorist attack’? That’s what it is.”
Follow the link to read the rest.
Also in the Oz today a great piece by Brendon O'Neill:
Western freedom of speech was under attack long before the Paris killings
THE global cry of “Je suis Charlie” in response to the bloody massacre of satirists and cartoonists in Paris has been heartening.
From Paris’s Place de la Republique to London’s Trafalgar Square to the streets of San Francisco, thousands of people have gathered in silence, holding up pens, in memory of the 12 people killed in the brutal assault on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
The pens symbolise the freedom to write, to draw, to express in print what lurks in one’s mind. An attendee at the gathering in London spoke for many when he stated simply: “I’m here to support freedom of speech.”
Yet while these quietly angry gatherings have spoken to a deep well of human solidarity, they also feel a little too late.
For the ideal of freedom of speech has been under assault for years in the West, battered by law and by mobs and by super-sensitive cliques of offence-takers, everywhere from France to Britain, Scandinavia, the US and Australia.
And it has been in part this silent war on free speech, and particularly the institutionalisation of the crazy idea that it is bad to offend people’s sensibilities, that has encouraged Islamists to think they have the right to stamp out Mohammed-reviling material.
Follow the link to read the rest.
QLD Drought
This post by Ken Stewart caught our eye (link below). ABC continue their weird form of journalism where they don't bother to check the facts. Luckily Ken checked them...
Not the Worst Drought in 80 Years
Not the Worst Drought in 80 Years
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Bravest of the Brave
The bravest of the brave!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)