For shame, Geoff Shaw.
It takes a special kind of callous wanker to tell a 20 year old man that he doesn’t deserve human dignity. It takes a special kind of ignorance to believe that this same young man is no better than a child molester or a drunk driver. And it takes a special kind of malice to do both in the capacity of the elected representative of that young man in state parliament.
Geoff shaw is the Victorian MP that is responsible for all of the sins listed above. I don’t think there’s much I can add to this issue - it’s obvious that the man is unhinged and I’m looking forward to at least as much condemnation of him as Jim Wallace recieved after his tweets.
I would, however, like to include an example of what a good local MP sounds like. Sharon Greirson is mine, and this is a speech she delivered in Parliament. I wrote to her personally to thank her for this, and recieved a personal response. I think she’s great, and could serve as an example to Geoff Shaw. This is how you do it right.
Jim Wallace update
Further to my previous post about Jim Wallace and my comment to Culture Watch - Jim Wallace has now been on Sunrise, given the chance to explain himself, apologise (for the wrong thing) and speak to the entire nation.
Is Bill Muehlenberg really going to keep claiming that Jim Wallace is the victim of Political Correctness gone mad, given no chance to defend himself in the face of Mainstream Media bias? Because this is seriously as mainstream as it gets.
[Left out of this post: The fact that Jim claims not to have slurred homosexuals, which is patently wrong. Also the fact that Jim lied about only being on Twitter a week, when he has been on it for months. Did he really think nobody would check that?]
I tried to comment on Bill Muehlenberg’s blog about Political Correctness and free speech in this day and age. It has been ‘awaiting moderation’ since 8pm yesterday, so I figured I’d post it here just in case it never ‘recieves moderation’.
You can read the blog post here, find a precis of the situation here, and my comment is pictured. I’m only posting because the screenshot is on this computer, and I must leave it behind shortly.
Jim Wallace & the Free Speech Strawman
Okay, maybe if I say this often enough in enough comments sections of enough blogs and newspapers, it might stick.
A quick precis of the situation I’m referring to: Jim Wallace of the ACL posted some comments on twitter about ANZAC day. He referred to the idea that ANZACs didn’t fight for muslims or gay marriage, asserted this as a fact, and then apologised for ‘the timing’ of what he’d said, claiming he didn’t mean to ‘demean ANZAC day’.
Outrage was swift. Which is great. It came from many quarters, including Christian quarters, which is also great. But where I run into a problem is with the defenders of Mr Wallace claiming something along the lines of the following:
‘Whatever happened to free speech?’
Oh my. Oh my, oh my. Please, follow the jump if you’d like to hear me lecturing on exactly why this is the most juvenile and uneducated argument anyone can make in any argument anywhere, ever.
Pictured: People yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre. See? You CAN do it.
What are they going to do when all these undecided people do try praying and wind up in more or less the same position that they were in before they started?
Things to notice: 1) A statistic on the main page showing off about how many UK residents pray, completely oblivious to the fact that this is casting light on how woefully ineffectual prayer must be (unless people are praying to live modest, mostly middle-class existences with little luxury). 2) A tab called ‘investigate’ which offers up ‘evidence’ in favour of the power of prayer (hint: the evidence is the bible).
A new website has been launched to help people organise their opposition to the National Schools Chaplaincy Program. This is really important, everyone. The government needs to know that there are a lot of dissatisfied people out there.
Dear Star Wars: Thank You.
I can remember a time that I allowed the words ‘I don’t like reading’ to leave my mouth and was proud to have done so. I was five years old - possibly six - and I can remember where I was and to whom I was directing that sincere but misguided sentence. I wasn’t to know at the time, but it would only be a matter of days before events were set in motion to completely reverse my opinion on books. And how could I, or anyone, have guessed? After all, the catalyst for my love of reading - and by extension, my literacy - was not a book, but a film.
Wow. A comprehensive ‘cheat sheet’ if you should ever find yourself drawing blanks arguing with a creationist.
