The Age of Antisemitism

The Melbourne Age newspaper is a shining example of why Fairfax is in trouble. At a time when Syria murders and tortures its own people, and has killed more innocent civilians in the last year than Israel has in the last sixty years, the Age prints letters critical of... You guessed it.

The first is by a well known liar and antisemite, Patricia Phillippou (see Vexnews' excellent takedown here).

Why are we not hearing more about the fact that Israel has granted a US company the first licence to explore for gas and oil in the occupied Golan Heights? Israel would control the pipeline.  

While thousands are gassed to death in Syria, quick! Let's talk about Israel. The headline of Phillippou's letter: "Selective Outrage". No kidding!

Patrick Wolfe, another correspondent with form writes:

If the US government really cared about the indiscriminate use of chemical weaponry against civilian populations, it would have objected to Israel using internationally banned phosphorous bombs against the civilian population of Gaza in the course of Operation Cast Lead.

The headline of his letter: "We have had enough". Or more specifically, 'we have had enough of talking about anything except Israel'.

Wolfe's previous achivements include support for the absurd boycott of Israel.  A boycott of Syria? Maybe another time...

Sandal-friendly Brake Pedals

Prick with a Fork notes the SMH's blood-libel against meat eaters in a ridiculous bit of vegetarian propaganda. Fairfax's Melbourne paper prints this anti-car rant:

Thanks to Nicola Roxon and the federal government, we now have plain packaging for cigarettes. Cigarette sales are declining. Can we please move on to plain packaging for cars?

Over the past 30 years, I've watched the design of cars becoming ever more aggressive and sinister. Scowling headlights and hulking lines. Tinted windows so other road users can't see the driver. Multiple exhausts for the grand prix effect. Then there's the growing number of 4WDs, so that our roads appear to be populated by tanks and other armoured vehicles. Meanwhile, the power and acceleration of cars continue to increase.

All this is paralleled by, and fuels, increasingly aggressive driving and growing road rage. Education campaigns and ''courtesy training'' are all very well, but while aggressive design and excessive power continue, what hope have we got of changing driver behaviour?

Maybe aggressive cars should be required to have scenes of road accident injuries painted on their sides as a warning. Such cars are dangerous to human life and health, just as cigarette smoking is.
Michael Howes, Ascot Vale

Get that man a Trabant. Mr Howes has previously reviewed cars.

Can we look forward to fuel efficiency, modest design and greenhouse and safety awareness? No, we get six or, unbelievably, eight cylinders and retuning to make more power. We get the quasi-sexual launch trimmings, with the tantalising glimpse of disc brake or sensually curved wheel. We get the desperate attempt to say that nothing's changed and we can go on consuming resources and producing greenhouse gasses.
It's because Australian males have small dicks and need some bullshit compensation

He describes himself as a:

63 yr. old left winger living in a 5 star shoebox in an inner suburb of Melbourne. Living alone, but have a 30 yr old son living in a neighbouring suburb. Retired and loving life. I love intercourse with people of all races, religions and colours. I harbour an intense dislike for Bush, Blair and Howard and their co-horts, as well as right wing shock jocks.

And he reads The Age...

The Age spits on America

This letter was given prominence at the top of today's Melbourne Age.

Time to reflect on decadence of US

BLANKET media coverage of ceremonies to mark the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, creates the impression that lives in the US are of far greater value than lives in the rest of the world, particularly in poor countries.

Fewer than 3000 people died and some "collateral" damage occurred to New York and Washington. In contrast, more than 300 times that number have died in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as a direct result of the response to the terrorist attack.

No serious self-examination has occurred in the US to determine why the terrorists desired to hurt them in such a spectacular fashion.

About 8.5 million people die every year from starvation due to poverty. Where are the ceremonies to mourn their loss? Americans have enjoyed the life of a spoilt adolescent with their only care being retaining their lifestyle. Reflection upon their decadence might be a good starting point. The result might be some action towards a more humanitarian strategy as a means to counter terrorism and make the world safer for all of us.

Frederick Gower, Drysdale

What a petulant attack on the US.

Accusing the US of being like a "a spoilt adolescent with their only care being retaining their lifestyle" ignores the amount of aid and assistance offered by the US to countries who in some cases return the favour by harbouring those calling for "Death to America". Such a deal! How's that "humanitarian strategy as a means to counter terrorism" working out?

While Americans go without jobs, they might ask why their government gives billions away to other countries which perhaps should be left to rot. Of course Americans generally don't ask such questions.

Consider the volume of American Aid given to the Arab world alone, while Arab dictators buy themselves palaces and helicopters instead.

Like a teenager who lives in their parents house and eats their food while shouting "I hate you", the fact is despite all the criticism heaped on the US, the world would be a disaster without American foreign aid.

The UN would shut up shop overnight (probably a good thing mind you) and Islamists would suddenly find their Jihad a whole lot easier. No. God Bless America, even though some people, especially in peacetime are completely ungrateful cynics.

As for Gower's claim that "No serious self-examination has occurred in the US to determine why the terrorists desired to hurt them in such a spectacular fashion." he's apparently upset that nobody in America has concluded "this is all our fault, we totally had it coming, we absolutely deserved this".

The reality of America's attitude was summed up neatly by Colin Powell.

At this stage it would be redundant to say The Age has hit rock-bottom.

Global Warming - Worse than Hitler

An absurd letter in today's Melbourne Age:

When sacrifice is the right thing

HOW many of us are so selfish that the first questions we ask when confronted with change, are along the lines of: why should I have to pay a carbon tax? Why do I have to look for another job? Who's going to look after me? Why isn't my compensation higher? Who says $150,000 a year makes me so rich that I should have to pay this tax? Why should I change my lifestyle?

Obviously, these people are unwilling to make any kind of sacrifice. Did our forefathers question why they should fight Nazism and fascism? No, they put aside petty arguments and self-serving questions and went off to fight the enemy. Not because they wanted to, but because it was the right thing to do. Today, we are fighting a different and infinitely more dangerous enemy - global warming. This enemy will kill millions of people through famine, flood, drought and other disasters, unless we start fighting it now.

Tony Abbott is like Neville Chamberlain, who refused to believe that there was an enemy who must be defeated until it was too late. Abbott is just as blind when he says we shouldn't have a tax on carbon. Abbott will go down in history as being just as foolish and misguided as Chamberlain.

Chris and Jacki Burgess, Port Melbourne

Meanwhile, in the Sydney Morning Herald, a letter argues:

If a demonstration outside a chocolate shop, and a crucifix appearing in an anti-Abbott advertisement, are the worst examples of anti-Semitism and sectarianism that the ever-vigilant Gerard Henderson can garner, we should rejoice in Australia's tolerance (''Jews know acceptance still has its exceptions'', July 12).

Jack Sumner Eastwood

So there you have it. Global warming is a bigger threat than the Nazis, yet a bunch of antisemites forming a violent mob outside a Jewish business is no big deal.