Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Sydney shatters like a Swarovski swan
As noted here last week, NSW Opposition Leader Peter Debnam is a disgrace.
However, there is one player, or set of players, still more culpable than Debnam – the city’s media. Emboldened since John Brogden’s August suicide attempt – for which the Daily Telegraph plainly had and has blood on its hands – and their deliberate inflaming of racial tensions in the lead-up to the Cronulla pogrom in December, Sydney’s media currently consider themselves indispensable and indestructible. They appear to think that they “own” Peter Debnam outright, while at the same time having a very secure lease over the actual state government.
A vicious spiral has been set in train: the media heavies the pollies who heavy the police leadership who heavy the Lebanese leadership who . . . Where’s it going to end? No idea specifically, but “very badly” seems a reasonable enough general guess.
My only comforting thought: if the Eastern Suburbs get trashed back to their 1788 pristinity, the problem will have quite literally been returned to the front door of its origins: Sydney’s Vile White Male (and the occasional female) media.
As noted here last week, NSW Opposition Leader Peter Debnam is a disgrace.
However, there is one player, or set of players, still more culpable than Debnam – the city’s media. Emboldened since John Brogden’s August suicide attempt – for which the Daily Telegraph plainly had and has blood on its hands – and their deliberate inflaming of racial tensions in the lead-up to the Cronulla pogrom in December, Sydney’s media currently consider themselves indispensable and indestructible. They appear to think that they “own” Peter Debnam outright, while at the same time having a very secure lease over the actual state government.
A vicious spiral has been set in train: the media heavies the pollies who heavy the police leadership who heavy the Lebanese leadership who . . . Where’s it going to end? No idea specifically, but “very badly” seems a reasonable enough general guess.
My only comforting thought: if the Eastern Suburbs get trashed back to their 1788 pristinity, the problem will have quite literally been returned to the front door of its origins: Sydney’s Vile White Male (and the occasional female) media.
