The Watermelon Blog Green on the outside, social justice inside
"We can do better" (Kennedy)
Richest fluency
"This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body." Walt Whitman
All of us have been appalled by the events in Cronulla and surrounding suburbs. I have also been appalled by the media coverage of the event. This kind of thing hasn't happened in Australia for a long time and we need to understand why it happened now. As an observer totally from the outside some aspects of the context of the events are obvious. At the federal political level we have had for many years now a demonising of refugees and then a demonising of Iraqis. The words and actions, based on misinformation or outright lies, have been quite cynically designed to win elections. They have culminated most recently in ramming complex 'terrorism legislation' through the Senate on the grounds of imminent terrorism. At the state level in NSW there has been an equally cynical law and order debate with the Liberal party demanding more and more police, ever tougher police action, longer sentences, more jails. Last week there were demands along these lines relating to Cronulla. Add into the mix the shockjocks on radio and television shamelessly promoting prejudice and whipping up emotions. And the tv stations, breathlessly broadcasting provocative interviews, dwelling on police build ups, predicting mayhem. Finally add in the neo-nazis, on the job handing out pamphlets and sending text messages, probably in both directions, hoping to stir things up even further and take political advantage. It was all like one of those hot dry winds in February that dry out the grass to a tinder level where a single spark will start a raging fire.
Did the mainstream media look into any of this context? Not on your nellie. Did the populist politicians accept that they had helped this situation develop? Nosiree, nothing to do with them. Did the shockjocks admit their role and promise to do better in future? Bet you can guess the answer - 'nothing to do with me' said one, 'we just report the news.' One of the funniest claims I've heard for a long time. And did the commercial tv stations send their reporters out to find out the text message origins, look into the neo nazis, play back some statements from politicians and shockjocks and confront them? Of course not. The tv stations were too busy relishing the events, and pretending their reporting had certainly played no role in establishing the conditions for a fire. All seems to me like the person who calls out 'fire' in a crowded hall, or who throws a bottle in a crowded pub, and then scurries outside to watch the mayhem from a safe distance. Cowardly eh?
We deserve better from the media. Not much use it seems to me having police and community meetings, good people trying to put out the fires, if we allow the media and politicians to pretend that they played no part in the events. And not much use commercial tv stations having broadcast licenses if they will not do investigative journalism and help to inform the public of the reality behind the events they are seeing. We need accurate knowledge to find solutions, not populist politicians trotting out ideology.
"You are a person of some interest,one comes to you and takes strange gain away." (Pound)
"I find that I can have no enjoyment in the world but the continual drinking of knowledge. I find there is no worthy pursuit but the idea of doing some good for the world." (Keats)
"nothing startles me beyond the moment. The setting sun will always set me to rights - or if a sparrow come before my window I take part in its existence and pick about the gravel." (Keats)