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Letter
to the editor (unpublished)
June
15, 1998
The
Editor
"The
West Australian"
MALAN
- DOWN FOR THE COUNT AFTER THREE KNOCK-DOWNS
Andre
Malan's article (June 9) was his third, and hopefully, last, pathetic attempt to
denigrate Pauline Hanson's character. The weekend's polling results should
convince Malan how out of touch he is with mainstream Australia. His article
represented journalism at its worst - it was full of biased opinion, unfounded
assertions and generalities.
Malan
epitomises a dangerous trend in this country - censorship by bullying,
name-calling and character assassination. There is an ideological alliance of
left-wing journalists, academics and do-gooders who seem to see themselves as a
cultural and intellectual elite. They know what is best for the rest of us! They
have decided the policies on aboriginals and immigration. There is to be no
debate on these subjects. Anybody raising the issues is howled down, called a
"racist' and generally vilified.
Pauline
Hanson has enraged this elite by challenging their prevailing orthodoxy. She has
dared to suggest that we should reduce Asian immigration and that too much money
is being spent on aboriginal welfare. The cultural elite raged at this. In the
words of Professor Flint, head of the Australian Press Council they went into a
"feeding frenzy". "It was media indulging in its own fantasies,
believing its own stories which turned Ms Hanson into a spectre stalking the
land", he said ("The West Australian October 27, 1997).
There
have been very disturbing scenes of public meetings disrupted, and innocent
people assaulted, by screaming mobs of thuggish hooligans whipped into a frenzy
by the media attacks. Equally disturbing is the fact that a fair number of our
less-discerning citizens, indoctrinated to believe what they read and see in the
media have blindly accepted the media fiction about Pauline Hanson.
The
intellectual elite constantly screams 'racist' and 'bigot' at those who don't
subscribe to their views. They have given new and undefined meaning to the word
'racist' to allow it to be used as an emotional battering ram to stifle public
discussion. The Macquarie dictionary says that racism "..involves the idea
that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule or dominate
others". I have never heard Ms Hanson express these ideas. The definition
would better fit Malan and his ilk. Malan is intellectually dishonest in calling
Ms Hanson a racist. The same dictionary defines 'bigot' as "a person who is
intolerantly convinced of the rightness of a particular creed, opinion,
practice, etc." Stand up Andre Malan, bigot.
Mr
Malan then tries to rubbish Ms Hanson because she lacks "brilliant oratory
or powerful intellectual argument". He goes on to suggest that she is
lacking in charm, humour and wit. How would John Howard or Kim Beazley measure
up to these tests?
I
am not a member of Ms Hanson's political party. She needs to do more homework on
some policies, particularly tax and finance. But I strongly support her right to
raise issues of concerns to ordinary Australians without being vilified by the
media or shouted down by hooligans. I admire her courage in facing one of the
most ferocious personal attacks in the history of this country without taking
one step backwards. That is real leadership. A lot of people identify with her
because she is prepared to stand up to the pompous establishment and give it a
poke in the eye. And they know she is not a tool of big business or big unions.
Our
governments have been spending, according to press estimates, $3 billion a year
for over twenty years, with little accountability, on aborigines. I too, think
that $60 billion is too much taxpayers money to spend on any minority group.
There, I've said it, Mr Malan - send around the thought police!
I
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