On Penbo’s defence of the rights of a deeply irritating columnist

David Penberthy today provided a column for The Punch in which, while giving Andrew Bolt a bit of a smack on the bottom, he seeks to argue that defamation laws are all that are needed to deal with such things and in which he seeks to generalise the use of the Racial Discrimation Act in response to Bolt’s campaign into a far broader threat to freedom of speech. You can read his article here.  I’ve posted the following reply in the comments section there, but here it is for safe keeping.

 

 

As you say, Penbo, the applicants in this case could have individually sued Bolt for defamation, and would likely have won. They chose not to do so for two very good reasons.

Firstly, to do so, would have inevitably sparked cries from Bolt and others of his ilk (and there are sadly many) that they were essentially “only in it for the money” – one of the very inferences that Bolt himself had sought his readers to draw in his articles.

Secondly, and more importantly, this has never been just about the specific false claims made about the individuals concerned, now tested in court. Bolt’s false claims, as Bromberg found, had effects far beyond these individuals that went to matters of the “humiliation” and “intimidation” of a substantial section of Australia’s Aboriginal community, not just the individuals bringing the action. Individual defamation actions do not address such things

Perhaps you have not had the opportunity to see the damage that the continual belittling, denying, damning, and demonising of Aboriginal people as a whole does within that community? I have, over many years. It actually fuels many of the things which Bolt and others put forward as supposed evidence of the “failure” of Aboriginal culture itself, and leads directly to the sort of dispirited desperation reflected in many social problems – high youth suicide rates, apathy, alcohol issues and the like.

If the media wish to wax lyrical about the important principle of “freedom of speech” , and avoid the imposition of laws that limit it, then they have to do a danged sight better job of controlling those within their own profession who offend against another equally important right – the freedom of a substantial section of the Australian community from such oppressive and damaging humiliation, intimidation and vilification.

Sadly, I have seen very few in the media in recent times take up cudgels in defence of the latter. Bolt has published hundreds of pieces in his blogs and elsewhere attacking Aboriginal people, individually and communally, read by and influencing very large numbers of people. Some others in the media have pursued similar courses. Where has the forthright response been from you and your colleagues while this has been going on?

Will there be one now, or will you all simply get side tracked by “freedom of speech” cries, forgetting that such rights rely on the proper exercise of other responsibilities?

Sandbagging or sinkholes?

One “left field” thought from watching the Victorian floods as they slowly, slowly work their way down the rivers.

I see people forever building levies and sandbag walls to try to fend off the swelling tide. In some ways it reminds me of people in the medieval world in their fortress towns hoping that any marauding army will see that their own defences are strong enough to encourage them to head on down to the next place , in the hope of easier pickings.

As long as the flood continues to be walled in with levies and the like, of course, its strength barely dissipates. I wonder how much thought has gone into the possibility of creating “sacrificial” situations, where flooding is actually encouraged in areas that might even benefit from it, rather than trying to always fend it off?

I’m sure the same analogy could be applied to politics. Where, I wonder, are the areas where the Government could encourage the Coalition to vent its vastly enlarged spleen in an area that really matters very little? 

Well, Let’s get started!

G’day, and welcome to Rod’s Rambles.  I’ve spent far too long invading other people’s blogs and posting comments as long as the original post.  Thought I’d better give everyone a break, and start one of my own!

My own first attempt at something approximating a “blog” happened back in the mid 1990′s, when I tried to provide regular coverage of the Yorta Yorta Native Title Claim (a major court case relating to Indigenous land claims in south eastern Australia) through a series of regular email updates.  Failed miserably, I’m afraid, as I found I was far too busy to keep up while working on the case myself, and too many things could not really be said in such circumstances.

This time around I’m going for a far more general approach – primarily a mix of political, social and technology related matters , with a bit of autobiographical self-indulgence thrown in for good measure.

Be interesting (for me, at least, and I hope for others, too) to see how things unfold!