thedrifter
04-06-05, 05:30 AM
Hate Down Under
April 5, 2005
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by Bob Newman
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Citizens of the former penal colony of Australia made it exceptionally clear last night that the hate-America-syndrome has turned into contagion down under.
I was a guest via satellite on SBS’ “Insight,” of which Australians have little when it comes to the war on terror. The topic was interrogations and torture.
Throughout the hour-long show, one bright, shining lie shone through: the audience, whom I presume are representative of most Australians, believe Americans are the evil aggressor in the war on terror and America in general consists of psychotic sadists whose favorite pastime is kidnapping innocent civilians so that all manner of Papillion-style torture can be visited upon them.
Some examples of how Australians think:
An audience member somewhere around 60 bitterly complained that America had killed 100,000 civilians in Iraq. He didn’t cite a source or offer any evidence of this ridiculous claim, and I was the only one to challenge him (when I did, the audience fell silent and slack-jawed, stunned that an American would dare question an Australian). Yet he and his fellow Aussie sheep believe that, somehow and with no evidence (such as 100,000 new graves in Iraq filled with the victims of these imaginary American attacks) to support his ludicrous claim, the American military killed five times the number of German civilians killed in the bombing of Dresden on 14 and 15 February 1945.
An audience member stated that the American military was going around Iraq kidnapping innocent civilians and torturing them. She gave no reason why Americans would do such a thing. No audience member challenged her, nor did the show host.
Another audience member said Americans were torturing people out of revenge for 9-11; a pedantic and remarkably ignorant accusation that, again, went unchallenged by anyone in the audience. The host was also unwilling to challenge the claim.
When an admitted terrorist with the East Timor resistance was introduced as a guest who had been allegedly tortured by the Indonesian army, the audience cheered him. Whereas it is true that both the resistance and Indonesian army committed atrocities in the war there, not a single Australian in the audience mentioned that Australia was the only country to recognize the brutal annexation by Indonesia of East Timor after the July 1976 invasion. By Australia’s supporting the invasion, the Indonesian annexation was given credence and legitimacy by the Australians, which encouraged the government of Indonesia to massacre even more East Timorese. It was totally lost upon the audience that their nation supported the gruesome suppression of a people, whereas America’s liberation of Iraq freed a people.
When various members of the audience complained that America had invaded Iraq with false intelligence about weapons of mass destruction, thus rendering the invasion illegal, not a soul in the audience noted aloud that Saddam had slaughtered one million people during his reign; I was the lone voice who pointed this out. Again, shocked silence in the audience that this audacious Yank would have the unmitigated audacity to speak the truth and question the audience’s self-proclaimed interest in the well-being of Iraqis.
What appeared most lost upon the audience and some of the other invited guests was that nearly every one of them lives entirely in the theoretical and philosophical world. They’ve never seen a terrorist up close and personal or had a friend or family member killed by terrorists, nor are they likely to. Still, in their lazy arrogance and from the comfort of their living rooms, Australian liberals, like American liberals, see not the terrorists as the enemy, but those who are willing to fight them.
And were the show to have been watched by terrorists when it aired, they would have nodded and smiled like gargoyles with every vile, hate-filled word from the audience.
Given this, the only apparent hope for Australia is Prime Minister John Howard, who has the daunting task of somehow preventing his people from again being slaughtered by terrorists as they were in Bali, while they themselves loathe those who would lay down their lives to protect them.
Bob Newman
Ellie
April 5, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Bob Newman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citizens of the former penal colony of Australia made it exceptionally clear last night that the hate-America-syndrome has turned into contagion down under.
I was a guest via satellite on SBS’ “Insight,” of which Australians have little when it comes to the war on terror. The topic was interrogations and torture.
Throughout the hour-long show, one bright, shining lie shone through: the audience, whom I presume are representative of most Australians, believe Americans are the evil aggressor in the war on terror and America in general consists of psychotic sadists whose favorite pastime is kidnapping innocent civilians so that all manner of Papillion-style torture can be visited upon them.
Some examples of how Australians think:
An audience member somewhere around 60 bitterly complained that America had killed 100,000 civilians in Iraq. He didn’t cite a source or offer any evidence of this ridiculous claim, and I was the only one to challenge him (when I did, the audience fell silent and slack-jawed, stunned that an American would dare question an Australian). Yet he and his fellow Aussie sheep believe that, somehow and with no evidence (such as 100,000 new graves in Iraq filled with the victims of these imaginary American attacks) to support his ludicrous claim, the American military killed five times the number of German civilians killed in the bombing of Dresden on 14 and 15 February 1945.
An audience member stated that the American military was going around Iraq kidnapping innocent civilians and torturing them. She gave no reason why Americans would do such a thing. No audience member challenged her, nor did the show host.
Another audience member said Americans were torturing people out of revenge for 9-11; a pedantic and remarkably ignorant accusation that, again, went unchallenged by anyone in the audience. The host was also unwilling to challenge the claim.
When an admitted terrorist with the East Timor resistance was introduced as a guest who had been allegedly tortured by the Indonesian army, the audience cheered him. Whereas it is true that both the resistance and Indonesian army committed atrocities in the war there, not a single Australian in the audience mentioned that Australia was the only country to recognize the brutal annexation by Indonesia of East Timor after the July 1976 invasion. By Australia’s supporting the invasion, the Indonesian annexation was given credence and legitimacy by the Australians, which encouraged the government of Indonesia to massacre even more East Timorese. It was totally lost upon the audience that their nation supported the gruesome suppression of a people, whereas America’s liberation of Iraq freed a people.
When various members of the audience complained that America had invaded Iraq with false intelligence about weapons of mass destruction, thus rendering the invasion illegal, not a soul in the audience noted aloud that Saddam had slaughtered one million people during his reign; I was the lone voice who pointed this out. Again, shocked silence in the audience that this audacious Yank would have the unmitigated audacity to speak the truth and question the audience’s self-proclaimed interest in the well-being of Iraqis.
What appeared most lost upon the audience and some of the other invited guests was that nearly every one of them lives entirely in the theoretical and philosophical world. They’ve never seen a terrorist up close and personal or had a friend or family member killed by terrorists, nor are they likely to. Still, in their lazy arrogance and from the comfort of their living rooms, Australian liberals, like American liberals, see not the terrorists as the enemy, but those who are willing to fight them.
And were the show to have been watched by terrorists when it aired, they would have nodded and smiled like gargoyles with every vile, hate-filled word from the audience.
Given this, the only apparent hope for Australia is Prime Minister John Howard, who has the daunting task of somehow preventing his people from again being slaughtered by terrorists as they were in Bali, while they themselves loathe those who would lay down their lives to protect them.
Bob Newman
Ellie