The Rebbe
There are no more excuses left for Qanda and the ABC: in the last year we’ve seen Zakky Mallah appear on Qanda, a plethora of other unpleasant and unsavoury guests, Duncan Storrar and various members of the Islamic community with a history of bigotry. Tony Jones’ clear bias is perhaps excusable, but on Monday the 25th of July we saw a series of biased and, frankly, disgusting tweets appear on screen via their hashtag “#qanda”; the most deplorable of which is the comparison of the Islamic State to Israel.
This is the last straw.
The ABC can claim moderator error for letting this tweet appear, but there can only be so many excuses for their stuff ups; fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. The ABC is meant to be an independent and objective media organisation, state owned and taxpayer funded. Qanda is its Monday night question and answer platform. It is obvious to anyone with functioning hearing, mild eyesight and a frontal lobe, the obvious bias present, but there has to be a line drawn.
Mitch Fifield has the power to pull funding from the ABC, and so he should.
Freedom of speech is a right in this country and you can have whatever opinion you like too, on this country and on any other. But you are not entitled to your own facts: Israel is not ISIS. Feel free to spread your ignorance on Twitter or to your friends, but the ABC should not put your drivel on its show. Australia supports Israel, we work with them, we helped vote them into existence and we trade with them. This isn’t about sensitivities, it’s about right and wrong. The Australian government should not be in the business of alienating its friends and emboldening its enemies, and we sure as hell should not fund this line of thought.
It’s time Mitch Fifield grew a set and pulled some funding from the ABC, till they decide where their alliances lie: Islamic extremism or Australia and the West.
The ABC can say it was moderator error all they want, and even if it was, it doesn’t change the reality that the Australian taxpayer should not fund a platform that lets views that are antithetical to this country, its allies and the security of its citizens be broadcasted to hundreds of thousands of people in their lounge room on a Monday Night.
Have some gumption Mr Fifield; don’t only stick up for your principles, your party’s principles or your nation’s principles: stick up for what’s right.