So Tim Soutphommasane, the Racial Discrimination Commissar with the unpronounceable name, was very upset about the media coverage of Milo Yiannopoulos during his recent Australian tour.
The very well remunerated diminutive political policeman was ropeable, and complained at length to the Guardian Australia’s Amanda Meade, stating:
“I’ve been astounded how sympathetic and fawning some of the coverage has been and surprised at how there hasn’t been more scrutiny given to his views and to his history of political activity”.
Tim went on to declare, no doubt with his tiny brow furrowed behind his ugly glasses and tiny forefinger wagging in the air:
“There are sections of the Australian media which have become addicted to sugar hits of outrage and confected controversy. We shouldn’t be indulging in extremist forms of politics and excusing it”.
I’d be interested to see what coverage Tim was seeing.
Was he reading the Guardian who called Milo a white-nationalist, parasite, misogynist neo-Nazi who spreads white supremacy and a warped idea of what it is to be a man?
Was he reading the Sydney Morning Herald and the Fairfax stable who described Milo as an extremist, nationalist, racist, Nazi sympathiser, misogynist, fake news generator, inciter of violence who defecates evil on the floor of parliament and is trying to destroy democracy?
Did he perhaps peruse the Newscorp evil-right-wing-Murdoch-conspiracy who published an article calling Milo a sexist, racist, bullying, paedophile apologist who “should never have been allowed in this country and should not have been given the chance to spread his filth to the people of Australia”? The same article that went on to state that the protesters trying to shut down his shows with violence and intimidation were right to do so and that he should be refused a Visa should he ever try and return?
If that’s what Tim considers sympathetic and fawning I suddenly have new insight into his childhood. I know Asian mums can be tough but bloody hell.
But it wasn’t all bad, there was one journalist whose coverage Tim found to be more than acceptable and during his conversation with Ms Meade made a point of complimenting.
So whose coverage did little Tim consider to have given proper scrutiny to Milo’s history of political activity? Whose article did Tiny Tim consider to not be indulging in the “excusing of extremist forms of politics”?
Jeff Sparrow of the Guardian.
Holy Crap.
The man in charge of policing our political speech just praised as a bastion against extremism the man who founded Socialist Alternative, the largest, best organised and most violent political extremist group in Australia today.
The same Socialist Alternative that organised to try and shut down every one of Milo’s Australian speeches with mob violence, threats and intimidation.
The same Socialist Alternative that attacked police and started a riot in Melbourne when they were unable to get close enough to Milo event attendees to attack them.
The same Socialist Alternative who openly proclaims that they wish to violently overthrow the government and institute a totalitarian Marxist regime, who preach and organise violence against police and political opponents in every state of the Commonwealth and whose views and tactics Jeff Sparrow has never disavowed.
This is a group that has either participated in or organised almost every act of political violence in Australia in the last decade. From storming Senator Cory Bernardi’s office and trapping his frightened wife and staff in a back room while they ransacked the place, to attacking people attempting to board a bus to attend a meeting of the Q society in Melbourne, to attacking parishioners outside a church in Brisbane for being insufficiently in favour of Gay marriage, to the mass violence of the anti-Reclaim Australia protests and so many more it is impossible to count.
This is the same Jeff Sparrow who wrote the “Radical History of Melbourne” [parts one and two] and “Communism: A love story”, an absurdly gentle hagiography of the early history of the Australian Communist Party.
The same Jeff Sparrow who began his political life in the violent Marxist group ISO [International Socialist Organisation] which was at that time dominated by violent extremist Ian Rintoul, the founder of the Refugee Action Coalition who themselves have recently taken to violently attacking attendees at political meetings they disagree with.
This is a man with a history of supporting violent extremism going back to the Austudy 5 incident in 1992 where a mob of leftists surrounded a police car and threatened violence against the officers until a group of prisoners including Jeff, his sister Jill and their friend Mick Armstrong [a current member of Socialist Alternative’s National Executive] were released.
Wow.
And to top it off he’s bald as well.
As the Bill leak case showed, Tim Soutphommasane has the power to decide if a journalist is or is not dragged through the expensive and torturous process of our nation’s racial discrimination legislation, and he just held up as an example of the type of journalism he would like to see an unrepentant Communist who founded a violent extremist group that physically attacks anyone insufficiently left wing.
Tim has just given a tacit endorsement to the founder of a group that as recently as last week was throwing rocks at police and attacking people in the street for disagreeing with them, and he made that endorsement on the basis of him being against extremism.
If you think that message won’t be getting through to the remainder of the Australian fourth estate you’re kidding yourself. Tim went and specifically spoke to Amanda Meade, the Guardian Australia media correspondent, the woman who writes a column that’s of interest to journalists and rarely anyone else. It’s clear who he wants to reach.
The sign is loud and clear and flashing in neon: scribblers of Australia! Big Brother is watching you, and he’s displeased.
Photo by Newtown grafitti