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an irregular online zine to voice personal opinion about anything that makes you mad, glad, sad or bad.
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an irregular online zine to voice personal opinion about anything that makes you mad, glad, sad or bad.
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LETTERS to the EditorWritten in The Online Hideout and published in either, or both, The Australian and The Courier Mail (Brisbane) sometime in 2002.Strange that many of the abusive callers after the publication of these letters happened to have British accents. To offset the nastiness of these calls were the heartwarming letters we received thanking us for writing to express what many people are feeling about the appalling policies applied by this government. Keep reading Philip Adams. He says it all. ___________________________________________________ Australia's Concentration Camps Are we witnessing the decline of humanity? The de-evolution of the human species that once had compassion, caring and goodwill towards fellow beings. If this government is representative of the people then we have become a cruel, heartless, selfish people displaying an animal behaviour, guarding our piece of territory like threatened beasts. I find it hard to believe that the majority of my fellow Australians agree with the inhumane treatment meted out to those seeking refuge by a few little grey men who achieved power by manipulation. In fact many Australians did not vote for this government and do not agree with the evil policies being implemented. It is time to speak out against the unjust imprisonment of innocent people, not just children seeking asylum, but all those who seek our compassion and are treated more harshly than unwanted animals. So many of us are ashamed to be Australian. How much worse does it have to get before it pierces the national apathy and touches the hearts of people not afraid to say NO? ____________________________________________________ The Poor get Poorer Smug smiles all round as Peter Costello takes credit for the figures released this week showing Australia to be a growing economy. Am I supposed to be happy about this? Who made the money? The corporations may be jumping for joy but we, the drones, the worker ants, don't have any changes happening. Our bills are still hard to meet, living costs continue to rise, the job pays a less than liveable wage, the fear of bankruptcy and debt looms as large as ever. The figures that need to be publicised are the ones showing how large the personal credit card debt is, the growing number of homeless people, the many 'working poor' around now and the general feeling of hopelessness pervading right through our society at the lower end of the spectrum. No-one speaks up to protest that the Australian government lost billions of taxpayers money by speculation while the poor get poorer. We are a divided society in need of a leader, not a government who governs for the corporations. ____________________________________________________ Fair Go for Older Workers Guess the country: a man works an average 9 hour day for $90 after tax. He works without a lunchbreak and sometimes with less than a 10 minute break all day. He's an intelligent, well-qualified man in his field which is computer technology. He suffers constant violent verbal abuse from a boss who suffers from alcoholism, bad management, and great lack of personal charisma. The man is valiantly trying to keep his spirits up; he applies for any job that looks remotely likely, he doesn't let his depression show as he battles on. Why doesn't he leave you might ask? He's over 50 that's why. No more need be said. Why not complain about the working conditions? If he voices any complaint at all he will lose this pathetic job with the less than liveable wage and be reduced to facing a social security system which has no compassion nor any jobs for those in his age bracket. In case you didn't know, I'm talking about Australia. Where is the 'fair-go' this society boasts about? There is no 'fair-go' while such unfair treatment of workers is allowed to go on. ____________________________________________________ |
Lately I'm tempted to ignore
the news on radio and TV. It's just too upsetting to hear about the inhumane
way we are treating people in detention centres. How can any human treat
others this way for nothing they have done except seek refuge in this wide
country. A country we took from the original inhabitants. But I have to
watch the news. I have to care and try to make a difference, because if
I and others with compassion, cease to protest, we are deserting people
who are no different to us except for the accident of birthplace. Don't
let these concentration camps continue. Don't silently sympathise with
these desperate people. Raise your voice and express your opinion before
it's too late and those hate-filled politicians in power drag us all down.
____________________________________________________ Misplaced Priorities What's wrong with the priorities of a society that cares more about the graves of long-dead soldiers than the lives of innocent people fleeing war and violence? Has nationalism replaced humanity? If the outrage against the French building a runway over the bones of soldiers in a faraway place was directed to the living conditions of those in concentration camps right here, some living people might benefit from a smidgin of compassion. The uncaring attitude of Australians towards these innocent people is in stark contrast to the values we used to hold; that of helping those less fortunate than ourselves. Nationalistic pride has become selfish and hateful bigotry and it's not surprising the rest of the world sees us as unfriendly parochials. ___________________________________________________ Are we Manipulated This government is cunningly clever. Howard relies on a couple of things to make sure he'll be in office, free to do whatever he pleases, for as long as he likes. The ability to brazenly deny lies he and ministers tell no matter the evidence, the refusal to budge from a narrow, old-fashioned stance even when a large majority of people demand action, the cleverness of creating distractions to take the focus off the government, and reliance on the extremely short-term memory of the 50% of voters (the ones who voted for him). An example right now is his avoidance of the question of the lies told about asylum seekers, lies that everyone but he seemed to know. Not only am I ashamed to be Australian, I am filled with contempt for the mean-spirited people who support a government of such sleazy ethics and lack of humanity. ___________________________________________________ Invasion and Racism To echo Phillip Adams, if the refugees in Woomera were white South Africans there would be public outcry that they were driven to such desperate measures because they are imprisoned for long periods through no fault other than trying to seek refuge from a terrible fate. How would you feel? If Australia was invaded and some of us made it by whatever means we could to New Zealand shores, wouldn't you expect a friendly welcome, a comforting welcome after the horrors you had escaped from? And what if the New Zealanders disregarded your feelings altogether and immediately shut you in the equivalent of a concentration camp for possibly years? You think our Aussie boys would just sit there meekly waiting on a faint hope of asylum? I think they'd be doing a lot more damage than the people we have incarcerated in one of the hottest places in Australia. I'd be alongside them protesting for fair treatment. In real terms, why can't we treat asylum seekers like the New Zealand government does, with no detention necessary. I don't see any problems arising from this humane processing method. Let's take a leaf from our kinder neighbours book and treat refugees with the same degree of humanity that we would hope for if we were in the same situation. It's time for this government and the media to stop the demonising of people whose only crime has been to escape from their wartorn country.
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