Planet Irf: CRIKEY: Wacko blog comments pile on at the Herald Sun ...

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

CRIKEY: Wacko blog comments pile on at the Herald Sun ...

What do Boag's Draught, AMP Banking, the alcohol.vic.gov.au website and ANZ all have in common?

Two things:

1. They are all subject to laws that forbid them from publishing racist and homophobic content; and

2. They all advertise on the Herald Sun website.

If a Lion Nathan Limited (makers of Boag's Draught) employee used his/her employer's intranet or e-mail server to make racist remarks against another employee and/or members of the public based on their ethnicity, the company would have no option but to take action against that employee. If the ANZ Banking Group Limited published homophobic remarks on its website, it could be sued or even prosecuted.

Yet certain blogs on the Herald Sun website aren't subject to the same standards and laws. And if you don't believe me, read some of these comments from a popular Herald Sun blog:

Case replied to Wacko
Mon 02 Mar 09 (05:46pm)
Lok at it in a positive light-Sydney leads the rest of Oz again.
Well, at least as far as mardi grARS it does!

Pacific Islanders are probably the most common suspects in Sydney home invasion imo using their bulk.
Crime Rep (Reply)
Mon 02 Mar 09 (03:36pm)

Crime Rep replied to arnie
Mon 02 Mar 09 (06:41pm)
There is an element for sure. Islanders are heavily over-represented in home invasions.

There's been a few other incidences of Islanders invading homes.
Mostly pistol whipping people and robbing them.
The worst was in the Suburb of Claymore where a woman was raped deliberately in front of her kids. This was a few years ago. The one man caught was named [name deleted] ...
Crime Rep (Reply)
Mon 02 Mar 09 (03:42pm)

The comments were made after the blogger in question listed three completely unrelated incidents in Sydney to reach this conclusion:

That police seem to play down the violence, and that the tired counter-accusation of racism is used, only makes clearer some of the reasons we got to this point.

One of those incidents was an attack at a Catholic independent school located in the Sydney suburb of Auburn. The motive behind this attack was described by one student at the school who told The Australian that ...