When one side of a “debate” is arguing to deny a historically persecuted minority equal rights, the ABC is virtually bound to promote misleading, hateful and dangerous points of view. Provably false claims about homosexuality leading to bestiality and incest, deliberate conflations of the postal survey with other issues like Safe Schools, and fear mongering that darkly hints at homosexuals as secret child molesters are not only presented as on par with reasoned, relevant arguments about equality and discrimination – they must be presented, if the “No” side is to feel fairly treated.
“There are people who call again and again and again, every day, trying to find a different way to say the same horrible things”, one ABC worker tells Alex McKinnon. “Just plain, unadulterated, unadorned homophobic ranters, using the goodwill of the ABC and the openness of its editorial policy and the Charter to publicly express statements that were never part of public debate before.”
Plus: Paul Bongiorno on how Tony Abbott weaponised the energy crisis, and Kelly Glanney on the untruth that gender fluidity is new.
Read more here
The Saturday Paper
