Thank goodness for Tabloid Newspapers and Shock-Jock Radio.
Just
8 short months ago, some of the more reactionary media in Australia was calling for citizens of middle-eastern descent to decide if they could ever accept the Australian culture of Beer, BBQ's and Beaches, and if they couldn't, to "go back to where they came from".
Now, those same media commentators are criticising the Government for not doing enough to help the "Aussies" stranded in Lebanon. (Presumably it's only the Christian Lebanese they want back?)
In the latest development, a ship chartered by the Govt to ferry 300 Australians to safety in Cyprus was "Hi-jacked" by the UN, who had paid more to the shipowners than that offered by the Aust Govt. As the 300 evacuees waited on the docks to board the SS E-bay, shelling was heard about 1km away. "This is all the fault of the Australian Government, they have done nothing to help us get out of Lebanon" one evacuee was quoted as saying. I find it curious that they didn't use the words ".. help us get home". Despite that, I find some of the images coming out of Lebanon shocking, and fail to see how they reconcile with Israel's stated aim of releasing the captured soldiers.
It's a funny old world we live in.
