Random sightings

A few things have caught my attention in the last few weeks. Individually, I only had a velleity to write about them, but collectively I should be able to manage a few words on each on the last day of my holidays.

One Apparently Terence Tao, a genius Aussie mathematician working in the US, was a finalist in the Australian of the Year awards. Apparently John Howard asked him in what part of the world he was born. This provoked the ire of two SMH letter writers for being ignorant of Mr. Tao. Scoffed Greg Bowyer: "In its breathtaking ignorance and monocultural myopia it was vintage Howard."

Methinks they complaineth too much. Mr. Tao occupies himself with mathematics so advanced that few other mathematicians in the world are likely to understand it. Most of his work, by my judgment, for what it's worth, will probably not see any practical use in his lifetime. These comments are not criticisms; they are sincere praise. However, even I (as one interested in mathematics) was unaware of Mr. Tao's existence until he won a Fields Medal last year. How then is John Howard supposed to be so clued in about this fellow?

As for "monocultural myopia", puhlease. If you can't politely ask a person of foreign appearance where they were born, then what's the world coming to?

Two The brown stuff hit the fan recently when a video entitled lebothugs appeared on YouTube containing just the kind of material its title suggests, including a homage to that gang rapist and devil spawn Bilal Skaf. Its main theme was that Australia is "under new management" by the high school gang that produced it. It is no doubt disgusting, and has thankfully been withdrawn.

John Howard immediately cited this as evidence that a small minority of Lebanese Muslims in Australia are wholly intent on refusing to properly integrate into Australia. While I can't fault his argument, or rather his statement of the bleeding obvious, for once I wish the Prime Minister of Australia could be a little more level-headed and say something like "Yes, I've been made aware of the video. I wish the police all the best with their investigation." His needless chest-thumping diminishes his credibility on these issues at a time when a lot of credibility is needed.

After all, isn't he aware that videos by white supremacists idolising the Cronulla riots are also out there on the Internet?

Three The brown stuff really hit the fan when Ken West, organiser of the Big Day Out, asked patrons not to bring flags to the event this year, because of a significant amount of anti-social behaviour involving the Australian flag at the festival last year, shortly after the Cronulla riots. The festival used to be held on Australia Day (in Sydney), but this year was moved forward one day to avoid any suggestion that a mere music festival was somehow a patriotic flag-waving event.

Anyway, West's misguided but well-intentioned and reasonable request turned into a media and political shitstorm with one wanker after another stepping up to condemn the "ban" (it was no such thing) and insult the organiser by twisting his words and mangling the issue. I was very disappointed at the quality of reportage and comment on the issue. It was tabloid hell, with few exceptions.

The predictable result was that flag usage rocketed. This is a good outcome, as the racist dickheads who caused trouble last year now didn't have a monopoly on the Australian flag. Ken West should have aimed for this outcome by encouraging flag use, rather than discouraging it.

As for me, I think flags should be left to flagpoles, Australia Day celebrations, and international sporting events.

Four A car-parts company, Tristar Steering and Suspension, copped a lot of the brown stuff this month. John Beaven, a sick and dying employee of 43 years, was refused a voluntary redundancy while 20 of his workmates got paid out. Basically, the company was waiting for him to croak, which he now has, so they wouldn't owe him anything. Perfectly understandable from a business point of view, but a bit slack, one would think.

Fortunately, though, one didn't need to waste time thinking about it. The media covered his story long and loud, with gutter reporters and a gutter radio personality invading the company's premises to demand a fair go for the sick man. Ultimately, after a visit by a government minister, the company relented and awarded the payout, which will be handy for his three kids who are now orphans.

Amazingly, though, amongst all the media I consumed on this issue, there was exactly one mention of this fact: the employees who got redundancies were all working in mechanical operations, whereas Mr. Beavan was in accounting. I'm not saying this undermines the case, but it's a shame to see salient points get lost in the froth.