I was going to maintain a dignified silence through the deaths of Steve Irwin and "Brockie", because I don't like to speak ill of the dead, and, moreover, I've seen what happened to Germaine when she tried. But I will say the following:
It's sad that they died, but they both did very dangerous things to earn their celebrity, and so in a sense died the way that they had lived... a very sad loss to the respective families, but not the tragedy of national proportions the media has turned it into.
Colin Thiele died on the same day as Irwin, and shamefully, NO ONE gave a damn. I'd hope Thiele's classic children's books will one day be viewed as a more valuable Australian contribution to the future than Irwin's circus. I know Irwin gave a lot in dollar terms to conservation, but he also supported the two biggest desecrators of the planet alive today, Howard and Bush (dare I say licked their arses??), and he treated animals like freakshows, jabbing and prodding at them for the dollars of the gaping gits looking on. If you love them, leave them alone!
I didn't think it was possible for so-called fans of a conservationist to be so stupid and cruel as to commit revenge attacks on stingrays. When I heard about this I was ashamed to be human/Australian/alive. I find it creepy when people pretend to mourn someone they never knew, and the celebrity death cult phenomenon that has been around since Princess Di seems to turn ordinary people into self-deluding morons.
Well, I think I've made my allegiances pretty clear. Germaine, you are and always have been one of my idols, and one of the last ballsy, loud, angry voices. Don't stop saying it because the 'bitter, old' men (who dare to lob the same insult at you) try to shout you down.
posted by susanna @ 1:15 pm
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