In response to last week’s mailer, I received an email from a subscriber that said
‘O Enlightened One,
We bow before your moral superiority. I was under the impression I subscribed to a wine newsletter. Apparently now you feel the need to inflict us with your political viewpoint? I have to say that I am very offended though – the absence of any Aboriginal or Muslim winemakers in the list is reprehensible. Please have this brought to the attention of the important people and hopefully it can be addressed before next year’s list.
Yours Sincerely,
Your proud local Racist Islamophobe.
I thought it was a joke, and responded: I hadn’t thought of Aboriginal or Muslim winemakers … bugger!
🙂
My apologies
Have a good weekend
It wasn’t a joke, our Islamophobe subscriber emailed back, and added:, ‘Why not publish my response and have a vote as to whether your politics belongs in the newsletter?’
The two offending paragraphs
When you publish a weekly mailer, you tend to look for a current event you can link to or respond to. That’s why I wrote about women winemakers and the ABC. In the process, I had a go at the Sydney Telegraph which I regard as bottom-of-the-gutter press, and at Peta Credlin who has had more than enough words written about her so I won’t add any more.
‘Wednesday was International Women’s Day, and the male chauvinists at the Daily Telegraph blasted the ABC for running with all female staff. The predictable Tele quoted the even more predictable Peta Credlin who said: ‘This is nothing more than a token gesture by the ultimate organisation of tokenism, the ABC.’ Mamma Mia thought it was a great idea, and I enjoyed discovering a host of female Aussie composers on ABC FM.
‘On the same day, I received an email from Dan Murphy’s that featured 11 Amazing Women in the Australian drinks business. They must’ve been smarting from my post last year headed Australia’s Top Winemakers are Men – No Women among Dan Murphy’s list of local heroes.’
I dare you!
While I was thinking about what might have offended this subscriber, and waited to see if others would complain or unsubscribe (neither happened), Islamophobe wrote another email, which said:
‘I dare you Kim. Along with my response you could pose the question whether the readership would prefer a wine newsletter without the writer’s personal political viewpoint ie politics free. Personally I applaud the recipes but let us stick to food and wine please. There followed a lengthy rant about Muslims and the ABC’s reporting, which I won’t repeat – I’m sure you know the style.
I emailed back saying, ‘I won’t respond to your last email since I don’t understand what provoked the hostility in it … Just to be clear: I will write what I like in my newsletter and on my website.’
The next email asked: ‘What happened to the democratic principle? Are the readership not going to get a say in whether you use the newsletter as a platform for your personal political views (tongue in cheek or not)? We already have to put up with leftard propaganda from the ABC and SBS, surely not the wine newsletter as well? Maybe you are part of the north shore cultural elite who know what’s best and therefore it’s ok?’
Colourblind
There was more to come: ‘I think it is quite wrong for you to use the wine newsletter to promote your personal political views when I (and I assume everyone else) signed up to receive a wine newsletter, not a political newsletter. As I implied before the content of the ABC and SBS which the taxpayer is funding, is a national disgrace because of clear bias and promotes division.
‘All are now encouraged to think of themselves primarily as a minority identity, women, LGBT, aboriginal, muslim, disabled, white etc rather than as Australians first and foremost. This is a profound change to Australian society, when I grew up here we were taught to be colourblind, ie all to be treated as equal, as Morgan Freeman points out so well.
‘I hope you don’t think that because I am the only person who has complained this justifies your position???? You should publish any readers comments in the interests of freedom of speech.’
Freedom and Respect
I’m happy to publish any subscriber’s opinions, because I’m with Voltaire who said: ‘I Disapprove of What You Say, But I Will Defend to the Death Your Right to Say It.’ So I ask you, dear subscriber, how come you’re an Islamophobe when you were taught to be colourblind, ie all to be treated as equal?
I can only add that the world sure wasn’t like that when Morgan Freedman grew up, and it wasn’t like that when I worked in the Northern Territory and North Queensland as a young migrant in 1966. The indigenous people were called Abbos or blackfellas, they were despised as dumb, lazy, useless and untrustworthy, and they were kept behind the high wire of reservations. If anything, racism has grown worse in Australia, or perhaps the racist minority has become more vocal.
I wrote a post a while ago headed What if our Politicians were Wines? It was meant to be a fun poke at our pollies, and I gave both sides of politics a fair serve I thought. My best friend, who shares our Islamophobe’s loathing for muslims and the ABC, had a go at me about it because he didn’t like some of the things I wrote. We’re still friends, in fact we’ve been best friends for 50 years. We respect each other, we’ve shared a lot of wine, and we have a lot of laughs together.
If any of you feel the way this subscriber does – that I use my wine newsletter to promote my personal political views – and object to that, please let me know via info@bestwinesunder20.com.au
Kim