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Ignorance writ large

"The shrill reaction from some sections of the media to the release from prison of accused terrorist Jack Thomas has been almost as consuming as the outcome of the case. Of note was the editorial in Monday's The Australian: Thomas had betrayed Australia by travelling to Afghanistan to serve the cause of terrorism. And he's betrayed Australia again by getting off.

Its legal affairs reporter said earlier the law must be wrong because the families of those who died in Bali would not understand it.

Gerard Henderson in this paper said the Victorian Court of Appeal's decision was bad for democracy.

Apart from the tiny problem that Thomas didn't blow anyone up, there is so much speciousness inherent in the notion that the quashing of his conviction is all down to a mad technicality. In fact, it is down to a cock-up by the outfit charged to protect us from all the hobgoblins, the Australian Federal Police."

So writes Richard Ackland in the SMH - the complete op-ed piece of which is here. Pandering to the lowset common demoninator and being simply bog-ignorant of how the law "works" - and how it protects everyone - is clearly highlighted by the ravings of The Australian and the scribbling of Gerard Henderson.

Others have written on the same subject-matter as Ackland. Alan Attwood in The Age here and Mike Carlton in today's SMH here.

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