The ABC of inconsistency
No censure for bigoted line stuns Mundine
WARREN Mundine is a great Australian and a great advocate for the indigenous community. He deserves better than to be slandered and slimed by Leftist miscreants who think the former Labor Party president is not Left wing enough and thus ripe for racial abuse.
Barely a day goes by when Mundine isn’t racially vilified on social media by terms used to denigrate people of colour; racist epithets such as Uncle Tom, house nigger and coconut (brown on the outside, white on the inside).
The attacks are invariably from cowardly keyboard warriors of the Left emboldened by the anonymity afforded by platforms such as Twitter. Mundine continually calls out this bigotry, calmly explaining to the abusers that the language they employ is racist.
It’s one thing to be vilified by anonymous trolls but when the ‘Uncle Tom’ smear came from a veteran journalist, Mundine was sufficiently upset to make a complaint to the ABC. The complaint centred on a tweet by Paul Bongiorno, the former Channel 10 national affairs editor who nowadays is a columnist for little-read Leftist rag The Saturday Paper and contributor for the little-read Leftist news site The New Daily.
Bongiorno is also regularly given a platform on the national broadcaster where his predictably “progressive” musings can be heard on Radio National. It was during his defence of the ABC that Bongiorno’s obtuse tweets descended from irrational to racist.
Responding to a tweet that asked: “How many Lefties does it take to say the same thing?” Bongiorno posted: “As many ‘righties’ on Dky (sic) after dark panels … and that includes ‘Uncle Tom’ lefties craving relevance.”
Mundine, who hosts a program on Sky News and regularly appears on “after dark panels”, reminded the former priest cum newsman that “Sky isn’t taxpayer funded” and that “Uncle Tom is a racial slur”.
In his complaint to the ABC, Mundine explained that the language tweeted by Bongiorno “has long been used to condemn and silence black people”, including Aboriginal Australians, and promotes the view that blacks must conform to certain opinions or be branded “a traitor to their race”.
“It is unquestionably a term of abuse and a bigoted expression,” he wrote. “In my view it’s disgraceful that a paid ABC commentator should use the expression. It is also disgraceful that the ABC would continue to hire a regular commentator who uses this expression without requiring him to apologise as a condition of continuing to be a paid ABC commentator.”
But the ABC has dodged all responsibility saying: “Bongiorno is not an ABC employee; his Twitter account is not an ABC account; any tweets are Mr Bongiorno’s own.”
However, the ABC’s own social media policy states that it covers personal use of Twitter and applies to “any person who carries out work in any capacity for the ABC”.
Last week Mundine called the ABC’s response “weak” and “pathetic”.
“If anybody would stand up against racist rhetoric, you would think it’s the ABC,” Mundine said. “The idea you can say something racial, one of the most dreadful things you can to a person of colour, and get away with it is a total disgrace.”
Bongiorno did belatedly offer an apology of sorts posting “I never intended it as racist slur” and “apologise for causing offence” but it wasn’t an apology that fully satisfied Mundine or many others who finds racist language and hypocrisy objectionable.
The apology seemed even less sincere when Bongiorno went on another Twitter rant, indulging in rationalisations that grew ever more bizarre. He even claimed that the people upset by his slur were “white supremacist trolls”.
Yes, it seems in the bizarre world inhabited by Bongiorno, it’s the white supremacists who hate racist language. That must be the sort of insight and logic that has secured Bongiorno regular appearances on the ABC.
Indigenous leader Marcia Langton tweeted to Bongiorno: “Uncle Tom” is on a par with the “N” word, Paul. Just don’t use it about anybody. It has a terrible history. Even PoC whisper terrible insults like this because they are so fundamentally racist and extremely abusive. Maybe you don’t know this, but I have told you now, so you do.”
Mundine was understandably unimpressed, telling Bongiorno: “People call you out for using a racial slur are “white supremacists”? You apologised for any offence & withdrew “any racist implication”. It’s a racist slur. What other implication is there? You didn’t withdraw it unconditionally. You still defend your right to use it.”
For the record I don’t think Bongiorno should be sacked for the comment but it’s curious that the Twitter mobs who demand sackings and censure for the smallest offences, real or imagined, were silent when one of their own used racist language. It’s also curious that an organisation as big as the ABC, one that is full of Leftists, needs to pay Leftist contributors to appear on its programs.
If the organisation was interested in even a semblance of balance, it would employ a few conservatives to anchor TV and radio programs.
The ABC recently squandered more tax dollars hiring another Leftist to “report” on the deportation of Kiwi criminals. Peter “Pirates” FitzSimons, who has long criticised Australia’s tough border protection policies appeared on Foreign Correspondent last week as a supposedly impartial reporter.
Mundine’s greatest “crime”, as with every minority figure attacked by the Left, from Kanye West to Ben Carson to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, is that he does not wrap himself in the cloak of victimhood. Indeed he rejects that toxic culture that condemns people of colour to life as downtrodden, marginalised and hopeless victims. For that sin he cops racial abuse daily.