Apparently some locals arced up about it and it was taken down, scoring reports in the MSM. Now if you look at those, many of the headlines prominently cite “threats of violence” as the reason for removal. But the actual articles carry few details as to their nature.
Take one story from News Ltd., for example. The phrase "threats of violence" is included in the headline. But the only mentions of threats in the actual article are these:
On Tuesday, Victorian Multicultural Affairs Minister Robin Scott revealed the image would be removed, after the company behind the ad, QMS, received threats.
But he warned the issuers of the threats not to take the action as a win.
Further down:
QMS declined to comment on the threats received.
All very vague, innit?
No matter, virtue signalling lefties thought it enough to tweet furiously about those eeevil right-wing terrorists. Hell, it even allowed 'em to become patriotic for once!
Since when did #australiaday become the day we cave to right-wing terror threats of violence-The day Australia died! #notmyaustralia https://t.co/BAG3EJPYJr— The left honourable (@bamboozled3) January 17, 2017
Now, obviously, if a bunch of arseholes called the billboard company and said they'd blow the joint up, or that they'd physically attack the kids in the shot (or others like them) or something similarly vile and frightening then that would justify the description of “threats of violence”. Also, you would expect the plods to have been called to investigate them, even arrests to have been made, and these details included in the reports. But all you get are murky references.
It seemed to me that maybe this “right-wing violence” angle was a tad OTT. More likely, the company got a torrent of snark on their Facebook page, and maybe the odd expletive laden phone call to their office. Understandably this freaked them out. So they pulled the billboard.
Journos reporting the issue sexed it up in their traditionally right-on way, using it to reaffirm their beloved narrative about Australia being chockas with bogan rednecks who are "racist against Muslims".
Anyhoo, I have no way of knowing for sure. But today there's been a development that seems to confirm my theory that this was all a bit of a beat up.
See, a GoFundMe page was created to help out the billboard company. Dee Madigan, the well known advertising guru seems to have had a lot to do with this. A mountain of cash was raised. And now the original billboard will be replaced, along with a whole bunch of others.
Holy shit we did it. Australians are decent and tolerant and generous! pic.twitter.com/ZG7itobj5P— Dee Madigan (@deemadigan) January 18, 2017
Wow! So brave ... And how inspiring. There's hope for this country yet!
FFS ... Look, if the ad was pulled because of genuine threats of violence (that is, people were packin' death about what would happen if they didn't remove the ad) then why would money make any difference to their decision?
What, so donations make people morally courageous now? And so much so that they risk twenty times the violence that was promised before?
Put it this way. If you're just nonchalantly walkin' through the bush, minding your own business, and you get buzzed by a mean lookin' insect that you know for sure is a bloody great hornet and you run away from it, then a handful of cash is not gonna make you return to where it happened, let alone find the nest that it came from and kick it ferociously, now is it?
Looks to me like the ad was put up with the very clear intention of provoking outrage, thereby prompting media coverage. Then the usual suspects could wring their hands about tolerance, diversity, and inclusiveness. Maybe pulling it to gain sympathy was even part of the plan? Hell, it could even be described as having the hallmarks of a well thought out campaign.
Who knows …
One thing's for sure, it fits too neatly into the whole sanctimonious right-on MSM narrative to seem to be an entirely genuine series of developments, covered objectively.
I'm callin' this fake news!
No comments:
Post a Comment