Deveny referred to someone having sex with Bindi Irwin. Bindi Irwin is a child. That's rape.

Sandilands, Deveny: what's sauce for the goose ......

One can't differentiate between 'their' scumbags and 'our' scumbags and still maintain one's integrity. Trash is trash, period.

Hi ianbrum "there is a difference between freedom of the press and the licence to abuse that freedom. With any freedom comes responsibility,"

Firstly I don't want to be seen as defending this Sandilands individual. From your post I just don't know how you judge by who and how the freedom has been abused, and what's to be done about it. What's your take on this. I watched a program on TV a while back where there was an interview with a leader of an ultra right wing neo-nazi group in America. This person went on about Hitler was a good bloke, but didn't go far enough with the Jews, black people were animals etc etc. Do we silence him or do we let him go on poisoning the minds of young people as he has and does?

Paul1405,

There may be two issues here: the right of somebody like Sandilands to insult someone, and the right to do it from a paid position. If his employer decided to sack him, it wouldn't be actually depriving him of his right to free expression, merely of a paid platform to do it from. He would still be as free as you or me to spout rubbish, but on his own time.

Joe

It would be a mistake to remove Sandilands from his broadcasting role. He performs a valuable community service, in that he facilitates easy identification of the phuckwits in our society - they're the ones who like Sandilands.

Well. How sad Mr Sandilands is. A poor example of a public figure and a travesty of an example for young people. As an educator I have spent (like myriads of other teachers) a lifetime trying to enlarge, edify and enlighten the young. Mr Sandilands' behaviour can erode that in a minute or two. And he would doubtless have the hide to denigrate the teaching profession for a whole set of populist reasons.

I should add that over the years one of my teaching goals has been to assist the young to distinguish between the wise owls of this world and the galahs. Fortunately many young people are smart enough to take my advice and to ignore the chattering classes of the cheap media.

If Channel 7 has any respect for its own reputation it will deal with Mr Sandilands' contract summarily and exclude him from its stable of "personalities". Currently he is disgrace to himself, Channel 7 and to public life in this country and needs (strictly private) anger management therapy in a big way.