An interesting article, Virginia, thank you. Semantics and more broadly, semiotics are a vital topic if we want to understand the ways that humans construct their own realities.

Wittgenstein, in his Tractatus, argued that meaning is inextricably linked to the form of the words, or in other words, that what you see is what you get. After another 20 years of thinking about the subject he completely reversed himself in his Philosophical Investigations, arguing that meaning is constructed within the context of the reader/listener (social, emotional, cultural, etc) and the words themselves are not the context-free information carriers that Bertrand Russell had tried to treat them as.

Umberto Maturana went on to develop the idea, developing the idea of "languaging", which is the process of developing a shared understanding between sender and receiver and is at the heart of the idea of "branding".

The media, as you would already know from your experience as a journalist, is expert at such languaging, as are our politically-employed journalists and the political apparatchiks that they work with.

Unfortunately, the media is not driven by ethical principles, as an experience I have had with the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (the journalists Union) showed me. In fact, despite trumpeting such principles loudly, they are often honoured more in the breach. As a result, the expedience of the moment (who's paying the bill for the story) is often the only guide that media organisations follow and they can be enormously destructive as a result.

The idea of the press as the guardians of liberty in a democracy is sadly, long gone.

Virginia,

Your ABC training shines out. You misquote Abbott and then lambast him for your words.

Mr Abbott did not say that the Human Rights Commission should be ashamed of itself for releasing the report because it was an attack on his government, rather that its delay was done deliberately to avoid embarrassing Labor prior to the election and as such was a purely politically partisan action for which she should be ashamed.

What rubbish Shadow Minister!
Abbott is a disgrace as a PM as you well know.
He has had one gaffe after another, so I certainly believe the Human Rights Commission version of events than his.

I also bet that if the Commissioner was a man, there would not have been such a nasty reaction to the truth the commission revealed about the children in detention.

As far as the Bali Nine duo go, Abbott well and truly sealed their execution by insulting the Indonesians in such a stupid way.
He needs to go.

well I suppose the abc/regressives swore black and blue the carbon tax could not be scrapped and the boats could not be stopped. Their ingrain hatred of Abbott is now dressed in compassion for the 200 children in detention. They were silent when their was 2000 children and many drownings but that regressive politics. No wonder anyone half interested in the truth will not be lectured by hypocrites.

"They were silent when their was 2000 children and many drownings but that regressive politics"

I think you have that seriously wrong. Many so called progressives were voicing their strong objections to Labor's policies.

What they have failed to do is come up with viable proposals to both limit the number of irregular boat arrivals (or whatever set of words people would prefer to apply) and meet humanitarian concerns.

There may not be good answers to that particular conflict.

I'm not a fan of the detention approach, I'd much rather TPV's combined with conditions of stay and measures that were designed to provide better overall outcomes than what we currently do.

R0bert

What sort of people are those held in detention that they would assault, sexually molest and cause extreme levels of physical, emotional, psychological and developmental distress to the children who travelled with them and in some cases are their own?

It cannot be said that the children are in worse physical conditions than some in the Australian community, the difference is the predatory and uncaring behaviour of the people they are with, their own people.

What is your evidence for that, OTB? Assuming you are right, what do you think might be relevant to considering causation? Or is it your view that asylum seekers are, by their nature, simply criminals who are unable to restrain themselves from behaving badly regardless of circumstances?

Have you ever found yourself in a situation in which nothing you could do would in any way influence the outcome? Whether you have or haven't, are you able to empathise with other people to the extent that you might be able to consider how that might cause mental health deterioration? Or is the colour of these people's skin and the religion they practise simply too high a barrier for your mind to jump and think about them as really "people"?

Craig Minns,

Who else would be responsible, what are you alleging?

We can rest assured that if was the security staff that would be reported immediately. However the guards are also selected, trained and monitored, which makes it all the more unlikely.

I'm not alleging anything at all, OTB, you made the claims.

I notice you avoided answering any of my questions.

SOL,

Triggs was supposed to act without political fear or favour. By her own account, she delayed the inquiry because she feared it might have an impact on the election which at that time was about 6 months away, and admitted having discussions with Labor ministers at that time.

At the beginning of 2013 Labor was on the nose with illegal boats, and an inquiry into children in detention would have been extremely embarrassing. The moving of the inquiry was a clear party political favour.

As for the execution of the Bali nine drug smugglers, Abbott never insulted the Indonesians, no matter how the left tries to twist it. That Yoko has painted himself into a corner by making the execution of drug smugglers a signature policy has more to do with the outcome than the robust diplomatic effort of Abbott and Bishop. (compared to the feeble efforts by Rudd when van Nguyen was hanged)

As for Abbott, he is still far more competent than either Krudd or Juliar by a country mile.

Craig Minns,

I did answer with an explanation and I asked you who the hell else could be responsible.

Shadow Minister "As for Abbott, he is still far more competent than either Krudd or Juliar by a country mile."

Lol!
Maybe in your country, but not in Australia....

SOL,

At least you have the good sense not to challenge the fact that at the very least Triggs' actions appear partisan, and that there is nothing more that Abbott could do to save the Bali 9 leaders.

It is a pity that you are suffering from amnesia towards the rolling train wreck that was the Labor KRudd/Juliar/Krudd government.