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The Forum > Article Comments > Connnecting your garden to the 'cosmic influence' > Comments

Connnecting your garden to the 'cosmic influence' : Comments

By Ben-Peter Terpstra, published 21/12/2006

The ABC's flagship magazine, 'Organic Gardener' comes in for some close scrutiny.

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Perhaps at my ABC (a factory outlet of the BBC) they could just trash Organic Gardener but they'd first need to ask the Psychic Investigators what trouble that would cause.
Posted by PeterJH, Thursday, 21 December 2006 9:34:04 AM
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Ben's rant is probably a fair call on a publication that I doubt I would purchase, but which I would hope contributes to the ABC bottom line in some way. However there is a nasty economic trend involved here to as I recently witnessed in my job as a viticulturalist. Going organic is attracting volunteers who are such believers in the the new 'faith' that they will work for nothing in commercial vineyards. This undermines the local employment market as owners are only to willing to take advantage.
Posted by jup, Thursday, 21 December 2006 10:47:32 AM
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Great ! another way has been found to bash the ABC and environmentalists ! a bit oblique and over-enthusiastic but no doubt he will be congratulated by Dad's Army.
Posted by kang, Thursday, 21 December 2006 12:40:45 PM
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Poor B-L-O-O-D-Y! ABC just can't win eh? There must be an early election in the air and howard has sent the 'Goon Squad' out.
Regards, numbat
Posted by numbat, Thursday, 21 December 2006 2:15:29 PM
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Very droll, Ben. However, as I'm sure you're aware, you are only able to score cheap snickers in this case because Aunty's been forced to prostitute herself in order to survive.

Gormless as much of this stuff is, IMHO it's decidedly less offensive than most of the content of other popular magazines. And I've no doubt that it's much more environmentally friendly :)

What's more - there's a 'healthy' market for it. Personally, I'm more than happy to sell ABC 'Gardening Australia' books, including some about organic gardening.

Not our biggest Xmas seller, but useful nonetheless. And 'useful' to Aunty too, ultimately:)
Posted by CJ Morgan, Thursday, 21 December 2006 9:24:45 PM
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Damn that free market eh Ben? Funny i've never seen a rant by RightThinkers against the quack diet/weight loss cures promoted daily on 7 & 9's "current affairs" flagships, despite the much greater damage they cause.

Neoliberals make careers out of underfunding or otherwise hamstringing State institutions and then using the consequences to justify the coup de grace: Telecom - bad service? needs privatising. Comm.Bank uncompetitive? needs privatising. CSL a noncore business? needs privatising (and then paying 100s mil for pharmaceutical IP developed on taxpayer funds).
The ABC is barely more left wing than the centre-right BBC, and noticably less so since new Howard buddy at the helm - tho that could be due to the recent Board changes (also stacked with Howard buddies). Funny none of them get a serve for overseeing the Organic Gardeners commercialisation.

Practically speaking tho i'm right with you Ben, finish off the ABC. Its an embarrassing reminder of a bygone age, there is no public input or accountability in government now RightThink rules (Liberal & National & Labor).
Posted by Liam, Friday, 22 December 2006 7:35:26 AM
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Give the poor blighters a break Ben. It is Christmas, and if you got rid of all the people employed in the organic nonsense industry you would create massive unemployment. The worst thay they can do is suffer from E.coli producing gastroenteritis from not sterilising the lovely fresh green vegetables grown from porly composted chook poo.
Posted by VK3AUU, Friday, 22 December 2006 5:39:45 PM
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VK3AUU, can you provide a link for a single certified organic product causing food poisoning due to e.coli levels? In fact it is CONVENTIONAL food suppliers & fasy food vendors who cause the vast majority of such cases of food poisoning, eg. very recently in the US with lettuce http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_IA_Taco_Johns_Lawsuit.html

Certified Organics might be associated in some media with flakey ideas, and is in the process of being prostituted by supermarkets, but its still some guarantee that your food costs less (in real, not economic, terms) and sure tastes a damn sight better. If certification took energy (including food miles) and material flows into account then supermarkets would never make the grade.
Posted by Liam, Friday, 22 December 2006 11:45:20 PM
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Please, why don't you have a go at something a bit more meaningful Ben? Trashing David Suziki for flying? Trashing the ABC for having the Organic Gardener and implying cash for comment? Yes, I can see it now - tomorrow's headlines - ABC's magazine is biased because green groups have paid for advertising for environmentally friendly products!! Run, hide ... what is our ABC coming too?

Oh My God.

You also accuse the magazine as being "unscientific" - every other magazine I see at my supermarket counter is far more "unscientific". Women's magazines abound with sensationalist claims about age-reversing products, slimming diets and the rest. Even the Australian Magazine has a horoscope section!

Find something more worthwhile critiquing - perhaps the policies of our Government. Better yet, the paucity of Australian content on Australian TV.
Posted by Blackstone, Saturday, 23 December 2006 12:10:20 AM
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When I awoke this morning I did not realise such a crisis lurked, the horror of it all, the horror of organic gardening. That awful Monster the ABC.

Ben-Peter Terpstra should not bash the ABC and attempts to reduce polloution because throughout his article he does not say why. The ABC is bad because reducing pollution is bad , why Ben? Why?

The article is not convincing enough to motivate me to grab my pitchfork and march to the ABC and demand they stop producing such 'rubbish' and demand it replaced with other rubbish more in line with the rubbish that the rest of the media produce.
Posted by West, Wednesday, 27 December 2006 10:08:39 AM
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