Letters
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday August 17, 2009
Kokoda Track pilgrims are kidding themselvesFor some years there has been a tendency for people to walk the Kokoda Track, not to gain a sense of history, but to prove they can endure similar hardships that would have been experienced by the diggers of World War II, and return home knowing they can now overcome any hindrance before them.This is just phooey. For starters they are not in any danger of being killed byenemy soldiers. Politicians, celebrities, CEOs and wayward young people havegone on this wild and harsh adventure either with the media in tow or, ontheir return, trying to convince us they will be changed people for the betterhaving completed it.If these people want to find meaning to their lives, they dont have to travel far from their home; they can join one of the various voluntary organisations that help the homeless, the drug addicts, the poor, the mentally ill and young men and girlswho sell themselves for sex each day.Somehow we give more attention and credit to these trekkers and ignore thereal modern heroes helping the disadvantaged within our community.Con Vaitsas LakembaGet with the programYour article Google Monster (August 15-16) went to great pains to outlinethe dangers of a dominant company.While stressing that Google did not use its muscle to distort the market, the story expounded on the dangers of its dominance. In the end, the article focused on why we need to find ways to stop Google being so good.But wouldnt it make more sense to question why other companies are so bad? The internet is an open model with no geographic restriction to encumber Australian companies.Google Maps was developed in Sydney and Googles recently announced newemail methodology Wave, was also developed in Sydney. The crew that developed Maps spoke to any number of organisations to try to gain access to funds to continue development, before Google invested.Isnt it time that all business people, Rupert Murdoch included, woke up to these facts and adjusted their companys skill-set to become profitable in an internet environment? And, to not just roar at the moon.Ted Keating TallaiMonkeys of ParliamentThey say if you if you pay politicians peanuts you get monkeys (Top banana chases the swinging voters, August 15-16).I am sure if we voters had the choice we would be voting for Lubutu, Shabani and Chimbuka rather than Nathan, Frank and John.After all they couldnt be as bad or inept as the current gang we have now.Robert Pallister PunchbowlA blow for equalityIts a good thing, I suppose, that the International Olympic Committee hasdecided to let women participate in more sport, such as boxing, and that the NSW Government is trying to lift its ban on female boxing (Boxing decision fantastic for females, August 15-16).Blatant and baseless discrimination has been allowed to exist for too long in the world of sport. If society insists on allowing men to bash each other senseless and calling it a sport then it is only fair that the activity should be open to everyone.Brad Ruting Castle HillJust when I thought I would live to see (male) boxing banned, the StateGovernment decides to lift the ban on womens boxing so that it may figure in the 2016 Olympics.If were going to have such legalised bashing, whats next? Eye-gouging, hair-pulling, arm-twisting, headstomping?Perhaps the Roman Colosseum, with its well-documented history of competitive brutality, might be a suitable site for the first bouts.James Prior Sylvania WatersWill the inclusion of female boxing in the London Olympics better prepare females for life with league players? Bill Carpenter BowralCant keep a secretCarmel Sullivan complains that the trailer of Beautiful Kate, although deliciously vague and visually enticing, kept totally mum about one detail (Yet more gore from Jollywood, August 14). A detail, along with several more, that she, with the Heralds complicity, then goes on to spill.A little reminder here from the filmmaker that most movies, especially mysteries of which Beautiful Kate is clearly billed, maintain their tension by withholding such details. She then guesses that due to the preponderance of dark, outback Aussiemovies, they must be easier to do. I was a little dismayed when Ms Sullivan,and several critics (whom you would imagine understood the protocol), happily divulged said details, but then I guess, it must be easier to do.Mercifully, such laziness doesnt seem to be putting the punters off. Word ofmouth for Beautiful Kate is so positive that audiences have actually increasedin its second week.Rachel Ward BirchgroveSchooled by chauvinists It was shocking to read of a sensitive young girls humiliation in a schooldebate in 1969 ( When Turnbull was a teen terror, August 15-16), but dontbag Malcolm Turnbull; bag the school.Just as Alison was coached by her teacher, so Malcolms team would have been directed by his debating master. Alas, the school then was a male chauvinist piggery.Enlightenment was slow to come, but it did arrive. As the first woman appointed to the academic staff I was there at its birth labour was protracted, delivery painful. All too late for Malcolm, by then long gone from the hallowed halls. It was Lucywho brought Malcolms enlightenment. Three cheers for Lucy.Heather Rossiter Mosman
Š 2009 Sydney Morning Herald