Toeing the line

My latest New Matilda column discusses media complicity in hyping the terror threat and the seeming unwillingness of the political and media elite to acknowledge why Australia has become a target in the first place:

"Prime Minister John Howard and his media cheerleaders (the vast majority of the corporate media elite) tell us that a terrorist threat exists in Australia. This is hardly news, but is reported as a shock announcement. Why are we under threat? 'They' hate our way of life. 'They' want to impose sharia law on us all. 'They' hate Aussie women wearing bikinis on Bondi Beach. 'They' hate us because that's what extremists do. 'They' hate irrationally and passionately and uncontrollably.

"All nonsense, of course."

My New Matilda archive can be found here.