Tim Blair

Yet another good reason to stop referring to the ABC as "our"

"Yasser Arafat has always been one to be firmly in control, to be at these meetings, to take a lead role in everything he does"

From that can we conclude that Yasser Arafat is firmly in control of the suicide bombing campaign?

I wish those weak as piss Jews would just kill him already.

' ... has been attending meetings and greeting diplomats and dignitaries, so for now he's continuing to carry out his function ... but there's no doubt he looks pale, he looks frail and this Parkinson's related illness he's had for some time is taking its toll on his health.

PETER CAVE: But as you say he is obviously well enough to keep fighting the good fight.'

It's ex-Minister Alston's fault. With the budget cuts, they are clearly planning to cut and splice it for the Pope.

The Macquarie Dictionary
irony1
// (say 'uyruhnee) noun (plural ironies) 1. a figure of speech or literary device in which the literal meaning is the opposite of that intended, especially, as in the Greek sense, when the locution understates the effect intended, employed in ridicule or merely playfully. 2. an ironical utterance or expression. 3. simulated ignorance in discussion (Socratic irony). 4. the quality or effect, or implication of a speech or situation in a play or the like understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters of the piece (dramatic irony). 5. an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected. 6. an ironical quality. [Latin ironia, from Greek eironeía dissimulation, understatement]

Yeah, right.

Yeah, Macquarie - 'a figure of speech or literary device in which the literal meaning is the opposite of that intended'. You wish. As far as these fellow-traveller media vermin are concerned, episodes like Ma'alot are the good fight. Shame the Jordanians didn't wipe the whole PLO out (typical bloody Paleostinians - they get oppressed by their fellow Arabs and then kill a bunch of Jews in Munich to make up for it). I'd love to see a really stern response from Israel the next time there's a bus bombing (15 or 20 cluster bombs on the inevitable gala festivities in Ramallah would send a nice message).

I am an unapologetic Judeophile and Zionist (an atheist lapsed-RC one, to boot), and I can't understand why they didn't exterminate Arafat years ago. I would dearly love for the last thing to go through Arafat's mind be a .50 caliber bullet from a sniper rifle. But failing that, I hope the reputed stomach cancer has the fucker begging for death before the end.

That is one of the most vile and sick comments ever. It was perhaps meant to be a colorful expression by Peter Cave, but it shows you what kind of perverted mind he has.

I've never been so disgusted - this guy is sposed to be a journalist, not an activist.

I thought the A in ABC stood for Australian. It was OUR troops that were sent to Iraq.

And the only damn thing about Arafat that is "fighting the good fight" is his stomach cancer - GO CANCER !!

Didn't you know that Hamas, Hezbollah and El Aquesa are "ours"; those evil Joos and their cronies and dupes are the enemy in the "good fight".
Kebabs for all true believers!

Any chance these two fine reporters could get caught in some crossfire somewhere? When Arafat wakes up in hell I hope he reserves lots of spots for those "journalists" who helped him all along. Those two noted would take a few spots as could most of the network anchors in the US.

It's obvious the expression used refers to Arafat's ability to keep performing his duties as President regardless of his illness.

An unfortunate turn of phrase to use in this context, to be sure, but the phrase is a common colloqualism for asking if someone is still doing whatever it is they still do.

I'm not sure why Mark Willacy's line is bolded -- it sounds like an commonplace description of any person in a position of power.

I'm even more at a loss why the previous poster JEM wishes this reporter should be killed for reporting the facts.

Geoff says:

' ... the phrase is a common colloqualism for asking if someone is still doing whatever it is they still do.'

I believe Saddam is still fighting the good fight.

whereas pol pot has sadly given up fighting the good fight, along with mao, hitler, stalin (hi, jack strocchi) and mussolini not forgetting franco and petain

Geoff-

Wake up! The facts are that people are killed upon Arafat's orders everyday and they are there making the comments as noted. In order to wake them up - and report what is going on and not fawning over the fact that Arafat is dealing with his medical condition (like millions other throughout the world) and continuing to order bombings, executions for allegedly being a spy, siphoning off money for his and his cronies use, etc. Geoff-if you really believe they are reporting the truth, I pity you.

By the way - when they meet their end, whenever that occurs - I do believe people like that will have their own little section of unpleasantness for the people who died because they enabled dictators, terrorists, and thugs - for no apparent reason beyond their own biases.

JEM,

The article simply states the condition of Arafat's health and its affect on his functions as President.

That this is newsworthy is without question, just as the effect of ill-health on the leaders of any other countries would also be newsworthy, regardless of your opinion of the regime itself.

I fail to see any "fawning" (as you describe) over this rather mundane bit of reporting. I also fail to see how you can doubt that anything in the report is objectively untrue.

If this is all it takes for you justify the killing of journalists, then there's nothing rational left to discuss.

If Silvio Berlusconi were to be taken ill, would the ABC be asking if he was well enough to keep fighting the good fight? Of course not. We all know the ABC well enough to guess that a different expression would be used. Same goes for john Howard. Imagine it being used for George Bush. Come on!

I agree that nothing in the original report is objectively untrue; but surely, Geoff, you must agree the expression was most a extraordinary usage in current world circumstances - particularly in view of recent the killings and retaliations. In quieter times its less warlike colloquial meaning may have meant it passed unnoticed, but in this report it is completely unacceptable by any standards.

I did say it was unfortunate turn of phrase, and I agree it should not have been used. However, I'm not willing to twist the usage of such a phrase into a example of partisanship, but more an example of unintended inappropriateness.

I suspect some readers here are prepared to ascribe any misplaced comment as evidence of ABC bias, but I really cannot see this is the case here.

It's similar to the quote I heard on Channel Nine the other day about a series of photographs of Bali victims, where the presenter mentioned that they (the photos) had been "blown up". An unfortunate phrase to use in the circumstances, yet forgivable. Although if it had been the ABC I suspect that it would derided as an example of "insensitivity to ordinary Australians", etc.

Blown up - now that is an unfortunate use of words!