You, my loyal sometimes-reader, know that I like to write flippantly, about matters of little to no consequence.
However, I need to get serious, just for a moment. Then I can take us to Nothing Land once more.
I watched a documentary last night called "A Loving Friend" by film-maker Kerry Negara. It was hard yakka, not because of the quality of the film but because of the subject matter. This is a blurb about it from the Melbourne International Film Festival's website (which is also showing the film this year) - I managed to copy the text in between cyber-attacks by disturbingly patriotic Chinese:
Now, obviousy, Friend was a complete sicko.
But it's his friends and peers in the arts community, the so-called "elites", who are really vile in this documentary.
People like James Murdoch, a fellow artistic wanker-type in Bali, who said the young Bali boys "gave" themselves to Friend - basically saying: as long as no money changed hands it was OK (conveniently ignoring the fact that children are incapable of making such decisions rationally - that's why they need to be protected, not exploited).
And Chris Carlise, a former diplomat, who said the boys appeared to grow up fine and get married, and so they weren't "damaged goods". So, y'know, fuggedaboutit.
And Margaret Olley, a...um...Stupid Old Cow, who said the boys were lucky because Friend gave them opportunities that other, unassaulted, Bali boys did not get.
I'll refer to the members of this "elite" as Wannabe Pedophiles (or "Paedophiles", let's not get paedantic. Though "Pedophiles" had more hits with a Google search, says he expecting the Federal Police any minute now).
First things first.
I don't care how good an artist Friend was*, Friend was a selfish, narcissistic predator, who didn't really care about the children under his "care" - he just wanted to have sex with them.
And I don't care if he looked after the boys financially. Wannabe Pedophiles like Margaret Olley who make this argument are basically saying "If you're nice to the children you're putting your dick in, you're all right!"
And I don't give a flying fuck with a consenting adult about how charming and genial he was. As Bernadette McMenamin from Childwise, a charity which tries to fight child abuse, said: "Monsters don't get close to children, nice guys do."
You were all sucked in by a sociopath, Wannabes.
And others who make semantic arguments about the definition of a pedophile, contortioning themselves to avoid the fact that that's exactly what Friend was, here's a cold hard fact for you.
In Victoria, section 45 of the Crimes Act 1958 states: "A person who takes part in an act of sexual penetration with a child under the age of 16 is guilty of an indictable offence" (other Australian States are very similar).
One of the fuckheads in the film tried to argue that a pedophile was someone who had sex with children under the age of 10 or so, and pretended to be mortified that there would be people like that, very different to our good Donald.
And those who try to argue that it's culturally acceptable to have sex with children in Asia, it's a crime there, too, douchebags.
But, of course, Australians are racist. Especially Australian Wannabe Pedophile Douchebag Arty-Farty Cocknockers.
I'll put some hypotheticals to these Wannabe Pedophiles.
What if a truck driver was living in Bali having sex with children? Would you equally leap to his defence? Or what if Donald Friend had a house full of young girls that he regularly had sex with? WHITE GIRLS! Horrified yet?
And another thing - it's not like the evidence is equivocal about Friend's activities: this is all actually based on Friend's own words in his now-published diaries. So what we know is based on the BEST possible version of events assuming Friend didn't embellish his diaries! Imagine if what he did was even worse, but he chose not to write about it, or exaggerated things to put himself in a good light.
In relation to the publication of the diaries by the National Library, in accordance with Friend's wishes, I found this great article about Friend, and the National Library's complicity in glossing over Friend's wrong-ness: National Library gives arts community a bad name
My only gripe with the film was that Kerry was a little too hands-off, though good documentary filmmakers generally are. But I would have liked to see some Michael Moore-style in-your-face blunt accusations and unwanted opinionating (y'know, like in this blog). The subjects in this documentary, like those mentioned above, seemed to get a bit of a free ride. That said, I'd love to see their faces if they ever watch this doco.
Speaking of which, it's still on at the MIFF, and I recommend it, even if it is harrowing viewing, it tells an important story.
* I'm gonna come out and say it: He was a shit artist and his painting of bananas looked crap. But, don't worry about my opinion, Wannabes. To quote James Murdoch about Friend's child-fucking, "It's not a big deal".
However, I need to get serious, just for a moment. Then I can take us to Nothing Land once more.
I watched a documentary last night called "A Loving Friend" by film-maker Kerry Negara. It was hard yakka, not because of the quality of the film but because of the subject matter. This is a blurb about it from the Melbourne International Film Festival's website (which is also showing the film this year) - I managed to copy the text in between cyber-attacks by disturbingly patriotic Chinese:
"In his posthumously published diaries, Australian artist Donald Friend made shocking admissions of sexual liaisons with children across Asia and the Torres Strait, though many among the arts elite of Australia continue to deny any wrongdoing on Friend’s part.Yeah. A real laugh-fest.
"Filmmaker Kerry Negara confronts this culture of evasion and the creation of the “nice, culturally acceptable pedophile”. Her documentary encompasses the viewpoints of academics in Canberra through to unprecedented interviews with Friend’s houseboys on the island ‘paradise’ of Bali."
Now, obviousy, Friend was a complete sicko.
But it's his friends and peers in the arts community, the so-called "elites", who are really vile in this documentary.
People like James Murdoch, a fellow artistic wanker-type in Bali, who said the young Bali boys "gave" themselves to Friend - basically saying: as long as no money changed hands it was OK (conveniently ignoring the fact that children are incapable of making such decisions rationally - that's why they need to be protected, not exploited).
And Chris Carlise, a former diplomat, who said the boys appeared to grow up fine and get married, and so they weren't "damaged goods". So, y'know, fuggedaboutit.
And Margaret Olley, a...um...Stupid Old Cow, who said the boys were lucky because Friend gave them opportunities that other, unassaulted, Bali boys did not get.
I'll refer to the members of this "elite" as Wannabe Pedophiles (or "Paedophiles", let's not get paedantic. Though "Pedophiles" had more hits with a Google search, says he expecting the Federal Police any minute now).
First things first.
I don't care how good an artist Friend was*, Friend was a selfish, narcissistic predator, who didn't really care about the children under his "care" - he just wanted to have sex with them.
And I don't care if he looked after the boys financially. Wannabe Pedophiles like Margaret Olley who make this argument are basically saying "If you're nice to the children you're putting your dick in, you're all right!"
And I don't give a flying fuck with a consenting adult about how charming and genial he was. As Bernadette McMenamin from Childwise, a charity which tries to fight child abuse, said: "Monsters don't get close to children, nice guys do."
You were all sucked in by a sociopath, Wannabes.
And others who make semantic arguments about the definition of a pedophile, contortioning themselves to avoid the fact that that's exactly what Friend was, here's a cold hard fact for you.
In Victoria, section 45 of the Crimes Act 1958 states: "A person who takes part in an act of sexual penetration with a child under the age of 16 is guilty of an indictable offence" (other Australian States are very similar).
One of the fuckheads in the film tried to argue that a pedophile was someone who had sex with children under the age of 10 or so, and pretended to be mortified that there would be people like that, very different to our good Donald.
And those who try to argue that it's culturally acceptable to have sex with children in Asia, it's a crime there, too, douchebags.
But, of course, Australians are racist. Especially Australian Wannabe Pedophile Douchebag Arty-Farty Cocknockers.
I'll put some hypotheticals to these Wannabe Pedophiles.
What if a truck driver was living in Bali having sex with children? Would you equally leap to his defence? Or what if Donald Friend had a house full of young girls that he regularly had sex with? WHITE GIRLS! Horrified yet?
And another thing - it's not like the evidence is equivocal about Friend's activities: this is all actually based on Friend's own words in his now-published diaries. So what we know is based on the BEST possible version of events assuming Friend didn't embellish his diaries! Imagine if what he did was even worse, but he chose not to write about it, or exaggerated things to put himself in a good light.
In relation to the publication of the diaries by the National Library, in accordance with Friend's wishes, I found this great article about Friend, and the National Library's complicity in glossing over Friend's wrong-ness: National Library gives arts community a bad name
My only gripe with the film was that Kerry was a little too hands-off, though good documentary filmmakers generally are. But I would have liked to see some Michael Moore-style in-your-face blunt accusations and unwanted opinionating (y'know, like in this blog). The subjects in this documentary, like those mentioned above, seemed to get a bit of a free ride. That said, I'd love to see their faces if they ever watch this doco.
Speaking of which, it's still on at the MIFF, and I recommend it, even if it is harrowing viewing, it tells an important story.
* I'm gonna come out and say it: He was a shit artist and his painting of bananas looked crap. But, don't worry about my opinion, Wannabes. To quote James Murdoch about Friend's child-fucking, "It's not a big deal".
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