Australia will be visited by George Bush for the upcoming APEC conference and John Howard wants to ban a school Rock Eisteddfod performance because it might offend the President.
We are supposed to be a country with Freedom of speech so why shouldnt our youth express their feelings are polititains really so thin skinned?
2007-08-14 16:27:33 · 13 answers · asked by molly 7 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
It wont be at the conference it will be at the school like it is every year this year it just happens to coincide with the Presidents visit because he moved his visit up 4 days he wasnt even supposed to be in the country.
2007-08-14 16:49:34 · update #1
This is disgraceful!!! Who cares what Bush thinks? Let the kids alone!! If Bush is so sensitive then maybe he should do us all a favour and not bother coming here at all.
Johnny just doesn't want to upset his idol so we all have to be good little Australians and behave ourselves. How pathetic!!
2007-08-15 08:07:41 · answer #1 · answered by cutsie_dread 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
OK,
Firstly, it's the Rock Eisteddfod. It always has stuff that criticizes Bush, Howard and such.
Secondly, Howard won't ban it as it'll cause too much controversy in an election year, which is a big no-no for any politician.
Thirdly, we're not as free a society as you think. We are rated 35th in the world in regards to freedom of expression, right after Ghana and Mauritius.
Lastly, I doubt Bush would go to see the Rock Eisteddfod.
2007-08-14 16:44:23 · answer #2 · answered by lachieboy 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
That is ridiculous. Rock Eisteddfod is nothing to do with APEC and the kids work for ages on their performances.
Why should these kids have their work shelved just because Howard can't risk Bush reading about it in the papers???
No one from APEC will see the shows. These politicians shouldn't let their egos get in the way of kid's freedom of expression.
2007-08-14 19:15:50 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Well, in all honesty, I agree with you about the whole freedom of speech thing, but...If it's an APEC meeting, what's a school doing a performance for in the first place? If the performance is political but not about the economies of the various country leaders at the summit, it's the wrong forum for vocalizing their opinions. That'd be like going to a happy-go-lucky country music concert for the purpose of hearing country music and having to hear one of the performers vocalize her opinions about something unrelated to the music. Oh wait...
2007-08-14 16:35:44 · answer #4 · answered by elizabeth_ashley44 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Howard at present is going to an election with a stable financial gadget, while he speaks he sounds like a typical Australian ...Rudd has a project in that area, he sounds ordinary , incredibly boy, fake, pretending, in comparison to a typical Aussie bloke interior the showers after a activities adventure . truthfully I even have by no potential conventional a hard artwork chief to sound honest, or authourative..... Whitlam, Hawke, keating, and the liberals had to freshen up after all and sundry of them. Keating is the"worst" top Minister the rustic has had, why return to that rot!
2016-10-15 09:18:53 · answer #5 · answered by thibaud 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
School kids had a go at LBJ when he visited here in 1968, so why not let them have a go at G.W. Bush. We still have freedom of expression in Australia (although sometimes the State & Commonwealth governments try to stifle that Freedom).
2007-08-14 17:46:19 · answer #6 · answered by Walter B 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
NO, if Bush can not take being offended by kids then he should just tuck his head between his legs and go back to wherever he came from. I am offended by him. His comand of the english word is worse than a first graders. As for public speaking, OMG a 4 year old spaeks better.
2007-08-14 16:38:30 · answer #7 · answered by jillian_e_lapointe 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Part of it is being a good host. I am by no means a supporter of Bush but I think that a performance during a state visit is not the place to make a political statement. I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities for your countrymen to protest.
2007-08-14 16:33:50 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
If johnny cares more about what bush thinks, than of his own peoples' thoughts then he is NOT suitable to be our PM.
What a disgraceful man he is, i a absolutely disgusted in such a view of our own country, if he is tht embarassed of us then maybe he should go back to USA with bush, cos we dont want him here!!!
2007-08-15 21:07:51 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
That's SOP for Bush while visiting someplace. Keep protesters penned up a mile away so he can pretend he's still popular.
2007-08-14 16:34:07 · answer #10 · answered by redphish 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋