Unknown author condemns irrelevant event

A teacher reading Richard Flanagan's crap novel The Unknown Terrorist is thrown out of a Queensland pub by security.  Flanagan sees dark forces at work, describing the event as "disturbing".

Why is this disturbing?  There are lots of paranoid idiots in the world who do stupid things.  But in no way do they represent the majority.

Now, if the teacher in question had been thrown in the back of a van and never seen again.  Well, then he would've had a point.

That said, I doubt he really thinks it is disturbing.  He's probably chuffed, since it's garnered him some media attention.  (Speaking of which, it says a lot about media obsessions that the story got a run in Oz news outlets and even made it all the way to the UK.)

tags: arts  terrorism  australia  literature  society  culture  politics  

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