The "Woo-ford scandal": from outraged masses to mainstream media condemnation

Weblogs are the mavericks of the online world. Two of their greatest strengths are their ability to filter and disseminate information to a widely dispersed audience, and their position outside the mainstream of mass media. Beholden to no one, weblogs point to, comment on, and spread information according to thier own, quirky criteria.

(Blood, Rebecca. 2006. the weblog handbook 2006 [accessed 14 Dec 2011] available from http://www.rebeccablood.net/handbook/index.html)

Less than 24 hours ago a wrote a blog "How Meryl Dorey took the last piece of my hippie soul and squashed it into the Woodford mud." Yesterday I commented about how blogs and social media (particularly twitter) had been outraged by the  inclusion of Meryl Dorey (of the disgraced Australian Vaccination Network) in the program of the Woodford Folk Festival. At the time of posting there had been little mainstream media attention (only a news article from mamamia and a radio segment on 2UE). Otherwise, it was only blogs covering the story. It is important to remember that while the 'shit-storm' was mostly contained within the on-line community Mr Bill Haurtiz, festival director, said "We’ve already entered into contracts with Meryl Dorey and we cannot break those contracts now. We’re 10 days away from opening the gates to the festival. The damage is already done."
  
That's right, "the damage is already done".

Anyway, I expressed that, in my opinion, it was wrong for the festival's public relations team to ignore the blogosphere. If Mr Haurtiz had heeded this warning, he my have avoided, what will prove to be, already is a PR nightmare.

Blogs are powerful, grass-roots journalism. Coupled with social media networking, blogs can be used as a tool for activism, and for gaining mainstream media attention. In the age of easy-to-use blogging sites (like this one; blogger), everyone can publish and distribute their news stories. Facebook and Twitter make for much faster distribution of that news than the traditional newsagents. And the multi-layering of information via hyperlinks allows the blogger to include  mammoth amounts of further reading. Some blogs reach an incredibly wide audience, some bloggers are very influential or important people, and still more bloggers have contacts in the mainstream media. And before you can say "Woo-Ford Scandal"- *BAM*-, you have some serious bad press on your hands!

The tale of PR woe which follows, is testament to why you don't ignore the bloggers.
Since yesterday, Woodford has taken an international battering. In the local media, the Brisbane Times have called for a medical doctor to counter Dorey's propaganda. Honestly, I think a right of reply is the least the Festival can do. 101.5FM  radio have stated that, apparently, the Morton Bay Regional Council do NOT endorse the "anti-vaccination campaigner".  The Sunshine Coast Daily have commented on the "media storm [which] has erupted over listing Meryl Dorey" at the festival. It was in this article that Mr Bill Haurtiz said that the matter will be referred onto the festival council.

So, let me get this straight, Mr Haurtiz. Yesterday there was nothing you could do. But today you realize that you can in fact refer the matter to the festival council? Interesting.

Woodford, in your arrogant dismissal of the power of the internet to reach and influence a massive audience, you have brought this "damage" upon yourself.

And, dear Mr Haurtiz, there is more direct action to come. We are gathering numbers. Blogs, it seems, can be used a 'call to action' as well.   

See these feet? They are the feet of grass-roots activism,
 and they're coming to a folk festival near you

How Meryl Dorey took the last piece of my hippie soul and squashed it into the Woodford mud.

This is me with my Mum. We're at the Woodford folk festival. For years I have been going. It's almost a Christmas time tradition. It always rains, and it's always muddy. Unfortunately I moved far away four years ago, and have only been back twice since. I love the music at Woodford. I love the dancing at Woodford. I love the different cultural displays at Woodford. I couldn't wait to take my daughter to the child's festival at Woodford, in a couple of years. I couldn't wait to see how the organizers had integrated the "Dreaming" festival into the folk festival. And the FOOD! Awesome. It's something about the atmosphere (and I don't mean just the 'exciting' smoking wafting around). I even took to saying that "everyone needs a little more woodford in their lives"

See:

On my last couple of visits up to the festival I became more aware of the sheer amount of 'woo' on offer along side the hare krishna vegan lunches and Bollywood dancing workshops. There are palm readings, crystals and reiki . With a little bit of critical thinking, google and logic, one will quickly find that these practices are pseudo-scientific and fantasy. "Buy hey," I shrugged "It's just a bit of fun". It was a hippie festival after-all. And that's why I liked it. It's not like anyone was getting hurt...

You've heard the saying "It's all fun and games until someone gets poked in the eye". Well, the Woodford folk festival is the fun, the person doing the poking is Meryl Dorey of the Australian Vaccination Network and putting children at risk of vaccine preventable diseases is a lot more serious than a poke in the eye!

Let me explain. The Woodford Folk Festival  has invited the anti-vaccination lobbyist, to speak this year. Meryl Dorey has been investigated by the New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission, and the report for the Australian Vaccination Network wasn't exactly complimentary. So, as a result of her inclusion on this year's "wooford" line-up, the social network sites and blogs have gone crazy! (Check out tweets to @woodfordff ) And so they should. The Woodford folk festival is posing a risk to public health and risking the lives of children. Meryl Dorey spreads mis-information about vaccination. If impressionable festival goes listen to her un-truths they could be lead to believe vaccination is too harmful for their children, and themselves. Ms Dorey, of course, doesn't tell of the dangers of contracting the diseases that these vaccines prevent. Australia is in the middle of a whooping cough and measles epidemic, and it's deadly.

It's not like the organizers are unaware of the public's concerns about Meryl Dorey. There have been copious letters written, tweets tweeted and contact from media for comment. While a public relations officer might believe (wrongly in my opinion) that blogs can be ignored, interaction with mainstream media should definitely be high on the PR priority list. Mamamia was the first to publish an article on their website: "Woodford folk festival allows dangerous anti-vax women to speak" and this afternoon Tracey Spicer publicity pulled them to pieces on 2UE radio.

So, now me. This has been quite a monumental moment in "journey to self identity". I've admitted many times before I was so far down the rabbit hole there seemed little hope I'd ever escape from wonderland. Through my association with some awesome critical thinkers I have grown into a far more reasonable person. Well, at least a more reason'ing' person. But I have held onto woodford. It was the bit of my dark past I wasn't ready ditch just yet. But, alas, it is time to let go.

Thank you Meryl Dorey for taking the last piece of my hippie soul and squashing it into the Woodford mud.

EDIT: oops, There is always something I forgot to say, and here it is:
Since the festival itself is completely non-responsive to both public and media inquiries, attention has been turned to the sponsors. All contact information can be found on "A Drunken wiki".

UPDATE: Festival Executive Director Bill Hauritz says: go ahead and boycott the woodford folk festival. Seems he doesn't care about public health and safety, science or facts. Lame response Mr Hauritz, not good enough

Judeo-christian values and quality of life

So Ethics classes are a hot topic in the media again. On Saturday it was all about a New South Wales government inquiry, and Fred Nile still wanting to put a stop to the classes.  I actually get excited every-time Fred Nile jumps up in parliament and rips on the secular ethics classes. It always starts this whirlwind of debate about religious education and the benefits of philosophical ethics for children. I think Fred Nile is creating a bit of the Streisand effect, and unwittingly promoting the questioning of the current laws surrounding religion in schools across the country. And so, for a nice change of pace, it was Queensland in the paper today.

Personally I hope that more states follow New South Wales' lead and introduce a secular alternative to scripture (RE, SRE, RI or whatever else you want to call it). But, I digress. The title of this blog, "Judeo-christian values and quality of life" pretty much sums up what I wanted to blog about. There is a common argument that Western countries, like Australia, are some of the best places in the world to live because of their Judeo-christian values. I have read this time and time again. I have a couple of observations about this. If it is indeed Christianity which has helped us out so much, I'm at a loss explain the enormous divide in the quality of life between my country and those in Latin and South America. And check out the Gaza strip. Plenty of Jews around there, and surely they at least have the "Judeo" part of the values.

I'm not saying that  "Don't steal, Don't kill, Don't lie" aren't pretty good guidelines and that Jesus didn't have some pretty neat proverbs to help with understanding morals and ethics. What I am saying is that this can't be the only thread of morality holding our society together, and probably isn't the reason for their success. I'm going support this argument with another personal observation:

Civil Rights. Free Market. The Enlightenment

Bugging my MP about Primary ethics classes.. again

Rev. Fred Nile thinks he has the upper hand an declared war on Primary Ethics classes, again. And again, I have written to my State Member. I urge you to do the same if you are appalled that Rev Nile would use our children as a "trump card" to manipulate the government to get his own way.

The following is an adapted version of my letter:

The issue of Primary ethics is one close to my heart. I've been following it since April last year. I watched the success of the pilot. And now I teach the ethics class at my local school.

I understand that politics often involves power plays and manipulation, it come with the territory. Rev Nile has always made his opinions regarding the Ethics classes well known and this stunt really wasn't surprising. But please allow me to give you some quick facts about the Primary Ethics program and my experiences in the classroom. As of June 2011, Primary Ethics had started 180 Ethics classes in 128 schools across the state, teaching about 2700 students in Years 5&6 each week. Primary Ethics managers claim that there are about 100,000 children whose parents opt their kids out of SRE classes, and we are offering an alternative (it is not compulsory) to that section of each school. 

These classes promote higher order thinking. They are philosophy classes. Ethics is the study of the concepts involved in practical reasoning: good, bad, freedom, virtues, rationality... etc (according to the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy). In these classes children learn to investigate how they behave in a moral context, and why they choose to do it. The curriculum puts a strong emphasis on reasoning. Without realizing it (or being able to define it in the same way as a university philosophy text book might), the students in my class have learned to recognise "circular reasoning". Rather than state "Your premise assumes the conclusion", they'll say "you've just said the same thing twice". But in its most simplistic form, the class is learning to see logical flaws in others arguments. While this may have created an issue 6 months ago, being a potential chance to "put someone down" they have also learned to respect each other. Fallacious arguments are pointed out with care and consideration. Students will often then reflect upon the comments of their classmates. Furthermore, the children love the classes. They are held right before lunch recess, and yet there is a communal groan when I tell them it's over.

Now, for my personal opinion. Keeping in mind the critical analysis skills these students are learning, the fact the ethics teachers require formal training and ongoing monitoring and that the curriculum has been approved by the DEC (formerly known as the DET) I can see possible validity in the argument, from those who oppose the classes, that the SRE children are disadvantaged by not attending the ethics course. I disagree that cancelling ethics is the answer. Surely the solution would be to fight for inquiry based learning, and higher order thinking to become more widely spread throughout the entire general curriculum, rather than scrapping the only subject based on philosophy.

I then finished be asking my PM to fight to keep the Liberal Party's promise not to cancel the program.
I ask that you write to your member if this issue is important to you too.

Over, and Out