2 May 2007

Pedophile Drive?

| johnboy
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The Australian is carrying a report that Field Marshal William Joseph Slim, 1st Viscount Slim, KG, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, DSO, MC, (and our 13th Governor-General) fondled boys in the back of his car at the Fairbridge Farm School in the 1950s.

Which perhaps is a little embarrassing for a city with a major road named after him.

On the other hand it was very long ago and the memory plays tricks, especially in the brutal environment that Fairbridge is reported to be. I’m interested in what the rest of you think about the issues.

Aside from being a better than average General, Slim was widely thought of as a better than average Governor-General and was highly regarded in the Canberra community of the time.

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James-T-Kirk12:35 pm 03 May 07

I enjoy looking back at some of my unique spellings!

You just cant concede can you ole bonny ?

oh, and if in doubt – the oxford english dictionary.

i loathe the macquarie and any american dictionary.

they spell it that way because they are idiots.

i mispell because i type too quick and the keys are too small for my fingers.

and then i hit enter and go oh shit.

but on a blog it doesnt really matter.

at work i check spelling very carefully. its important.

Funny you say that bonfire – a great majority of overseas publications spell it pedophile.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the nEnglish Language spells it pedophile – the Merriam Websters Medical Dictionary (UK) spells it paedophile.

I guess this is just one of those aluminium/aluminum moments.

you spelt paedophile wrong.

paedo is relating to children

pedo is relating to soil

CraigFromCurtin9:35 am 02 May 07

This is alarming. Not just because if it is true that it is a terrible fate for a child to suffer, but because the first line in The Oz’s report indicates that what happened is fact. It is currently an ALLEGATION. It has not been tested or proved. The alleged perpetrator has been tried and convicted in one newspaper article, based on the say so of some old gheezer “outside Canberra”.

Since when did we assume an allegation by one person is fact? If Sir William did the things alleged, he deserves to have his titles posthumously stripped, his statue removed, and his name shamed. But imagine the damage now done if the allegations are NOT true. This highly decorated war hero, who has served this country and his home country well over and above the call of duty has, nearly 40 years after his death, had his name smeared. The embarrassment and betrayal felt by his living relatives must be awful.

Who is this Robert Stephens? Who is the other bloke making allegations? I think we need a bit more than this before we assume it’s all true and completely destroy the life’s work of Sir William. The Oz should be ashamed of itself. They should have reported the alleged incident as just that – alleged. Mongrels.

VYBerlinaV8 now_with_added grunt9:34 am 02 May 07

How quickly we jump to conclusions…

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