It is becoming more common for arguments to become name-calling exercises rather than a debate of views and points.
It is unfortunate when this type of exercise is in the press and evidently supported by reporters.
It is even more unfortunate when the victim of the name-calling is dead and can’t reply.
Arthur Gorrie reported that Robert Onfray called John Sinclair a liar.
John is dead.
He can’t answer for himself and I do not presume to answer for him.
I knew John as a completely honest man, dedicated to Fraser Island and the truth as he saw it.
Of course that does not mean that everything that he said was right.
But he believed it to be right and he sacrificed a career for it.
The name-calling degrades the strong argument that Onfray makes about logging on Fraser.
The foresters who organized the logging of the island became the first greenies.
We have the magnificent Central Station because foresters insisted it be preserved.
But name-calling degrades the argument and reflects badly on those who do it.
Reg Lawler,
Dagun.
Response:
I also knew John Sinclair, but after being an ardent fan for many years, I was disappointed in his intolerance of even slight dissent from his narrative.
Sometimes he did not stick to the facts.
His attacks on others were legendary, including some which attracted defamation actions and some directed at the helpless, who could not afford legal recourse.
No-one called him a “liar“ as allegedly reported, just that he told one lie.
But I know from my own experience he did not always tell the truth.
Whatever one may think of the old Orchid Beach fishing classic, I suffered a tirade of abuse from him after writing an article, which he had commissioned.
My sin was not reporting that participants were “drunken yobbos“ damaging sand dunes with their 4WDs.
The fact that this was not true did not appear to bother him.
– Arthur Gorrie
