Friday, September 08, 2006

Germaine Greer's diatribe against Steve Irwin

While the world mourns and glowing tributes are filled in newspapers around the world for the Crocodile Hunter, academic Germaine Greer is in the eye of a storm after she lashed out a scathing attack on Steve Irwin for being "insensitive" and "elitist".

Greer told Australian TV Channel Nine's "A Current Affair" news programme that those who mourned Irwin's death were "idiots" and he had embarrassed possibly millions of Australians. Irwin had not treated animals with the respect they deserved, she added.

Australians were outraged Wednesday over their native feminist writer Greer's claim that the death of wildlife documentary maker Steve Irwin was payback from the animal world.

The time to criticise Irwin for such behaviour was when he was alive, if infact Greer wanted him to change his behaviour.

To attack his character while his body is barely cold, and his wife and two small children are still in shock, is height of callousness and insensitivity. It shows Greer's lack of empathy and a cowardly act of a twisted logic.

Greer has done nothing towards animal welfare or contributed in any way to increase the human understanding of animal behaviour. She is only seeking publicity by attacking Steve Irwin, when she has nothing positive to draw attention to.

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