Miranda Devine weighs into the Corby case:
The family dynamics bolstered an impression of Corby which has emerged throughout her seven-month ordeal, that she is the dutiful third daughter of a poor, loyal but relatively dysfunctional family; adored by her terminally ill father, who left the family when she was six; who has tried to make something of herself by being perfect.
Her grooming every day of the trial has been immaculate, a Herculean task in her circumstances, with just bowls of water to wash in.
The Australian public has seen what Corby’s defence team saw long ago: a transcendent grace that makes her guilt implausible. Her strength of character, not to mention the careful styling and stunning good looks, improved in recent months by jail-time weight loss, have bolstered her claim she is innocent and that corrupt baggage handlers planted the drugs in her boogie board bag.
Let’s see what she says when the Bali Nine come up for trial. Are they well groomed enough to warrant deification by the Devine Miss M?
There’s actually a serious point here in Devine’s concentration on Corby’s appearance and character. Multiple sociological studies of sentencing in Magistrates Courts, controlled for nature and seriousness of the crime, past record and so forth, have found discrepancies in sentencing which strongly correlate with the visible and audible signs of race, class and ethnicity and cannot be accounted for by any legal factor. In other words, a well dressed, respectful and well spoken defendant in the Magistrates Court in Australia, all other factors being equal, will receive a lesser fine or sentence than an Indigenous, working class, or non Anglo defendant. Such is justice, apparently.
Elsewhere: More at Rob’s.
stunning good looks, improved in recent months by jail-time weight loss
Somehow, I don’t think Miranda’s diet plan will catch on among Australian women.
However, she does also bolster the whole “white Angel persecuted by little brown men” theme so common still in post-colonialist imaginations.
Miranda Devine weighs into the Corby case
Ha!
You left out gender. A female defendant in the Magistrates Court in Australia, all other factors being equal, will receive a lesser fine or sentence than a male defendant.
That’s true, EP.
Anu Singh had the whole package - young, female, very attractive, middle class, professional parents, tried by a male judge from the same background sitting alone, no jury. She almost didn’t need a defence.
I have more time than most here for Miranda but that column was pretty weird. ‘Transcendent grace’ is evidence of innocence? wtf?
Yeah, weird is the word, Rob. I think Miranda’s had some sort of religious experience! A theophany involving Schapelle Corby - bizarre. What’s with the comparison to Princess Diana?
You’d also think the Corby family - if they’d come to attention under other circumstances - would have been Miranda’s bete noire - family breakdown, a number of members of the family with convictions etc. They could as easily have been a template for a column by her on the evils of divorce or whatnot.
Yep, even Miranda only gives a shit because Schapelle’s pretty.
Is it just me? I can’t get to any Blogspot Blogs for last 24 hours.
Kim Beazley has just said the government must petition the Indonesian President to pardon Ms Corby. Guess he’s a racist cutie-pie lover too.
Just you Francis.
I think that’s an irresponsible and populist move from Beazley, C.L.
I have the same problem. Can’t get to Currency or Bunyip.
Blogspot blogs were all down the other day as well. One thing to try is to empty your cache in IE (regardless of whether you’re using IE or another browser). It will sometimes reload then. I think that there’s a problem with the software they’re using that hasn’t been addressed properly.
It seems like it is only with my ISP Netspace - I ‘m on IRC and other Netspace ppl cant get to Blogspot through but other ISP s can. Weird.
If I can’t get through to bunyip or CL my sunday will be incomplete.
C.L.’s site is working for me at the moment through Firefox, Francis.
Can’t get there using Firefox, IE or Netscape.
C.L. should get with the Wordpress revolution. I find that access to blogspot blogs is pretty intermittent and patchy.
I can get to them, and if it is an ISP-specific issue it is probably due to an old cache. Whack a ? at the end of the address; that should force the proxy to fetch a fresh version.
Robert - ? doesn’t work. I am talking to 5 others on irc on same ISP who can’t get to Blogspot blogs. Funnily http://www.blogspot.com/ is ok
C.L. should get with the Wordpress revolution. I find that access to blogspot blogs is pretty intermittent and patchy.
Arh Mark - but at least when you get there the content is king and you aren’t assaulted with purple pages and purple prose.
“pretty intermittant and patchy” is a serious exaggeration surely. blogger hasd the ocasional outage, compared to the convenience I think its worth it.
I’m prone to exaggeration, Amanda, I guess, but I do find it intermittently annoying.
Life truly is a vale of tears. Suck it up dude.
Whose going home? Gianna?
“…intermittently annoying.”
May pinch that as a new masthead self-description.
At the moment there are numerous access issues using Big Pond. Everything seems to be working Okay using iinet except that CL’s comes up as Amazingbiblestories.com. Weird.
No I had trouble with blogspot yesterday. And yes, the first time in ages I read Miranda and thought, there’s a piece to frisk…er…fisk.
I just read the odd opinion pieces. Is this normal? (Yes I know she owns a whole princess Di collection but even so….?)
Mysterious ways, JF Beck, mysterious ways…
re: blogspot issues.. I havn’t been able to get to any blogspot blogs for days.. and it’s certainly not IE as I’m running Fedora Core 3.. and I’ve cleaned my Firefox cache etc.
re: the devine Miranda… I read this piece and despite throwing it across the room and swearing loudly I haven’t been able to forget it. Much as I hate to admit it, much of society is still where she is. Schapelle is a poor helpless chicky facing the big meanies… we all have to save her. And Ms M even makes the parellel I would have.. that of Diana Spencer. Hell Diana was never innocent (just compare a pic of young Prince Harry to that of James Hewitt) and yet since she was fragile and had big eyes she brought out the protector in all of us.
I have been hoping that it wasn’t the case, but it seems that women like me still aren’t the ideal. I might have to go prune my eyebows and see whether that gets me more respect.
I’ll save you Meg!
“And if the Blue Sky Mining Company don’t come to your rescue, who’s gonna save you?”
Gotta love the Oils pre Kingsford Smith era.
C.L. …. you are SO lucky you aren’t close enough for my knee-high Docs to kick your face in…
‘…(just compare a pic of young Prince Harry to that of James Hewitt)….’
Say it isn’t true.
catallaxy’s down as well. Night all.
Have you tried a message carried in a cleft stick by a nativer bearer? Working fine for me.
Oh, and Mark, can you give my native bearer some “dash” for delivering this comment? Thanks awfully.
C.L. …. you are SO lucky you aren‚Äôt close enough for my knee-high Docs to kick your face in…
Throwing, swearing and now kicking! I may have to tie you to my horse my lovely little guinea pig!
Oh well, at least Evil P has now had his day in court.
Do we now sit back and watch the uplate with C.L. and Meg?
Yes saint, sounds like a seminal moment for Evil Pee’s view of the world.
Now if he can only raise the dead to ejaculate on his behalf.
C.L.! Animal abuse! That poor horsie. Tie me to something inanimate please.
You know what they always say about swindlers, murderers and other psychopaths: “He was charming.”
Frequently socialist revolutionaries are “dashing” both before and after they have shot a bunch of people.
I genuinely believe that it is Miranda Devine who is the Princess - the personality type I mean.
They can kill me, but they’ll never get my sperm!
OK, that’s far enough. Necrophiliac sperm theft has gotta leave a bad taste in the mouth.
“I’ll [censored] but not surrender,
Said the wild colonial boy”.
Ah, precious bodily fluids. I’m getting all cold-war nostalgic.
Colonel Ripper: “I do not avoid women, Mandrake. But I do deny them my essence”.