Wading through weed and word

I like to keep parallel to mainstream media just because there's already saturation coverage; who needs one more voice to the mix. And there are so many others jumping to the tune of the newsmakers by taking seriously political appointments or diplomatic shuffling. But now and again there is something that captures the people's imagination and they lead the story rather than it leading them.
Such a case is a certain Queensland beautician who has found herself staying longer in Indonesia than she had hoped.

Whatever the merits of the case - and you can see these debated at length elsewhere - there is no doubt that there is some lively discussion taking place. It may be superficial to concentrate on the plight of one person caught up in the machination of government (now can you finally see why I was an anarchist)but I think it's less useful to berate the public for not taking on the interests of some dude caught with a block of hash, than it is to seize the opportunity as it presents itself.

It only really does work this well to highlight the dangers if we see someone seemingly innocent in a predicament. It makes us angry and passionate about things we didn't care about last week. It puts the authorities' backs to the wall when they find their policies criticised by the masses. It is, in many ways, fabulous and heady stuff.

Of course I feel for the individual at the eye of this storm and I'd not want anyone to be cast in The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas but I'm waiting to see what develops nonetheless.