POSTSCRIPT

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday June 6, 2009

Is Australia racist? Was The Chaser sketch offensive? Does women's sport get a raw deal in the media?Not really, yes and it depends which gender you ask, to judge by readers' responses this week, although there were quite a few reservations in each case. Perhaps worryingly for the Chaser team, the ringing condemnation of their skit was less of the "more in sorrow than anger" and more of the "this series isn't funny anyway" variety.It was on for young and old when it came to grim medical themes. As well as tackling terminally ill children, readers wrote about assisted euthanasia (generally in favour), infant circumcision (mostly opposed) and the murder of the US abortion doctor George Tiller.Nor were suffering animals exempt, thanks to the ban on Animal Liberation's "caged eggs" ads on CityRail trains. That debate drew inevitable comparisons with the treatment of commuters, after Monday's story on overcrowding.The trains coming from the Ku-ring-gai district will be even more full if the State Government has its way on increasing the density of suburbs along the North Shore line. If our inbox is any guide, there will be mobs of polite, well-dressed residents assembling in Macquarie Street with pitchforks and blazing torches before that process is complete.Mike Ticher Letters editor

© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald

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