There is one thing that really, really irks me. The mob mentality.
There is nothing worse, and certainly nothing more frightful, than a group of rednecks who gather together and protest about something that they a) know nothing about, or b) are simply wrong about.
I refer to the recent kerfuffle in Queensland about a convicted paedophile for whom the State Government i desparately trying to find accommodation where he won't be picketed, threatened or lynched.
Now, don't get me wrong, I am by no means condoning what he was convicted of in any way, shape, or form, but the thousand-strong mobs that hav been picketing the front of his house and calling for him to be removed from the community are shooting themselves in the feet.
You see, the guy recently had another charge against him dropped because the presiding judge stated that he would have no chance of a fair trial. As difficult as that may be for the victim or their family/friends to accept, that is the way the justice system works.
However, since moving to the latest property, there have been strong, emotional calls by outraged rednecks to get him out of their community.
The thing they don't understand is, by doing what they're doing, they are jeopardising the chance of him getting a fair trial even more, and he will end up having any charge he is brought up on dismissed on the same basis.
Police officers and Government Ministers have tried to appease these crowds that have begun to gather daily out the front of his house, but they just don't get it.
Sure, I understand they might be concerned for their kids, but the guy is under 24-hour police watch until further notice. That's 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, there is a police officer by his side.
How can anyone possibly do anything with that sort of attention on them?
The whole episode scares me, and it reeks of the Deep South in the US circa 1960s. Ku Klux Klan, anyone?