My two cents worth...
Jamie, what your banners are saying is 100% correct, and I fully support you in your efforts to enlighten people as to the truth of the situation. I think the manner in which security treated you was pathetic. That guy was no doubt trying to get his power fix for the day. I hope you will continue to be strong & keep up the fight to make the truth known, and keep supporting our great club.
As I was told by Mr. Gauci himself, the statements on the banner had nothing to do with me being ejected. However I share the same belief that this indeed was the reason, but if Mr. Gauci was a man for the supporters as he claims, then why would he lie to us? Is he just another News Ltd puppet?
To be blunt, it would appear so. He is a man for the supporters alright - the News Ltd supporters!
And he lies to us ("No, seriously, we're not big ugly greedy monsters, we're cute cuddly teddy bears!") because he obviously doesn't trust us with the truth. He probably also thinks that if he is completely honest with us about how things REALLY are with regards to the running of the club (which he's probably been banned by his employers from doing anyway), we may dislike or reject him (which many of us already do & have anyway!)
If the club's owners respected freedom of speech as much as Hartigan claims (and we all know he's a BS artist - I hear it's one of the qualifications required to work for News Ltd.) then IMO this incident would surely not have happened. They would have just copped it on the chin. But that is clearly not the way they operate. Instead
they are just a bunch of bullying crybabies with an insatiable lust for wealth and power, who can't take even an iota of criticism (especially if, as in this case, the criticism happens to be truthful), and will stop at nothing to silence any dissent. Or at the very least, discredit it, and whoever it may come from. This is typical not just of News (see Fox News Channel, Herald Scum) but also of many multinational corporations (case in point: Monsanto, but that's another story).
I agree with the point that Tigger made, that as owners of the club, News will run it how they see fit (i.e. like a junta), until such time as they opt to sell the club. That doesn't mean, however, we have to like, agree with, or accept it (which I & the vast majority of Storm fans don't). But I don't believe that criticism of the club's owners necessarily equates to criticising the club as a whole. I believe that there is a marked distinction between what News stands for, and what the Storm is all about. Jamie's banner sums it up well, "
we support our players, coaches and staff, NOT News Ltd."
