Feminist icon cheers Steve Irwin's death

And here I was just asking myself "Whatever happened to Germaine Greer?" Last I heard, the celebrated feminist and academic was bailing out of the Aussie version of the reality show Big Brother (and why she deigned to take part in that is entirely subject to conjecture). But now she apparently has a new project: cheerfully mocking the death of the Crocodile Hunter:

A storm of fury has erupted over Germaine Greer's criticism of Steve Irwin barely hours after his death.

The expat Aussie, known more these days for her regular bashing of her homeland, fired pot shots at Irwin within hours of news spreading across the globe that he'd been fatally stabbed by a stingray.

Australian leaders, experienced animal handlers and Irwin's friends were outraged, saying Greer was looking to boost her flagging literary career.

In a scathing attack in a British newspaper, Greer said nature had taken its revenge on Irwin for his robust handling of Australia's native animals. [...]

"The animal world has finally taken its revenge on Irwin, but probably not before a whole generation of kids in shorts seven sizes too small has learned to shout in the ears of animals with hearing 10 times more acute than theirs, determined to become millionaire animal-loving zoo-owners in their turn," Greer wrote.

Crikey. It's never pretty when intellectuals go bad. But at least this will keep everyone talking about Greer...which seems to be the point.

(Cross-posted.)


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