Article originally published on AUGUST 9, 2003 – Reviewed and approved.
By Neil Jenman
A long time ago, Confucius wandered around China discussing ethical issues. People loved his teachings. But he upset some powerful and corrupt figures. And so, they burned his books.
That was in 213 BC.
On December 30, 2002, an American pastor led his congregation in a mass burning of books by JK Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter.
On Friday August 15, 2003, a Melbourne real estate agent – whose methods were once described by a magistrate as “evil” – was asked about Neil Jenman’s book.
The agent, Tim Fletcher, who has a regular spot on Radio 3AW, was responding to a caller who was about to sell his home and had come across a book called Don’t Sign Anything!
“Burn it,” said Fletcher.
To borrow a question from journalist, Robert Fisk, who watched books being burnt in Baghdad in April, “Why?”
Why would Tim Fletcher want to burn Neil Jenman’s book?
Well, like a lot of agents, Fletcher is angry. Angry because Jenman tells consumers things that many agents don’t tell them. Like the truth.
Across Australia, and even in New Zealand, many agents are struggling to suppress their public anger towards Jenman. They are doing everything they can to stop him. Attempted bribery, legal threats, physical threats and using muscle with advertisers to ban his consumer advertisements. ‘How to stop the Jenman juggernaut’, was the topic of a closed-door Real Estate Institute of Victoria meeting a few years ago.
Today, the nastiness is more public. Last month, in South Australia, where Jenman advertisements are often banned, one agent placed an ‘anti-Jenman’ ad in Adelaide’s major newspaper, The Advertiser. Beside the name Jenman was a stick-figure drawing of a person being hung by the neck from a scaffold.
If this is what they are doing in public, imagine what they are doing in private.
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But one thing will never vary: We will never stop doing what we love most – helping polite and honest consumers get the best deal possible in real estate. And, of course, if any agents are serious about taking care of consumers, we’ll help you too. Thank you.
