I have been pondering on this point for a while now: "Our changing society, the silencing of the moderate majority, and what it means for those of us who are caught in the middle." But something that happened yesterday prompted me to commit my thoughts to paper.
Everywhere we turn, someone is foisting their extreme personal codes on us; be that religious, societal and even political. As a result, our views and our rights are being impinged upon and frankly, are being taken away from us.
Yesterday, a friend of mine tagged some friends on an anniversary reminder that he had received on Facebook. It was a photo of a group of previous work colleagues. It was a happy reminder of past times. One of the people in the photo objected and demanded the photo be removed. I won't go into the reasons, apart from saying their request was linked to religious conservatism. So the enjoyment of the majority, was denied by the demand of the minority. My friend did what was requested. He then blacked out the complainant and reposted the photo, but for me the moment was ruined and, I expect, I'm not the only one who felt that way. It does signal what we are seeing manifested in so many areas of society today.
Now, the person who complained has a right to say how they are presented. But they don't own the photo. As there are a lot of group pics out there, does it mean every one of them has to be doctored before they can be posted? What if others complain about something and demand the same? People start to question, will I offend someone and so they stop engaging and stop sharing.
We seem to be creating a society where on one hand we have the pious. The extreme conservatives, the extreme religious adherents. On the other the "tipping toward extreme libertarians." Caught in the middle are the moderates. Both the extreme conservatives and the extreme libertarians are endeavouring to foist their standards and their desires on those of us in the middle; the vast majority of our society. As a result the middle ground are being silenced. They are fearful of expressing their opinions or they simply can't be bothered, knowing they will be jumped on from both sides; the ultra conservatives and the tipping toward extreme libertarians.
The example I used was about religious ultra conservatism, but we see the same happening over social issues like SSM. I get the feeling there are thousands out there who don't support it, but they have just given up. It's going to happen because people have been pushed down that path, whether they support it or not. So, why fight it. The majority will just roll over rather than be shunned as a homophobe. Adam Bandt even accused the conservatives of "siding with fear over love." Seriously, that comment borders on lunacy. But again, the majority voice is coming from the minority tipping toward extreme libertarians no one else is allowed to have their say. You think I'm joking? A TV station was bombarded for even running an ad defending traditional marriage. Some stations actually acquiesced and refused to run the ads. One of those TV stations has no qualms about running those disgraceful misleading and frankly outright lying CFMEU ads, though, despite the protests from the middle ground. The middle ground loses and extreme libertarians win again.
People rabbit on and on about the Australian culture and our rights to free speech. Don't kid yourselves that is actually exists. It doesn't. To be frank, I really struggle to define exactly what our culture has become. Spend a few hours reading responses to posts on social media sites and that soon highlights the sinister and threatening vibe that is out there.
We are not a tolerant nation despite what people say. We tolerate others like us, but we don't tolerate those who stray too far outside the edge of our narrowly framed tolerance bandwidth. I see this also when people on the conservative side of politics voice their concerns about the performance of the government or the performance of the leader. The 'red and green' groups pounce, but so do the 'blues'; from the extreme conservative group.
I supported someone last week who was sharing their concerns about the performance of the PM. The comments made were constructive, not like some I've read. They invited debate. The poster was pounced on and for my 'sins' so was I. I was accused of being disloyal, easily sucked in and almost aiding and abetting the opposition. Is that the culture of a tolerate nation, one who supports and encourages free speech, freedom of expression and debate? I think not, but perhaps you have a different view.
I even received a comment last night asking me how can I not be embarrassed by my advocacy for the government. Who I think are doing a pretty good job of the things that really matter by the way. The commenter went on to say they had checked my blog and all the ideals I espouse are non conservative and therefore demand to know why I was a conservative.
As my friend said to me today with reference to the demand to remove the FB pic. It is symptomatic of what we see within the political landscape. Things we need to debate we can't, because we are bullied and shut down.That is EXACTLY what is happening here.
Well, I won't be silenced. I believe in tolerance, I value different ideas and I strongly believe the issues that are impacting on our nation, on us, on our culture and our society need to be out in the open and talked about. Don't let the extreme elements among us, ruin it for all of us.
