Australia the country of tolerance and of a fair go, where people are respected for who they are, not what they are. Where diversity is embraced and where the richness of the culture of the people who make up this great nation blend together to form a uniqueness that is found nowhere else. Perhaps it's just the world of social media, but post after post that pops up in my timeline presents a very different face to the world. It speaks of intolerance and bullying. Of fear and over reaction. Of divisiveness and hatred. In fact, in many posts of late the most used words appears to be the words hate and hatred.
I have a personal dislike of the word hate and I rarely use it. I think it is such a destructive word. Martin Luther King Jr. Once said, “Hate destroys the hater…” I believe that.
However, if you go back in our history, we have usually found someone or something to turn against, sometimes with good reason but most often not. Just ask the first Italians, Greeks, English and Asians (as an example) how they were treated in the early years. People were often abused in the streets, but mainly the hate discussion was restricted to the dinner table, the pub and around the water cooler and overt discrimination. The fear and suspicion stemmed from any number of biases, but as time moved on people were accepted into society and, many have made significant contributions in all walks of life. As a country we have benefited from that and as individuals, our lives have been greatly enriched.
In more recent years, the attention has turned to Africans and Muslims. A couple of years back an African friend of mine and her two children were accosted in a shopping centre car park and spat on by a woman who should have known better. My friend just walked away comforting her two crying and frightened children. When I asked her why she didn’t retaliate, she said, “I have witnessed first hand what hatred of others does to a nation, that’s why I came here. To escape that and to live in peace. In retaliating, I would have only inflamed the situation.” My friend and her family are Australian citizens. Her husband is a university professor and she works as an accountant. Her two children are doing very well academically and will probably follow their father into a future career in science. Model citizens in every way, but that still didn’t prevent a hateful woman from making a snap judgement and showing that in the most graphic way to humiliate.
The biggest game changer for the ‘hate industry’ is the Internet. The haters now have the ability to garner support from not just a few friends and working buddies, they can now rope in dozens of people. They gather on social media like the clans of old gathered at their favourite watering holes and they share their rage and they plan their attacks on the perceived enemy for the slightest indiscretions. Just voicing an opinion can result in a tirade of abuse. Others jump on board and RT and so it goes. Even blocking people doesn’t end it some continue to try and blacken the names of others. It’s bullying at it’s worst.
This is a piece from — “Loving Your Enemies,” It was delivered by Martin Luther King Jr on the 17th November 1957. It reads:
“There’s another reason why you should love your enemies, and that is because hate distorts the personality of the hater. We usually think of what hate does for the individual hated or the individuals hated or the groups hated. But it is even more tragic, it is even more ruinous and injurious to the individual who hates. You just begin hating somebody, and you will begin to do irrational things. You can’t see straight when you hate. You can’t walk straight when you hate. You can’t stand upright. Your vision is distorted. There is nothing more tragic than to see an individual whose heart is filled with hate. He comes to the point that he becomes a pathological case. […] Hate destroys the very structure of the personality of the hater. […] When you start hating anybody, it destroys the very center of your creative response to life and the universe; so love everybody. Hate at any point is a cancer that gnaws away at the very vital center of your life and your existence. It is like eroding acid that eats away the best and the objective center of your life.”
We only have to look at other parts of the world to see that demonstrated most graphically and on a much lesser scale we see that same illogical behaviour manifested on social media.
Of course now we have multifaceted twitter hate. It’s hate based on supporting any cause the haters hate. It’s hate based on politics. It’s hate based on immigration. It’s hate based on religion. It’s hate based on the colour of your skin. It’s hate based on someone taking a dislike to you. Simply anything thing that takes their fancy. For exercising my right to remain a member of the Liberal Party (regardless of the change of leadership) I am now a target.
The following is a great example of how things are twisted to enable the attacker to turn the tables and to weave into their assault their current vendetta. I have whited out the names of the people involved in these exchanges with me yesterday, for obvious reasons.
Yesterday our ex Minister of Defence, Kevin Andrews took to Twitter with multi-tweets following the announcement of a defence contract. Mr Andrews was extremely unhappy to have lost his portfolio following the recent leadership change. Many viewed Mr Andrews twitter blitz as a negative attack on the new minister who happens to be a woman. I sent this response to Mr Andrews. Which resulted in the following.
The responses:
This exchange ensued because I voiced my dismay that the Prime Minister was being attacked by exLiberals for the crime of taking public transport to the Grand Final. Now remember one of our biggest beefs during ex PM Abbott’s tenure, was the puerile attacks on him by the opposition. Conservatives were extremely critical of those attacks and now we have conservatives doing the same.
This continued despite blocking the poster.
As a conservative Australian, the country and the people I know and love have in the main shown only love and acceptance. Whilst we may not have always agreed, we respected a broad spectrum of ideas and the rights of others to hold and express a different opinion. We try to sell our ideas and hopefully get others on side but if they choose not to, we don’t turn on them. But, if someone does turn on me, I will fight back but I will do my level best to do that in a constructive way.
I am the wife of an immigrant and my husband holds a different opinion, having been on the receiving end of overt discrimination himself. That said he is the most loyal Aussie you will ever meet. Many friends from overseas who have visited here have expressed their opinion that we are just as intolerant as any other nation. I’ve always leapt to our defence. Whilst it saddens me to say it, I think our detractors might have a point and recent events have sheeted home to me just how intolerant we have become as a nation. Of course the champions of hatred will no doubt rip into me for saying this. I've been on the receiving end of an ample share of their vitriol over recent months. I expect it will continue because I will continue to express my opinion. I’m not telling anyone else how to live their life although a few of my detractors have levelled that accusation at me. I will however try to persuade conservative voters to give the leadership change a chance and to judge on the results. I will try to convince people that wrecking and splitting the conservative vote based on a vendetta isn’t in the best interests of the country. But, if they decide that is their path, fine but don’t attack others who have chosen a different path.
So on reflection, perhaps we always were an intolerant nation and having not been on the receiving end of the intolerance and to my shame, I simply didn’t see it.
