It has been a while since I put pen to paper, but I feel compelled to raise the issue of political bullying and intimidation. What has prompted this, is the number of people who have contacted me privately to voice their concern over the level of intimidation and the hate speech they are being subjected to on social media. To the point that an alarming number of people are at the point of considering closing their accounts. I sympathise with them, because I’ve felt the same over recent weeks, but my resolve never to bow to intimidation kicks in and the kind words from others gives me heart.
The responses to the recent change in Liberal leadership has shaken a few of us to the core. The level of vitriol and accusations levelled at (for the want of a better term) Liberal loyalists has been challenging and deeply distressing to say the least. It’s been vicious and nasty and frankly there is absolutely no excuse for it.
A few weeks prior to the leadership change, I was contacted by a number of followers on social media, who like me were frustrated with the Government and Liberal leadership. Whilst we all acknowledge the Abbott led government chalked up a number of successes, we were being roundly flogged by the media, by polls and by the constant leaks coming from the PMO. The call for a spill back in February was a stark warning that all was not well and that something needed to change. Those of us who had the temerity to say it were attacked for doing so. More than one person told me in private they were too scared to even speak up because they had seen the treatment handed out to others like me who had. So I guess the alarm bells should have rung at that point because it was an indicator of how some people would respond if in fact the inevitable did happen.
I sincerely hope Liberal loyalists don’t bail out and leave social media because it’s a very important part of the political landscape today. I sincerely hope the many who are out there will have the courage to speak up and to band together and to support each other. We don’t have to accept the criticism being hurled our way for merely saying we are prepared to give the change a chance. That doesn’t mean we hate (the favourite word of the anti/brigade) the previous leader. In fact, to the contrary, he did a good job, but he simply wasn’t able to marshall the necessary support to be a great leader. To his credit and to Joe Hockey’s credit they have both publicly asked supporters to do exactly what I and many others are doing; giving the government a chance. So far, things are going OK, that gives me hope. Furthermore, it’s a refreshing change not to wake to another day of gaffes, infighting and senate standoffs.
