Are We Losing The Battle?

A question I ask myself more frequently today. Are we losing the battle against those who seek to divide and suppress? I fear the answer is yes.

I've always prided myself on being a positive person. I prefer to be optimistic rather than pessimistic. I have faith that regardless of how dire things appear, good will triumph over evil. If it doesn’t then it wasn’t meant to be. But regardless something positive will emerge from the ashes of ruin. I believe when people who hold similar values stand together, we can overcome and emerge a stronger, more united and vastly better society. But I find myself becoming increasingly more pessimistic about the society of today. I see a society ever more divided and fractured. Those who seek to divide us and suppress us are winning. I see decency and values sacrificed in the name of revenge and retribution.

The realisation this is happening deeply saddens me. The saddest part is watching the change. Particularly on social media I’ve watched people whom I have admired as being open and receptive to the ideas of others change. In the past they didn’t always agree with a particular position or point of view but they respected the rights of others to think differently. Polite exchanges ensued and at times opinions were changed. Many of those same people now condemn you and turn on you if you deviate from their script. They actively then go one step further and whip others up to turn against you. It reminds me of reformed smokers but worse. I’ve been on the receiving end of this a few times as I know others have.

I have said this before but it's worth repeating. It saddens me that we no longer appear willing to judge people on who they are as citizens and not what political party they belong to. Or what religion they follow. Or what general beliefs they hold. It saddens me that some people will never be forgiven regardless of how many times they atone for their perceived sins because of what they are; based on the same parameters; political, social leaning, religion, or even the colour of someone's skin.  It disgusts me that regardless of how appallingly other people behave are as long as they are in ‘the camp’ they're forgiven.

A good example of this is the recent re-election of a Governor in the US. Only a day before this Governor had assaulted a journalist for being persistent (in other words doing his job) in asking a question. The journalist was knocked to the ground and repeatedly punched. But of course he was just a journalist. That was OK. The Governor was re-elected and even received praise from the President. Belting people up has never been OK and certainly shouldn’t be acceptable from people in positions of power. But the campaign against journalists has worked. They are viewed as pariahs and now people feel bashing them is OK and worst still they reward the basher. Anyone who defended the journalists (be they Republican or Democrat) was attacked left right and centre for doing nothing more than standing up for decency. Staunch Republicans who spoke up were treated worse than the Democrats. The people against the media/journalist lobby in full swing. Decency is losing and those who seek to divide and suppress win.

Those on the right say it is a left wing problem. Those on the left say it a right wing problem. Both sides are guilty. Two recent examples of that in Australia;

We have all witnessed the bullying of Margaret Court for doing nothing more than exercising her right to choose based on her beliefs.  She stated her reasons for no longer wishing to promote or fly Qantas because of their Chief Executives gay marriage crusade. She made that public. That is her right. The letter she wrote was to the point. Who she was, why she made the decision and offering her willingness to discuss with those involved. But now the Gay Lobby demands her name be removed from a sports arena. They want her stripped of her legacy in recognising her as a great sportswoman who has contributed much to her sport. Whether you agree with gay marriage or not Mrs Court should be able to decide who she promotes and who she doesn’t. She should be able to do that without being ripped asunder by people with axes to grind. One person even said to me yesterday she deserves everything she gets. That’s such a vengeful attitude. People can voice their opposition without resorting to verbal violence and demanding a person’s legacy be destroyed just because you don’t agree with what they have said. After all, Mrs Court hasn’t murdered anyone. But if the arena management caves in as a result of the relentless campaign which is sure to follow then those who seek to divide and suppress will have won again. Time will tell.

People are frequently seeking to expunge from history anything they find distasteful. Such as removing Margaret Court's name from an arena. In the US they have gone as far as taking down statues. It is lunacy and in my opinion dangerous.

On the other side we witnessed the recent assault on Yassmin Abdel-Magled’s over her comments on ANZAC day. Whilst I don’t agree with her references to Manus and Nauru I do have some sympathy toward the plight of people in Syria and Palestine. Too often the world turns a blind eye to the suffering of people there, particularly the children and the elderly. However, what she said was ill-advised, insensitive and very poorly timed. ANZAC day was not the day to say it. If she'd said on another day I suspect it would have largely gone unnoticed. Bad judgement on her part. In her defence she did remove the offending tweet and she apologised for it. But that wasn’t enough. As in the case of Margaret Court people out for revenge demanded more. In the end she was sacked from her job at the ABC but many still haven’t let up. Nothing short of total destruction will sate their appetite for revenge. Anyone who had the temerity to say hang on, she realised she was wrong and has apologised received the same treatment. They were cut out like a diseased calf in a muster. Isolated and condemned. Hence the dividers in full swing win again.

There was a time when an apology was gracefully accepted. This was often followed by a message, “Thank you, we accept your apology. Learn from the error and don't repeat it”. Those days are long gone. Now nothing short of complete destruction appears to appease. So why even bother saying sorry. It doesn't seem to make any difference if you are in the 'target group'.

I don't think I am sounding overly alarmist in saying this. Each time those who seek to divide wins we see the demands grow ever harsher. People are trolled and threaten. On social media, particularly Twitter one of the standard practices when someone objects to something you say is to reply copying others in their camp. The copy to's then RT copying in more people and the next thing you know it is  an all out attack.

We read far to often of people being physically assaulted or living in fear of being physically assaulted for nothin more than expressing an opinion. People have been sacked and had careers ruined. Petitions kick-off like wildfire and worst yet some people end up as headlines in the news for days on end. Ridiculed and humiliated for what they say. We don't treat murders and rapist as bad as that. The media has a lot to answer for in promoting this behaviour. They feed the frenzy shame on them.

I can’t predict where this will end. But history gives us an indication and it isn’t good. When I see decent people joining the assault squads that really does saddened me. I don’t mind admitting it frightens me to think of what the future might look like.

Marcus Aurelius said, “The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.” I believe that is true. So every time we join in vicious assaults on people just because we don’t agree them. Every time we fall into the trap of playing the divide game and acting exactly like those ‘who performed the injury’ we let them win. I pointed this out recently and was met with a typical response. They started it. In suggesting that perhaps two wrongs aren't the solution the response was, ‘they’ want war we’ll give them war. I didn't see the point of saying you are behaving just like those you condemn. This, is a game of no winners and as a society, we collectively sadly are the losers. I just hope people wake up to that fact before it is too late.