18C & The Rise of Pauline Hanson

There was a very interesting column in The Australian today. It was written by Matt Ridley titled- Stop the shouting: if we don’t tame Twitter, we’ll face mob rule. The first line in particular resonated. 

“Schisms of hatred seem to be fracturing the political landscape wherever you look.”

How true. I would add, destroying tolerance along with it. Every word is analysed by someone looking for something to attack or have a go at others over. 

Like many I’ve been disturbed by the rise of Pauline Hanson in the political arena.  I personally don’t like her brand of politics. If we had to have an anti-Muslim party in Canberra I think we would have been much better off with the ALA. At least the ALA representatives understand the issues. They have done their homework on topics such as Halal. Hanson’s knowledge when tested is very thin in all areas related to Islam, Halal and Sharia law. Hanson trades on fear on not facts. 

After reading another column in the Australian today related to Hanson, “Distortion of rights ‘helped Pauline Hanson.’ I posed this on Twitter. “If Tony Abbott hadn't wimped on 18C I wonder how different the outcome might be.” I was accused of Abbott bashing. Seriously. 

Many Liberals were very disappointed when Mr Abbott wimped on proceeding with 18C legislation. Fact. It lost him support. Also fact. So rather than ‘bashing’ Mr Abbott I suspect if he had proceeded with changes 18C he may still be in Government. The debate would certainly be different and people would feel free to speak their minds on topics that concern them. 

Then Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson said at the time he was: ‘‘Disturbed to hear the government has backed down on 18C and will keep offensive speech illegal. Very disturbed.’’ 

He also stated source Fairfax media: 

“The racial discrimination act significantly restricts free speech in a way that all other anti-discrimination laws do not and the government seems to foolishly think that backing down will assist them or be in the best interest of the Australian population.”

Mr Wilson said there should not be a situation where select legal privileges are enjoyed by some and not by other people.

“The Prime Minister said that he wants to unite team Australia. I agree, which is why we should have laws that apply for everybody consistently,” he said.

“There is nothing more dangerous to a multicultural Australia today than the idea that some people have legal privileges on the basis of their race which do not exist for other people.”

This is where the likes of Pauline Hanson rise. She did it before by inciting people's fear over Asian gangs. She is doing it in 2016 in capitalising on people's fear of Islam and Muslim’s. When people feel they can’t openly voice their concerns they turn to people like Hanson. 

I still believe in Free Speech. I will continue to voice my opinions (perhaps forthright at times) and if others choose to look for reasons to attack and admonish me, that is their problem. But I will call them out. My tolerance level is shrinking at a rapid rate when people try to turn comments into something they clearly are not. 

I suspect I won’t receive any acknowledgement when I pointed out the obvious in stating I wasn’t bashing Abbott. I was merely posing a question.  I do think the situation might have been different if Mr Abbott hadn’t reneged on the promise and backed down on 18C. It certainly would have removed one of the major opportunities for Hanson to capitalise on.  The suppression of the right to speak your mind regardless of perceived ‘hate speech.’ 

I read this, this morning. “The challenge is not just to kick Hanson out of the Senate. Her political career is mostly unsuccessful, and it is unlikely she will be there for too long. The goal should be defeating her agenda.” We do that by allowing people to speak openly and freely about the things that concern them. By having sensible debate and not making people feel threatened or excluded. The question is, are we adult enough to do that? At times I seriously doubt it. I hope I’m proven wrong. 

18C needs to be back on the agenda. 

SILENCING OF THE MODERATE MAJORITY

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.

The Conundrums of Free Speech and Rights

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