Just a few short years ago, Attorney-General George Brandis assured us that people had a right to be bigots.
Of course, the whole free speech thing is a bit confusing because, while nearly everyone agrees that their personal free speech should not be curtailed, people aren’t so sure about other people’s. Just today I read about Dr Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University health expert and co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration challenging lockdowns complaining about vilification by colleagues and a “campaign” by US Health authorities to “discredit” his views. Ok, we generally agree that vilification of someone who disagrees with us is uncivilised… unless they deserve it. However, I was left wondering at what point, disagreement becomes a “campaign”. If the government puts out a warning that the magic, healing water I’m selling at $45 a bottle is simply tap water and not worth what I’m charging, is that a campaign? If they also point out that I have no medical qualifications is that “vilification”, or do they have to point out that I’m ripping people off before it fits that category?
Anyway, I was rather pleased to discover that a great many people seem to have shifted away from George’s position on bigotry. Apparently now it’s not ok, because I’ve been reading comments on social media about the protests and the burning of the flag, and many of those who once argued that they had a right to express a view and if people found it racist, well, it was their view and nobody could say anything because that would be stifling their free speech and their right to believe whatever they liked and attempts to correct them are just Marxist re-education.
Yes, people were saying that the protesters who burned the Australian flag should be jailed. When it was pointed out that there was no law against this, they argued that soldiers fought two World Wars under that flag for the freedom of Australians to jail whomsoever they liked. Of course, pointing out that Australian soldiers only started fighting under the current Australian flag after World War Two is just typical of the people trying to shut down their rights.
And, apparently, Lidia Thorpe should thrown out of the Parliament because well, she’s “racist” and we shouldn’t allow racists in Parliament unless they have red hair. Now, I’m not suggesting that there’s any racism involved here because it’s now wrong to be racist because some people are complaining about things that white people have done and that sort of racism just makes us all aware of how wrong it is!
Yes, free speech is definitely a cherished right but only if the person isn’t saying something that you disagree with.
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