Please see typical click bait article and supporting image.
But in all seriousness, I am concerned; I am worried about our future, the future of our children and the world we are turning into.
(YAY another Alt right post!)
Don't worry, this isn't that.
Anyone who knows me knows that I would rather drink bleach then identify as Far left or Alt right.
Disclaimer, I am simply going to talk about my observations; I do not claim to be an expert, nor do I expect everyone who reads this to agree with it. I do alternatively believe that by voicing this my career will be damaged in such a way that I may never recover.
So why the headline? Well... I feel that some people see one thing and instantly believe it's the other.
The tragic event's in Christchurch shine a good light on this; now before I begin to look at my observations and share my thoughts I want to make it very clear that my heart goes out to the families, friends and communities overtly affected by this disgusting act.
So due to respect I will not talk about the event itself, but the social structures surrounding it.
Now if you are an international reader you may not be aware of the mess that has occurred after the event after Christchurch; Senator Barry O'Sullivan (member of parliament for the national party) released a statement strictly pointing the finger that the events of March 15th on Muslim "extremest immigration." Naturally the mainstream media, Social media and most others instantly jumped at the opportunity to oppose this view; with ex-rugby player turned journalist Peter Fitzsimons starting a Change.org partition to have the Senator stripped of his position.
The thing that is most fascinating for me is that O'Sullivan he isn't entirely wrong, however misguided in parts. I do not for one moment believe that the shooting that took place was the result of Muslim extremism, but that of Christian extremism.
Now before you click off this, remember that this is my opinion I do not expect you to agree. In fact I encourage you to discuss this, maybe we can learn something from each other.
okay, so I am not about to spend the rest of this hating on Christians; however it can not be ignored.
so what are you talking about? Well.... going back to my original observation; the partition to silence O'sullivan. To me this is scary, the idea that an opinion can ruin a career is something that is truly scary. For example as you can imagine my Facebook is full of actors building their networks. The Partition spread through the 300+ people I have on my friends list faster then the news of my first baby being born (let that sink in.)
Why does this concern you?
well............. the very same people that once fought for their right to express their opinion and their right as expression are now the people who are fighting to silence those that oppose their views.
The Far left are seen as the good people (not good guys.) fighting for the freedom and safety of everyone around them. Seems like a good thing right? The Alt right used to be about fear driven politics, feeding the notion that we look after home before we help out others... Which in it's own right is also a good thing... At least it was.
Most recently I have found that the two seem to have switched sides, where as in the past the far left would support the idea of speaking your mind and being true to who you are has now shifted to the protection of one's feelings, and from what I can see it doesn't matter what you opinion is, if you don't agree you are the enemy.
The Alt right alternatively seems to have reacted to this out of fear. Fear that their identity will be over run by a foreign group, that they will be forced to believe and say things they strongly do not believe; and in retaliation to this we see groups of people marching in protest, shit posting, and we have also seen non left commentary silenced on social media.
As for where I stand... Well I don't align with either, I am right in the middle. I want everyone to be safe, have the opportunity to live a better life and to seek better education, but in saying that we should be able to freely express our thoughts and say the things we want too... whether we want to hear it or now; the idea of "hate speech" is something that is terribly hard to identify, as speech is organic and hate is subjective I don't see how one can claim to be a positive and the other seen to be a negative. The reality being that both are negative to each other.
So what does this have to do with the "Racist Senator?" well... (god I start sentences a lot with well... lol) When this partition was being spread around aiming to have the Senator removed from parliament, I expressed my concern that we need to be careful of thought policing, that it doesn't matter if we agree or not, the senator represents a community of people that honestly believe that this is an issue that needs to be controlled. I was met with push back (which to be honest I expected.) with people saying to me that it wasn't that he said what he said but the fact that he is in a position of power, and that makes him dangerous.
Which may be true, however the goal of a successful parliament is that we have so many dividing voices; that we have people that see the world completely different to one another.
This isn't a bad thing, as people (I would argue intelligent people.) need to be able to discuss their opinions in a civil way, that can help both sides of the coin grown and truly learn to appreciate each other's stand point.
We need to worth together instead of grandstanding and call each other names. The world today is a scary place, and it will only get worse while we have others telling us how we need to behave; whilst we have people looking to punish others for disagreeing we will never move past this, we all have the right to freely express the way we see the world.
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/freedom-information-opinion-and-expression
As to my point about Christian extremism, news about christian attacks against Islamic groups is hard to find, which you search it you find pro Islamic news (which is fair, but I question whats being hidden from us.)
I should point out that on a day where people where heart broken by the attacks on the mosque, Christians where gunned down by Islamic extremists
Egypt
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/03/egypt-attack-gunmen-kill-coptic-christians-bus-ambush
Pakistan
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/04/killed-attack-christians-pakistan-quetta-180402161157315.html
Nigeria
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/death-toll-week-nigeria-attack-doubles-130-190219193655675.html
I am no way saying that Islam is bad, however I am also not saying that Christianity is good. Both sides have continued this horrid dispute since the crusades and the world seems to always forget that there are no "Good guys" here.
Anyway,
I hope you are well,
Till next time
Rick.