{Photo Credit: Ben Row, YouTube (2016), Orwellian future}
I spent the past two days thinking about whether or not I wanted to post this. I contemplated the inevitable outrage that would ensue. I even had to consider if I was risking all the things I hold dear.
Because in this modern day to have an opinion can sometimes lead to job loss, public harassment and on occasion physical violence. Sadly, it is becoming frighteningly apparent that if you don't agree with the left-wing you are automatically putting yourself up for slaughter.
To deny this is to close your eyes to the world around you.
This is disturbingly evident in the recent media slaughter of Senator Fraser Anning.
On March 15th the Senator released a speech in response to the terrorist attack on a local mosque in Christchurch. Within his response he made claims that Islam is the 'religious equivalent of fascism' and that it 'calls for the murder of unbelievers and apostates.' He also stated that he is 'utterly opposed to to any form of violence within our community' and that 'violent vigilantism can never be justified'.
Yes, I completely agree that what he said about the Muslim community of Australia was insensitive, derogatory and offensive.
But they are still just words. It is his opinion and his right to express his thoughts on the cause of the terrorist attack in Christchurch, as everyone else is.
There are hundreds of articles out today claiming that the cause of the attack is primarily due to far-right white-supremacist ideologies.
The issue I find with this narrative is that it is allowed at all. Why is it OK to blast the colour of the gunman's skin, to claim that it was his 'white-male' privilege that led to this horrific attack. Why is it celebrated when public figures say this attack was due to a rise in Islamophobia and nationalist ideologies. Why is not OK for Senator Fraser Anning to say he believes the opposite, that this attack can be attributed to a rise in the the number of terrorist attacks abroad which were perpetrated by members of Islamic State?
Why is his career then threatened, petitions signed for his removal, eggs cracked on his head and labels of 'Nazi-sympathiser', 'racist' and 'white-supremacist' hurled at him through ever social media platform and in person.
At what point did any form of opinion outside that of the left-wing become so nuclear a threat that that the holder of that opinion needs to be destroyed by fire?
The level of disrespect my generation is showing towards an elected member of our parliament is appalling to me. How dare a 17-year old boy film himself squishing an egg onto a senators head. How dare Australia respond by supporting his actions.
If you demand to have your voice heard and to be respected than you have to listen and respect those who disagree with you.
There is not a single politician elected in Australian parliament today that I have agreed wholeheartedly with. Not one. But you will never see me squishing an egg on one of their heads over it.
That sort of a response is immature, disrespectful and achieves nothing in the way of change.
You don't want the senator to represent you? Don't vote for him.
We are on the brink of impeaching Orwell's '1984' world. Silencing the opposition, attempting to have them lose their jobs over an opinion, assaulting them for speaking their mind. It has to stop.
We are frighteningly close to a dictatorship controlled by the ideologies primarily represented by the left. We are so close to attempting to control what people can say, think or even feel and that is terrifying.
I considered not posting this but then I realised in being afraid I am proving my own point. I do not agree with or stand by what the Senator said but I'll be damned if I let people attempt to silence him and take away his freedom to speak.