Angry White Male

I am an “angry white male”.  For those who don’t know, Senator Leyonhjelm has complained to the Human Rights Commission about Fairfax Media calling him something that did not actually offend him, but under Section 18C some other people could be offended.  The Senator’s proposal is to illustrate the absurd extremes that this legislation could be taken to arguing that therefore it should be repealed totally, even though in all legitimate cases people are genuinely offended by untrue and horrific accusations.  

In Philosophy, a single counter-example will disprove a proposition, and a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, but these are examples where something fails in total if it has a single discrepancy.  However the worth of legislation such as 18C that prevents genuine suffering to people from gratuitous insults does not cease to have value for them because it can be also be used in a frivolous way when the insult is mild and truthful for the sole purpose of providing a supposed ‘counter example’ to invalidate the principle on which the legislation is based.

The Australian newspape has taken up the cudgels, saying, ‘Angry white male case ‘ludicrous’ and promoting their claim that the holy democratic right of ‘free speech’ must be kept untarnished by any compromise, including banning the right to offend. 

 It is naïve to think that racism is not a privately held belief of many if not a majority of Australians.  It rarely surfaces publicly, and when it does the only apology is for being caught.  The oldest and most enduring form of racism is anti-Semitism, which is even espoused in Parliament by Greens who pretend that singling Israel out of all the world’s countries for endless criticism and oppression and endorsing the Islamist terrorists of Hamas somehow has nothing to do with anything Jewish.

The free speech that might be restored with the repeal of 18C would save journalists like Andrew Bolt who make ignorant and insulting generalisations about Aboriginal people or other groups they disparage from being brought to account.  Once again, the Criminal Justice System poorly delivers beneficial social solution, and typically fails to re-educate them and further polarises them and stiffens their socially un-acceptable, private opinions by meeting out a Legal penalty that they believe is not deserved and only results from unwanted legislation.  

Stand-Up Comedians, late night television hosts and ABC journalists would be no less hampered in genuine social criticism that leads people to a greater understanding of the feelings of others.  Their extreme ridicule would continue to be tolerated because it was done in context as it generally is now to an appropriate audience.  However, the people who would benefit are those whose sole aim is to insult and hurt people, often crudely in the most in-appropriate circumstances.  Such people are currently kept within like-minded, closed social groups, that regrettably still survive.  Perhaps without 18C, more people would speak out publicly so that they can be identified and re-educated.  Most Racism springs from ignorance and superstition.

Punishing people for having wrong ideas is counterproductive, but we still need legislation to stop the people, though breaches should lead to changes, not an eye for an eye.