An interesting article in this weekend's "Australian" newspaper, by
Phillip Adams. He opens with an account of his opposition to laws
against racial vilification and to the campaign to keep the
revisionary historian David Irving out of Australia, out of his
belief that such laws are not only impotent, but give ammunition to
those who claim that PC stifles debate, a ridiculous statement given
the breadth and depth of conservative opinion in our media, and
status to those who can claim they are "martyred" by them (pace David
Irving). As has indeed been the case. He also points out that
Australia has not anything in its Constitution which protects free
speech.
It finishes:
"However, the real problem in Australia was and remains the
institutionalised racism that has always been a part of our cultural,
religious and commercial life. ... I grew up in the era when the
main division was between Catholic and Protestant, when everything
from the Commonwenalth Public Service to the police force were
divided along these lines. When the Melbourne Club was as reluctant
to admit Catholics as it was Jews. When the Stock Exchange still
refused Jewish membership.
The present kerfuffle over an eminently reasonable newspaper column
-- pointing out the bleeding obvious about the US remaining what it
has always been, "one of the most violent societies on earth", and
has led to an American initiating actions against me with the Human
Rights Commission and the Press Council -- is nothing but a sideshow.
And a piece of political surrealism. ...
Which brings me back to the issue of PC. Once the conservatives
campaigned against it. Now the boot is on the other foot -- and it's
a great big army boot. Since September 11, it has become standard
procedure for the armies of the Right, whose heavy tread thunders
through our media, to accuse writers like myself of everything up to
and including treason. Those of us who've been around long enough
recognise the symptoms. This is McCarthyism revisited.
As an Australian, I feel no obligation to to toe the US line on any
aspect of public policy, least of all what passes for its foreign
policy. Readers may recall that we gave the US a blank cheque in the
Vietnam War. Have we forgotten the lessons? And the so-called war
against terrorism is in its early days and may, in due course, make
the Vietnam misadventure seem like a military and diplomatic triumph.
All in all, it's a time for debate. Not censorship."
--
Alison Croggon
Home page
http://www.users.bigpond.com/acroggon/
Masthead
http://au.geocities.com/masthead_2/
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