It’s been an interesting week in free speech versus cancel culture, here in Australia. While three separate incidents each garnered plenty of attention on their own, few people seem to have joined the dots and considered what they collectively mean for free speech.
The clearest issue that two of them raise is something Churchill pointed out, 80 years ago. Everyone is in favour of free speech… but some people’s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage.
On both the left and right of the political divide, reaction to two separate incidents showed the wisdom of this truism.
The first incident involved that insufferable woke-fest, The Project. An alleged “comedian” told a particularly and deliberately offensive joke about Jesus. As no doubt intended, outrage ensued. The Project apologised the next night (a curious and telling detail: host Waleed Aly apologised to Muslims first, rather than Christians), but the fury raged on, with a plethora of demands for the show to be cancelled.
Here’s the thing: I detest The Project. The “joke” was just lame attention-seeking, which did more to draw attention to the staggering hypocrisy of the comedy industry — Melbourne’s International Comedy Festival bans any material about Muslims, for instance. But do I want it cancelled? Hell, no. The only thing that should cancel The Project is its abysmal ratings.
The second incident highlighted, yet again, the cancel culture mentality of the left. Byron Bay Blues Festival cancelled the scheduled appearance of Sticky Fingers on its 2023 lineup. A roster of gutless bootlickers had threatened to quit the festival, in retaliation to the lead singer’s alleged “controversial” behaviour and statements about Aborigines.
Essentially, the fellow is accused of being a bit of a douche — but if every rock singer who was a bit of a douche was cancelled, the entire music industry would fall silent. But every other douchebag rock singer is very careful, as Alice Cooper and Ted Nugent have pointed out, to only ever publicly say what they know their fans and peers will agree with.
Another bien pensant leftist festival, Adelaide Writer’s Week, has also been mired in controversy over its lineup — but, for once, a leading politician is backing free speech.
South Australia’s premier said he strongly considered pulling state government funding from Adelaide Writers’ Week amid controversy over its line-up, but decided against such a move because it would have been a step “down a path to Putin’s Russia”.
Three Ukrainian authors have withdrawn from the event in protest against Palestinian-American author Susan Abulhawa‘s views about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ms Abulhawa, who is scheduled to speak at the literary festival next week, has accused Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy of dragging “the world into the inferno of World War III” — a view described by SA Premier Peter Malinauskas as “patently absurd”.
Major sponsors including law firm MinterEllison have also withdrawn support, voicing concerns to organisers about the likelihood of “racist or anti-Semitic commentary” at the event.
How many of those sponsors promote really racist guff like BLM? Anti-Semites like the Greens?
And if anyone is going to spout “racist or anti-Semitic commentary”, then let them do it. I’d rather have them out in the open, making themselves known, for all to see than whispering their poison in secret, away from public scrutiny.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
This is not just a catchy slogan, it’s a demonstrated truth. In the early 80s, the BBC banned appearances by members of the racist National Front. Its membership grew. Finally, the ban was lifted. A spokesperson from the National Front was allowed to spout his racist gibberish on TV. Almost overnight, the Front’s power collapsed.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Writers’ Week gets underway tomorrow but was formally launched last night by Mr Malinauskas, who said he had made it clear to organisers that he would not be attending certain sessions and any “that are associated with anti-Semitism”.
Regarding Ms Abulhawa’s views on Ukraine, Mr Malinauskas said he had “struggled with” considerations around freedom of speech and “cancel culture”.
“Susan Abulhawa … has made references to President Zelenskyy having provoked Russia to attack Ukraine which in my view are patently absurd comments that aren’t really worthy of too much recognition,” Mr Malinauskas told ABC Radio Adelaide’s Stacey Lee and Nikolai Beilharz […]
Mr Malinauskas said hate speech was indefensible and should not be given a platform, but said it “would have to take something pretty extraordinary … for the government to start dictating what is and what isn’t culturally appropriate”.
“There is a profound responsibility on governments, particularly in our democratic system, to ensure freedom of speech isn’t compromised by cancel culture, every time something bobs up that we might disagree with,” he said.
“The whole idea of Writers’ Week is to hear other perspectives, even if we don’t particularly like them.”
ABC Australia
Pete Malinauskas is a mature adult, unlike the screeching snowflakes of cancel culture. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to listen. Even if you do listen, you’re not endorsing stupid or offensive views — and you’ll have a much clearer idea of what the enemies of liberal, democratic society are up to.
And if the leftist wank-fests that are “Writer’s Festivals” are so demented over “Palestine” that they’re willing to coddle anti-Semites, then I’d rather they be seen for what they are.
To paraphrase an old saying, it’s better to let someone speak and be known as a hateful fool, than keep them silent and let their true nature be kept secret.