Hate Speech Is a Meaningless Term
Increasingly we are seeing the term hate speech being used for merely disagreeing with the left. Hate speech used to be defined by objective harms such as incitement, threats or actual violence. Now the term is used by many on the hard left to shut down free speech and political debate.
The left will claim hate speech if you upset their feelings. Merely ridiculing them seems to be defined as hate speech and the arms of government are increasingly being used to silence people under the guise of preventing hate.
The definition of hate speech is constantly changing or is fluid and can be whatever is the progressive ideal or cause de jour of the day, becoming a meaningless term. Saying that men cannot become women is labelled by many as hate speech. Saying that Australia’s immigration rate should be reduced a little is called hate speech.
Showing a billboard with a picture of a pregnant woman saying there is a heartbeat at 5 weeks was called hate speech by many on the left last year and the billboard was removed on a highway in New South Wales. Quoting biblical passages or saying you live according to Judeo-Christian values is considered hate speech.
To many progressives, they have redefined tolerance. They say you can live according to Judeo-Christian values so long as you never advocate for them. You must not employ others who have the same values. The worst example of this was in Canada when Trudeau asked Christian based organisations with their Christian ethos to sign off a progressive laundry list of items or they would not receive funding.
Penny Wong wants Labor Party politicians and prospective future politicians to subscribe to Labor’s values, but never can you have that for Christians. That cannot be allowed! The left chant diversity and tolerance, but militantly shut down views with which they disagree.
It is not possible to have freedom of speech without the freedom to propagate religious values free from the threat of legal censure or restriction. The left tries to justify more restrictions. The left seems to have the biggest issue with Christianity as if it were the only religion. There are dozens of religions.
This expansion and redefinition of hate speech is due to schools and universities becoming breeding grounds for whining leftist radicals. Free speech has largely been eradicated on university campuses as highlighted by the Institute of Public Affairs. Feminism, critical theory, gender politics, Marxism, race politics, identity politics and other degrees are largely unproductive.
The most vocal groups on campus who go about de-platforming speakers predominately come from the humanities. They often call for a huge expansion of the administrative state to protect emotions and feelings.
Western democracies are now very full of disillusioned, angry and confused graduates with degrees in grievance and victimhood studies. Trigger warnings and safe spaces are common at universities. De-platforming is increasing and meetings are stopped regularly.
There is indeed a big growth in government agencies, statutory bodies and human rights commissions in Australia that regulate the economy and speech via rules, regulations, ordinances and kangaroo courts.
Now we have the left actively saying that parents are not the guardians of their children – the state is. They are calling for the ‘progressive state’ to remove children from parents who do not tick off the progressive wish list. They think the state should usurp parental rights. Children should have the right to freedom of speech, religion and conscience, but the activists do not wish them to have it.
Schools have no business forcing children to engage in activities that violate their consciences or values. Activists think children are sponges who will just accept and affirm everything the activists tell them. Children are being weaponised and used as shields to protect grown-ups from criticism.
If you object to the sexualisation of the classrooms you will be called a bigot and the youth will commit suicide. You are a terrible bully! Accept all the activism or there will be an epidemic of suicides.
Every anti-bullying program ever devised is being implemented in Australian schools. What is described as anti-bullying we know is just a method to make views unsafe that do not conform to the left’s view (like gender-fluid Marxists).
If you mention such programs to Japanese, Singaporean or Chinese children they will laugh. Children are increasingly needing authority figures to shield them from any emotions or negative feelings. Instead of children being resilient, they are overprotected and shielded from thoughts.
Homeschooling is, of course, a thorn into the side of the progressives. There were calls recently for homeschooling to be banned as it was being done by conservatives with old values.
The left’s values are what exactly? Gender fluidity, Marxism, endless welfare, feminism, drag queens reading to children, being free spirits, egalitarianism, gender confusion, automatons for the United Nations?
Now you are beginning to see why homeschooling has grown more in popularity in the United States and Australia. No doubt the attacks on homeschooling will continue. How dare conservatives teach children such radical things like self-reliance, academic rigour and mathematics?
A bigot is defined as anyone having Judeo-Christian values. Anyone who holds what they view as objective standards of morality is said to be a bigot. Look at Twitter and other social media platforms – the chants of diversity, love, acceptance and tolerance abound. But go against any of their tenets and their fangs come out.
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