John Roskam from the Institute of Public Affairs highlights the failures of the fourth estate to hold our politicians (and other institutions) to account.
We now live in the age of intolerance. Freedom of speech and independent thought are verboten under the progressive totalitarian agenda. I experienced it for myself in Sydney last week.
Some months ago, I agreed to speak at a function with union heavyweight Joe de Bruyn, on the subject of how conservatives can respond to the challenges to mainstream values. The event was organised by a community group that holds monthly meetings at the Occidental Hotel with a variety of guest speakers and topics. The group is polite, well-informed and represents a diversity of political allegiances.
However, their acceptance of diverse views isn’t shared by everyone.
The militant ‘rainbow diversity crowd’ heard about the event and lobbied the Occidental Hotel to cancel the reservation. Whatever they did worked, because the hapless hotel manager informed the organisers that not only would this event be cancelled but no future bookings would be allowed either because they were a ‘hate group’.
No justification for such an assertion was made nor was any excuse offered by the hotel representatives; however, it was clearly a response to an organised protest movement determined to stop the function from going ahead.
Unfortunately it worked – in part. Not only did the hotel cancel the booking but my fellow speaker made himself unavailable for the evening. The organisers were even contacted by the police amid concerns over the safety of the participants and advised to stop promoting the function due to the possibility of an ugly and potentially violent protest.
They complied with the police requests and hastily found another venue whilst using word of mouth to promote the evening. Despite the hurdles, the evening was a great success and given the circumstances, the topic of discussion focused on freedom of speech and the new age of intolerance.
Despite the event not being there, protesters still turned up at the Occidental Hotel to hurl abuse.
Although just a small example, this event provides a glimpse into our future under the new totalitarians. To them, the ends always justify the means. In the last week alone, we have seen a leftist spit in an official’s face at a local government meeting, self-declared anti-fascists attack peaceful demonstrators and public events cancelled because some don’t want others’ views to be heard.
What have we come to in this country when a backbench Member of Parliament can’t speak to a regular group of citizens at a local hotel for fear of violent repercussions? What does it say about the management of a hotel that cowers in the face of such intolerance?
Such behaviour is the product of a growing militancy amongst the left. Whether it be boycotts on the basis of race, curtailing freedom of speech or violence in response to other views, the evidence of the real problem is abundantly clear.
The choice for all of us is to decide whether we are prepared to meekly accept this imposition on our own freedoms or whether we are prepared to make our own stand. If you choose to do the latter, you can make a start by getting in touch with the Occidental Hotel and letting them know how they have fed the insatiable appetite of the new totalitarians.
Cory Bernardi is the author of seven books and has been a member of the Australian rowing team, a publican, an investment portfolio manager and spent nearly 14 years as an Australian Senator.
