Controversy! Controversy! Everyone to your twitter stations! Sky News presenter Ross Cameron made several derogatory comments towards gay people this week at a Q Society fundraiser, and boy is everyone in a tizz. Everyone from the Greens to Cory Bernardi is lining up to attack him. There are two comments the media is focusing on:
- That the NSW division of the Liberal Party was “basically a gay club”
I do not understand the problem with this comment. Its true! I have made similar statements on this very blog. Gay men are heading to the right. Perhaps the problem is that the screeching classes just don’t wish to admit their role in pushing the biggest group of out homosexuals – white gay men – to the right with their constant calls for privilege checking, white-shaming and binary gender exclusion.
- That the Sydney Morning Herald should be renamed “The Sydney Morning Homosexual”.
A juvenile comment, akin to shouting “gaaaayy” out a car window, but a succinct appraisal of the SMH’s biases.
Cartoonist Larry Pickering got in on the action, stating:
- That he “can’t stand Muslims, but they are not all bad, they do chuck pillow-biters off buildings.”
A hideous comment that I find offensive. But not personally offensive, because that’s a waste of my time and energy. What I find more offensive are the attempts by protesters to shut down the Q Society fundraiser altogether. Unless Ross Cameron and Larry Pickering are inciting violence (and though Pickering gets close, I would argue he is not), they have the right to speak. Freedom of speech is for everyone, not just people who agree with you, or for the inoffensive, or even the mostly coherent.
Victoria University issued an apology for allowing the event to be held on its premises after receiving a letter of protest from students and staff and are reviewing administrative procedures. It appears this protest has nothing to do with the content of the speeches, but rather the goals of Q Society itself. Their stated goals are an end to muslim immigration and halal certification. Neither of these things are basic rights that should be immune from debate and criticism. I fear this victory for campus ‘activists’ is the start of a quick descent into the ‘no-platforming’ policy that has crippled debate at universities in the UK and emboldened the leftists to riot, destroy property and physically attack those they perceive as fascists, that is, everyone, on campuses in the USA.
I hope one day Milo Yiannopoulos comes to Australia so that the hypocrisies and pretensions (how are university Marxist societies still a thing?) of the modern Australian university are laid bare for the mainstream to see. His presence will create serious debate and will mean no more easy victories for those intent on silencing conservative points of view. It’ll be a riot!
Excuse the bad joke, I’m fasting before Mardi Gras and am quite light headed.