Morrison’s no retreat, no surrender Press Club speech shows a Prime Minister eager to serve
In a speech for the National Press Club on Wednesday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivered the equivalent of a State of the Union address. From its content to his delivery, it was obvious that the Prime Minister was addressing the nation, not just the top end town. His address didn’t present a government in damage control, but a government that is in control. Morrison was right to not use the opportunity to give ground to noisy dishonest critics on social media. Many of whom come across as detached from everyday Australia, and seem to exist only as a deliberate distraction…
Mark Latham says, Australians were lied to during the same-sex marriage debate: this is ‘chilling for all religious preachers and freedoms’
One Nation NSW leader Mark Latham has said Australians were lied to during the same-sex marriage debate after voters were repeatedly assured the legalisation of gay ‘marriage’ would not result in a loss of freedoms. Mr Latham made the comments in a post on Facebook today, following news that the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board had accepted a complaint from an LGBTQ activist accusing Israel Folau of “homosexuality vilification”. Campaigner Garry Burns took issue with the former rugby star’s “controversial” April Instagram post which warned hell awaits sinners who refuse to turn to Jesus for forgiveness, including homosexuals. Mr Latham described the NSW…
Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg says he wants to preserve freedom of expression, but actions speak louder than words
The line between inciting hate or violence and informing others about that hate and violence is being blurred. Facebook’s recent heavy-handed actions against Caldron Pool, and Caldron Pool contributor, Evelyn Rae, suggest that the social media platform is happy to unfairly conflate reporting or fair criticism of an event with endorsement of that event. There is a difference between advocacy and commentary. If we apply descriptive and prescriptive linguistics to how newsworthy events or commentary are presented, we can see that companies like Facebook will inevitably hurt their customer base, because they continue to blur the descriptive and the prescriptive,…
Brexit: The Queen’s Speech is Boris Johnson’s Best Move Yet
Unless you’ve been completely living off-grid for the past three years, you’ll know that the United Kingdom’s, 2016, Brexit referendum is yet to be officially ratified. The 2016 referendum saw the people of the United Kingdom vote in favour of leaving the European Union by 1,269,501 people. The final result ended with 51.9% (17.5 million) of those in the U.K voting to leave the E.U, while 48.1% (16.1 million) voted to remain [i]. The results uncovered a division between North and South. The majority in England and Wales chose to leave, while Northern Ireland and Scotland, still heralding a decent…
A lesson for Kristina Keneally on the basics of freedom and faith
Kristina Keneally is hopelessly muddled about how freedom works, specifically freedom of speech and freedom of religion. I’m sure she’s had it explained to her before, but inexplicably comprehension yet eludes her – an alarming observation to make of a Federal Senator. I think leftists are often so mired in the prejudice of their anti-freedom propaganda they often end up shadow boxing, fighting against things no serious person believes. Take, for example, yesterday’s eleven-part Twitter challenge to the Prime Minister doubling down on her insistence that someone who tweeted something vile he then regretted, deleted and apologised for three years…
‘Hate Speech’ is the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: Why Kristina Keneally is wrong on Raheem Kassam
Incredible scenes from the left side of Australian politics. Shadow Home Affairs Minister Kristina Keneally spoke in the Senate on Tuesday night to illustrate why British born political commentator & former Breitbart editor Raheem Kassam shouldn’t be allowed to enter the country to speak at CPAC (Australia’s Conservative Political Action Conference.) Keneally spoke bluntly: We should not allow a career bigot — a person who spreads hate speech about Muslims, about women and about gay and lesbian people — to enter our country with the express intent of undermining equity and equality. Keneally’s calls come amidst a wash of Australian…
Eric Abetz’s historical stand against those who sacrifice freedom in the name of ‘progress’
Eric Abetz gave one of the most important short speeches in Australian political history this week. Yet few Australians would know he even spoke a word, let alone know who Abetz is or what he stands for. Eric Abetz was born in Germany in 1958 and came with his family to Australia in 1961. In the 1980s, Abetz worked his way through ‘University as a part-time taxi driver, and farmhand. Once completing his law degree, he went on to practice law in Hobart’s northern suburbs’. He joined the Liberal Party in 1976 and was appointed to the Senate in February…
The Folau and Felix cases show, when marriage is redefined freedoms are taken away
Like Australia’s Israel Folau, Felix Ngole from the UK, is a litmus test regarding freedom of religion, as well as freedom of speech, in the Western World. And for all those concerned about the future of freedom of speech in this country, it couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. As John Steenhof, the managing director of Human Rights Law Alliance Limited, wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald: Britain’s second-highest court handed down a decision on religious freedom yesterday that will send chills down the collective spine of Rugby Australia. In contrast, Israel Folau and his team will be…
Jordan Peterson to launch new censorship-free social media platform
Canadian academic Jordan Peterson has announced he’s creating a new social media platform that’s entirely censorship-free. Speaking with Joe Rogan last week, Peterson assured listeners that freedom will be the “central” aspect of the new platform saying, “once you’re on our platform we won’t take you down unless we’re ordered to by a US court of law.” ‘Thinkspot,’ as it’s been branded, will be designed to promote thought-through interactions through a minimum required length. Essentially, the opposite of Twitter’s 280 character maximum. Peterson explained: “If minimum comment length is 50 words, you’re going to have to put a little thought…
Mark Latham defends religious freedom: “big corporate chiefs preach diversity but what they are actually doing is trying to impose uniformity.”
This morning in the New South Wales Parliament One Nation MP Mark Latham moved a motion in defense of religious freedom. During his speech, Latham said: “75 years ago today young men from across the Free World stormed the beaches of Normandy to fight for the liberty of all mankind… How then in 2019 are so many Australians worried about the loss of religious freedom in our country in peacetime?” Referring to the recent sacking of rugby star Israel Folau, Latham went on to blast corporate dictatorships and their influence in sport: In 1944 the Free World fought a dictatorial…
Mark Latham to move a motion protecting religious freedom and condemning Rugby Australia
Mark Latham is today expected to move a motion protecting religious freedom and condemning Rugby Australia for their treatment of Israel Folau. The One Nation MP will also ask the NSW Parliament to condemn Rugby Australia for redefining the Bible as a form of vilification and ‘hate speech.’ The motion states: That this House calls on the Government to: (a) support the basic human right of New South Wales workers to express political, cultural and religious opinion in their private time, away from their place of work, without suffering employment penalties, (b) support Article 18 of the International Covenant of Civil and…
WATCH: Greens leader promises to introduce laws to regulate media and crack down on ‘hate speech’ from political opponents
Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale has said he will introduce new laws to regulate the media in an effort to crack down on “hate speech” issued by his political opponents, such as Andrew Bolt and Alan Jones. “We’re going to call out the hate speech that’s been going on,” Di Natale told supporters at a rally. “We’re going to make sure that we’ve got laws that regulate our media so that if people like Andrew Bolt, and Alan Jones, and Chris Kenny, and I could go on and on and on — if they want to use hate speech…
Compelled speech: School fires Christian teacher who refused to refer to female student as ‘he/him’
A school in Virginia has fired a Christian high school teacher for failing to use a transgender student’s preferred pronoun. French language teacher Peter Vlaming worked at West Point High School for seven years before the school board voted 5-0 in favor of his termination. Vlaming told WWBT, “I’m totally happy to use the new name. I’m happy to avoid female pronouns not to offend because I’m not here to provoke… but I can’t refer to a female as a male, and a male as a female in good conscience and faith.” According to the school, Vlaming’s personal stance violated…
Political Correctness and ‘hate speech’ laws are the secular equivalent of Sharia Law.
Political correctness in its excessive form is the secular equivalent of Shari’a law. It might not have the full judicial weight of Western law behind it yet, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t trying to manipulate the system so as to implement it. I used to think that the only thing wrong with political correctness was the excesses that went along with it. Take the good, reject the bad. However, the more I learn from those who practice and enforce the ideals of political correctness, the more I arrive at the conclusion that political correctness is the secular version of…
The Church should have the freedom to refuse allegiance to the State on the issue of Gay Marriage.
If Australia’s Prime Minister is serious about fairness, he’ll preserve the right to a conscientious objection to SSM; the right for people to hold the view, and teach their kids that marriage is between a man and a woman; and that those children have a right to equal access to their biological father and mother. As I have hopefully made clear in the written contributions I’ve made to this national debate, I see the issues as a matter of social justice. The “no” vote has been about defending truth, liberty, fraternity, science, and even equality, from unbalanced ideological servitude. The State wants…
Jordan Peterson: ‘Criminalising offensive speech is a cure worse than the disease.’
Jordan B Peterson has described the United Kingdom’s assault on free speech as “terrifying,” warning there are consequences to criminalising speech that are worse than we can imagine. In a segment hosted by BBC Question Time, the Canadian professor warned: “There are increasing restrictions put on people’s ability to speak forthrightly and the consequences of that restriction and the criminalisation of what hypothetically constitutes as offensive speech is going to be a cure that’s so much more worse than the disease that we can hardly imagine it…” WATCH:
Hate speech is a myth: It’s a shaming control technique used by those who can’t debate the issue.
By no means is this a conclusive run down on what I see as the need to find, and advocate for, a fair use of the vehicles we choose to communicate, and receive information through. By pointing out inconsistencies, and connecting them to a possible cause, my purpose here is primarily an attempt to suggest, that when it comes to social media, we practice the proverb of looking before we leap. A few years back an incident showed me the contrast between hard reality, and cheap comment. Comments from people, who in the comfort of relative security, only seem to be far more concerned with the side of the story that sells best, than with finding balance. Surely,…
Hate speech laws are for people who can’t handle their own emotions.
In the debate about whether we create or discover a writing voice, it doesn’t matter which side of the camp you land on. It’s generally agreed that a writing voice takes time to develop. When I started a blog in 2013, I had no real idea how it would develop. My plan was to use the blog as a way of networking, and as a way of improving my own writing skills. In my post-graduate world, I wasn’t sure a blog would achieve either. Looking back, I can see areas where I’ve succeeded, and I can also see areas where…
Woman convicted for defaming Mohammed during lecture on Islam. European Court of Human Rights: You are NOT free to blaspheme Islam.
Defaming Mohammed exceeds the limits of free speech, “goes beyond the permissible limits of an objective debate” and “could stir up prejudice and put at risk religious peace,” the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday. The ruling came after the seven-judge panel upheld an Austrian court’s decision to convict a woman for calling Mohammed a paedophile. The 47-year-old woman from Vienna, known only as Mrs S, reportedly held two seminars titled, “Basic Information on Islam,” in which she detailed the marriage between Mohammad and his six-year-old wife, Aisha. According to reports, Mrs S told her class that Mohammad…
CNN contributor says, censorship of Alex Jones is ‘an important step in recognizing hate speech as a form of terrorism.’
CNN Opinion asked a group of contributors to weigh in on the mass censorship of Alex Jones and InfoWars. One contributor was Rafia Zakaria, a “Muslim-American” author and columnist for Dawn newspaper in Pakistan and The Baffler. Zakaria told CNN that she sees the mass deletion of InfoWars as “an important step in recognizing hate speech as a form of terrorism.” “This new decision is a step forward in recognizing that hate outlets, such as InfoWars, are complicit in domestic terror, and a relief to Muslim-Americans, like myself, who have been the target of online assaults and threats.” Nobody likes terrorism,…
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