What is happening to my wonderful Australia??

I am becoming most concerned by things that are now happening in my wonderful country.  The Australia that I have known for the past 68 years is slowly being eroded away and no one seems to be doing anything about it.  It is almost as if our Governments and so called intelligentsia are edging into a totalitarian state of mind where freedom of speech is curtailed and any thought not sanctioned by the Thought Police is unconditionally squashed.  I wonder why this is?  Australians are a tolerant people, for the most part, known for speaking their mind but also known for giving others a fair go.  We have accepted people from every country and every religion and the only thing we really ask for is for newcomers to accept us as we are, let us live as we have always lived, and enrich our lives with the best of their culture. So why are Australians being marginalized?  Why is anything and everything Australian vilified?  I do not know, but I do know that I am totally sick of it all and I am not alone.

In the last three days, four reported incidents have caught my attention and prompted me to write this blog.

The first incident involves a very intelligent and astute woman.  Ayaam Hirsi Ali was in Australia for a lecture tour this week.  I read her autobiography "Infidel" a number of years ago and found it to be a very thought provoking book and one which should be read by every Politician and Academic in Australia.  She was born a Somali Muslim and went to The Netherlands as a refugee.  Her observations of the Muslim Community in her adopted country are as relevant to Australia and other Western Countries as it is to Holland.  However, what she had to say was not what the Thought Police wanted us to hear, so the rest of her lectures in Australia and New Zealand were cancelled for "security concerns".  No one denies that the vast majority of Muslims want to live in peace, get on with their lives and worship as they wish.  However it is also foolish to deny that there is a very strong and vocal element within that same community who hate Westerners and everything we stand for.  That is why Muslim youth are being radicalized and people are joining ISIS so they can chop the heads off the unbelievers.  If we wish to understand these problems and deal with them appropriately, we need to listen to the people who know what they are talking about - people like Ayaam Hirsi Ali.  To ignore the problem or deny that it exists will only make it worse in the long run.

Ayaam Hirsi Ali is not the only person who has been denied entry into this country or had their lectures interrupted by protesters, or their tours cancelled because they do not toe the Politically Correct line and I find this appalling.  I do not think that people who preach hatred, anarchy and murder should be allowed into our country (although obviously the Thought Police have no qualms about certain radical Muslim clerics spewing hatred and encouraging ISIS) but well informed people who just have a different opinion to the Thought Police should not be banned.  After all freedom of speech and freedom of ideas is the backbone of  Western Society and to deny people expressing different ideas, even if unpalatable, is a return to the days of the Inquisition and witch burning.
 

The second incident that concerned me was a reported remark by Gillian Triggs of the Human Rights Commission fame.  She lamented that she could not control what people said around their dinner tables at home.  I am sure that if she could find a way to do it she would.  This really rings alarm bells.  In my Australia people had the right to say whatever they liked whether it is around the dinner table, the coffee machine at work or on a soapbox in the Domain, providing it was done in a law abiding manner.  Not so anymore, apparently.  Censorship on a personal scale happens in all Totalitarian Societies. As far as I am aware Australia is not a Totalitarian Society YET.

The third incident involved a third generation Australian mum of Anglo-Saxon origin, who took her children to her local Playgroup only to be told she could not attend because it was only for people of
 Multicultural background.  She was thrown out, figuratively if not literally.  When has it become a crime to be Australian and why should Australians be banned from any activities?  If a person of Multicultural background had been barred from attending an Australian Playgroup there would have been hell to pay.

The fourth incident involves a ring with a gap in it which is supposed to show solidarity for marriage equality.  A number of companies have signed up for this policy, demanding their employees wear the ring or be known as a bigot.  Some employees are already fearing that non compliance with the directive to wear the ring could place their jobs on the line and hamper their chances of promotions and those who object for religious reasons may suffer further discrimination. My personal opinion is if people want to get married then let them.  After all why should heterosexuals be the only ones to suffer???? 😈  However I will be damned before I am forced to wear a ring if I don't want to do so.

 Many people do not have a problem with same sex marriage but there are many who do, for whatever reason and their beliefs should not be made to impact their career or their possible advancement in that career.  The Marriage Equality people have turned into some of the worst bullies in the land, equaled only by the Climate Change bullies, and I am sick to death of them all.  In my opinion the sooner Turnbull has his plebiscite the better.  Let everyone vote on the outcome and let the results be the end of the discussion.
Christians and Jews are being vilified mercilessly.  They are losing their jobs for standing up for their beliefs.  Does this ring of Nazi Germany?  Yet people still tiptoe around Islam and to say anything slightly critical is howled upon, especially if it is true.  Fortunately the Buddhists, Sikhs and other religions have so far slipped under the Thought Police radar but give it time and they will be embroiled in the mess, too.

Freedom of thought, freedom of speech.  Two beliefs that need to be protected at all costs,