Freedom of speech - only when you agree with the left

[3.14159]

[Wokko]

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[Wokko]

The Young Liberals I saw on campus would sit quietly in their booth, hand out leaflets and stickers to people who came up to them and engage in polite discourse.

The SA would get in your face, shout at and abuse people, shove propaganda at you until you took it and yell at people who threw it away. They caused disruption to classes and property damage when something got their goat and caused lockdowns of campus with their antics.

The Young Libs might be boring, ultra coservative geeks, but thats the worst you can say about them.

[pietillidie]

^Not this fantasy again. Monied protectionists use public relations, hate groups, access to power, the threat of using economic leverage over people's lives�what good are vocal street protests to them, particularly when they've managed to constrain protests so much through legislative control?

When it comes to the obvious, you pretend to be dumb. When it comes to nebulous macro constructs such as inflation and the group psychiatry of diverse cultures in other lands you will never visit, you pretend to be enlightened.

It's much like Stui's union obsession: Agreed; annoying, unlikable, interfering thugs, but they're the counter of monied protectionist thugs, so you either propose a grand bargain to de-escalate both, or you're just feigning concern with one party because it benefits you, either actually, or as imagined.

[Wokko]

If you begin a point by choosing to insult someone, even in an arrogant, passive aggressive way, then they wont pay any attention to anything else you write because they're either already angry and decided you're a dick or they dismiss you. Possibly both.

[pietillidie]

^There's nothing passive about it; it's active irritation! The fact is, this thread is repeating the same old stuff, despite people already knowing limits to speech exist, and that no one in their right mind would accept costly violation of the sort dished out to random Muslim folk unless they were living in fear. If the same were directed at middlish-class brown shoe wearers, there would be mobs tearing the place to bits in retaliation.

You also know the protesters on either side represent neither the mainstream left, nor the business and aspirational right. The unions and working left are more prone to racist talk than the business right (hence the racist kowtowing from the ALP), so these are just old culture war generalisations�rehashed without boredom, apparently.

And surely, for the 129th time, it's pretty obvious why the Glibs, young or otherwise, have a different political modus operandi than the fringe and even organised labour. Yet you make such a glib observation without even a hint of irony, as if you're disappointed at the naughty kids in the class for not tucking their shirts in and reciting the 23rd Psalm. I mean, seriously; do you think political negotiation ought to be a case of Oliver Twist asking for more from Fagin? Because without counter-weight to power incumbency of some kind, that's exactly what it would be like.

Just because I like mixing with people doesn't mean I like reading the same old political stuff and playing the same old ping pong without advancement. The last whatever period of incessant proclamations about Muslims by people who don't know a single Muslim�let alone a single Muslim group, as if they've spent half their lives living in Turkmenistan�has been a pathetic low-point of conversation. We might as well go back to discussing the cranial shapes of the unsaved in the colonies.

True, I have to take my share of the blame for not introducing new ideas and simply playing ping pong. That much I accept.

Ever sat up for hours scouring the web on your tablet or phone hoping to find new and interesting ideas? Welcome to my last couple of months. In my defense, the brain-eating racist zombie virus is significantly to blame for the decline in quality of mainstream output society-wide�and you can't say folks weren't warned that's what happens when the virus takes over.

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[Nick - Pie Man]

[David]

Perhaps we should just agree that a certain degree of narcissism and obnoxiousness are necessary conditions for getting involved in student politics of any sort.

Did anyone read that article about the National Union of Students I posted a few days ago? Jesus Christ, it was like reading Lord of the Flies.

[nomadjack]

Student politics these days is a complete cesspit (has it ever been any different?) which is reflected in the fact that about 5% of students bother to vote. It's made up of fundamentalist socialist wanks, rightwing ALP wannabees, and smug, smarmy young lib arseholes. Groups like SA are embarrassingly earnest and naive in equal measure while both mainstream parties are notorious for dirty politics and graft. It's kindergarten politics at its worst.

As far as the Reclaim Australia rally and those attempting to disrupt it goes, give me a break on the free speech angle please

Hate speech has never been free and you are kidding yourself if you believe there is anything else but sinister motives behind those organising the rallies. I've been tracking the emergence of these kinds of movements and groups in Australia and overseas for decades. They are far from new and their game is about furthering their own political goals by preying on and amplifying the base fears of difference that many people in society hold. If you scratch the surface you'll find many of the same names and faces involved since the 1970s and 1980s, with the cause celeb moving from Jews to Asian refugees to immigration in general, to African immigration and now to Islam.

I'm all for the free exchange of ideas and debate on the merits of immigration and how modern Islam (whatever that is) might fit with Australian values (whatever they are) but since when has blatant bigotry had a legitimate place in rational debate?

[stui magpie]

[Pies4shaw]

Some extensive film footage of the event has been located: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktmNEWwH69s

Note the ineffective and inarticulate members of Socialist Action being kept at bay by the police. The resolution of the confrontation is, of course, a reasonably straight-forward one.

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[Wokko]