polite_gandalf
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Australian Politics
Posts: 20023
Canberra
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FD is actually a good example of the typical sort of modern threat to freedom and democracy. Firstly by his own standards he is complicit in attacks on free speech - when he stated some time ago that those who don't stand up against attacks on freedom, are complicit in it. Thus when FD, day after day, ignores and furthermore spinelessly apologises for those here who constantly attack people's freedoms (ban the burqa, ban halal etc etc) - he is also attacking freedom according to his own definition.
I'm not sure I would go so far as to say people who don't stand up against attacks on freedom are complicit in those attacks - yet still there is something deeply sinister about FD's modus operandi here. For me, one of the big alarm bells was when he candidly declared that he might support those who attack muslim's freedoms - if the extremists and terrorists cannot be reigned in. This was particularly galling as I immediately recalled FD's noble words where he said that defending freedom is most important when confronted by speech that is most disagreeable to you. Thus clearly FD has little compunction in dishing his most sacred beliefs at any opportune moment.
Like most self-styled free speech warriors, FD only ever speaks out about perceived attacks on privileged white people - usually racists. Free speech is merely a cynical tool to push a right wing agenda, by attacking minorities, attacking progressives who defend minorities, and to try and highlight how oppressed rich white people are. Here, FD's musings about freedom are only ever placed within an anti-Islam, or anti-minority (aborigines are another favoured target) context, in which the "victims" are white privileged people - who are frequently also racists and bigots. A cynic would say that the real agenda wasn't freedom at all - but attacking minorities.
Yet, as with most bigotry, FD's ruse has been slowly unraveling, and his racist agenda has become exposed. The use of blatant lies - typically an essential tool for racist agendas ("muslims [en masse] say/do this terribly sinister thing" - when it is based solely on what he heard a single muslim say), as well as increasingly shrill resort to outrageous blanket slurs (workforce participation statistics "prove muslims are lazy"), his 'moral equivalence' arguments to equate muslims to nazis, not to mention his deeply disturbing misogynism (belittling women in burqas as being in a "letterbox outfit", and most shockingly, wishing rape on certain women) - expose a hateful and bigoted agenda.
Such hateful hypcoricy - which sadly is not uncommon in these times - is one of, if not the greatest threats to our freedom and democracy. Its these people who will facilitate the normalising of minority persecution, coupled with the inevitable removal of their freedom - and the worst thing, they will justify it in the name of "freedom" itself. In fact, we already see this very behavior on a daily basis: ban women from dressing in a non-skimpy swimsuit on the beaches of France? - say nothing but ridicule the affected women and attack the 'apologists' who are up in arms about it; calls to ban the hijab on the basis that its not mere clothing, but an actual piece of "enemy uniform"? Say nothing except praise the person who said it as 'not pretending to be something he's not' - even when that same person claims to be standing up for "western values".
So this is likely how our freedom and democracy will be lost: the anti-freedom bigots will finally have their way - due largely because of the enabling of the freedom warrior hypocrites - like FD. Unfortunately for FD, as Niemoller would predict, after the minorities and the do-gooders, the freedom haters will next turn to him - and guess what? There won't be any spineless apologists left to defend him.
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