Section 18C and attacks on Bill Leak give cause for complaint
- The Australian
It’s fair to say that in the lottery of life, being a middle-class white man in Australia puts you right up there on the podium. And I’m one of the lucky winners. My existence is so comfortable compared to the lives of most people on Earth that I should spend a few hours each day squirming in embarrassment.
But I don’t. I spend my weekdays in a pleasant office surrounded by agreeable, equally comfortable workmates, my weekends indulging a range of trivial interests, and my holidays splashing in the ocean or travelling to the few places in the world nicer than where I live.
From this position of privilege I try not to look down on other races or nationalities, but here’s the thing: I wouldn’t change places with any of them, no matter how fast they can run or how many words for snow they have.
Sorry, does that sound a bit insulting? No? Let me try again.
I reckon I can work out where you’re from just by driving behind you; half the languages in the world sound like bickering monkeys; everyone’s folk songs, dances and costumes are ridiculous; some countries have national delicacies I wouldn’t feed to my dog; even more have religious beliefs that are beyond parody.
I’m not singling out any particular nationality for abuse — though you know who you are — because I’d like to catch as many members of our vibrant multicultural society as possible in my web of insults.
There: that should put me firmly in breach of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which says it’s unlawful to offend people on the grounds of race, colour, national or ethnic origin.
(I didn’t mention colour, but for the record, apart from picking up a golden tan at the beach I’d prefer to stay the way I am.)
It’s not clear what the penalty for this breach is, although judging by the experience of this newspaper’s Bill Leak, the punishment is imposed long before any hearing, with general opprobrium whipped up by the scribblers on the toilet door of social media and sanctified by the Human Rights Commission. The least I can look forward to is a Twitter storm reviling me, and a call to action from a fiercely independent commissioner eager to pass judgment.
Let me make two completely irrelevant points in relation to Leak’s cartoon about dysfunction in some Aboriginal communities: first, I have known Bill as a colleague and good friend for more than 20 years, and have never seen the slightest hint of racism in him; second, I have been to Wilcannia, Halls Creek and other, worse, places and seen tiny Aboriginal children wandering the streets in the middle of the night whose parents would seem unaware of their existence, let alone their names.
Though I hope those observations provide some small balance to the vicious attacks Leak has suffered, I say they are irrelevant because no defence should be offered to Section 18C.
It is a dreadful, ill-conceived piece of legislation and needs to go. To be required to provide an explanation or, worse, an apology for your opinion, however repellent, insults all the principles of free speech.
And in their hearts everyone, including the members of the HRC and the anonymous snipers on the internet, knows that. How many people have given their lives to demand and defend our right to free expression, and how meekly have we allowed it to be erased by meddling social engineers?
History and common sense show you do not defeat bad ideas by forbidding their expression; you destroy them with better ideas and vigorous debate. Unless that debate overflows into the clearly marked territory of defamation or criminal incitement, roar away. People may give offence, but no one is obliged to take it.
If I had Leak’s talent I’d create an image to highlight the sinister absurdity of this attempt to bully him into silence — indeed it’s a pity so few of his fellow artists have done so — but instead I propose to join him in his disgrace.
Until 18C is repealed, let me channel the spirit of Race Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane and invite anyone wounded by my earlier rudeness to make an HRC complaint against me. Maybe we can paralyse the commission with the extra paperwork.
And to save the HRC time, I can let them know in advance that I don’t intend to participate in their star chamber. If I’m asked to explain myself, I won’t; if summoned to a conciliation meeting I won’t attend; if I’m told to apologise, I will refuse; I will make a complete idiot of myself in court rather than spend money on a lawyer.
I will back down the minute it looks like I’m headed to prison, naturally, but up to that point I will be as obstructive and intransigent as wit and energy allow.
All this, of course, assumes that at least one of The Australian’s readers will look at what I have written here and actually take it seriously.
But what are the chances of that? After all, I’m not a cartoonist.
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