Is it OK to deck anyone who expresses an ideologically unsound opinion? It’s a sacred duty, argues Latte Leftie!
Dear LL – I don’t understand the brouhaha over someone peaceably exercising their right to free speech being king hit without warning, or given the chance to respond in kind. I mean, it’s not like we progressives haven’t explored all peaceable avenues to suppress views we find triggering. Surely once you’ve no platformed arch-conservatives such as Germaine Greer and gleefully destroyed the career of anyone ill-advised enough to diverge from the party line on gay marriage/transgender bathroom access/otherkins right to be recognised as dragons there’s nowhere else to go but political violence. Certainly, the next time my bogan coworker calls me “mate” rather than addressing me by my preferred non-binary pronoun, I’ll be calling a couple of hard, pipe-hittin’ people of colour to go to work on him with a pair of pliers and a blow torch. We’re going to get medieval on his arse! Then release a YouTube video of all the gruesome highlights synced to an amusing soundtrack!
Mick, Leichhardt
LL replies: Sterling effort, Mick! The fact Richard Spencer was being given air time by the (usually reliable) (G)A(Y)BC when the righteous intervention took place illustrates how easily civilised discourse can spiral out of control when non-leftists believe they’re free to offer a contrarian viewpoint without getting sucker punched by a courageous masked activist (whom I’m sure we all hope made it back to his safe space without being harmed). No doubt you’re going to hear some fuddy duddies carping about the dangers of mob rule, the Left being hysterically intolerant of alternative viewpoints, or the ‘silent majority’ wondering why protestors never seemed to get so violently worked up about, say, three decades of the working class getting thrown under the bus. Ignore those poltroons and, as I do, let this (lightly paraphrased) quote from Chairman Mao be your lodestar: “Political correctness is not love. Political correctness is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy!”
