Guest Pirate Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Senator George Brandis, the Australian Attorney General, chief law officer of the Commonwealth of Australia, during a discussion about proposed government changes to the Anti Discrimination Act, stated that bigots have the right of speech. The Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, stated that he wants this country to be a nation where freedom of speech is enjoyed and went on to say that sometimes free speech will be speech which upsets people, which offends people. Could this finally be the beginning of the end of political correctness? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bulgachica Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Here we go!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billycox Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I can understand political correctness and freedom of speech and am willing to defend both as political theories. However, I am personally more interested in common courtesy, decency and the feelings of others. I believe it's the latter that's in danger. Sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoJoGunne Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 The pendulum swings...first to one side...then to the other. The danger is when the pendulum stops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBG 150 Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Why JoJo? That's when common sense takes over and there is no more far right and far left. Use the brain and power of deductive reasoning that God gave you. Remember, always ask what you can do for YOURSELF. Never depend on another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Squirrel Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 I think I'll just leave this here: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoJoGunne Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Why JoJo? That's when common sense takes over and there is no more far right and far left. Use the brain and power of deductive reasoning that God gave you. Remember, always ask what you can do for YOURSELF. Never depend on another. The pendulum swinging is life. When the pendulum stops swing is when life ends. Yes, tbg...when the pendulum stops there is no more far right or far left...because life (free thought) is over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Squirrel Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Let's hope we don't wind it up too much or the main spring will break...again. (I surmise that JoJo & TBG are both closet Libertarians. Just a guess... ;) not that I would know... I'm just a squirrel, ravaged by hawks and cats and animals and psychotic human political systems much bigger than little me..) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pirate Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Why JoJo? That's when common sense takes over and there is no more far right and far left. Use the brain and power of deductive reasoning that God gave you. Remember, always ask what you can do for YOURSELF. Never depend on another. Our leader may not be the leader of the free world like yours, but our Prime Minister does hold the highest office in our land. Interesting that he is also supporting the principle that Government should only be doing things for the people if it's something they can't do for themselves. In other words, no more hand outs. And the reason for this, Government has finally realised the welfare system is bankrupting the country. Maybe we have learnt from others mistakes and caught it in time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bulgachica Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Is the welfare system really broke in Australia however? I ask because the right politicians in the UK are constantly making this very same statement and blaming the national debt on freeloaders and those out of work. However (I'll post the source here) whilst our welfare system costs 160 billion GBP per year, payments for the out of work freeloaders (jobseekers allowance) is 4.6 billion. I'm no mathmagician but surely that is only about 3% of the total budget. So people out of work, if one were to class all of them as workshy scroungers, only account for about 3% of the system yet take all the blame from the politicians. Source: http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/08/uk-benefit-welfare-spending With regard to the freedom of speech, I can't say it better than: I can understand political correctness and freedom of speech and am willing to defend both as political theories. However, I am personally more interested in common courtesy, decency and the feelings of others. I believe it's the latter that's in danger. Sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pirate Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 The demographic in Australia is totally different to the UK so a comparison is impossible. Also, I wouldn’t get too excited about quoting from The Guardian. Even in Australia we are aware of its bias towards its own political agenda, affiliated with other national and international papers with similar aims. A newspaper shouldn’t have aims or report news distorted to promote its own viewpoint. And statistics can be manipulated to promote both sides of any argument. Try Al Jazeera. Even reporters use it to source an unbiased opinion. Pushing the simplistic notion that the unemployed are the main drain on the welfare system is also very naïve. How about the Pension, Newstart Allowance, Youth Allowance, Austudy Payment, ABSTUDY, Disability Support Pension, Sickness Allowance, Carer Payment, Parenting Payment, Rent Assistance, Pharmaceutical Allowance, Telephone Allowance, Pensioner Education Supplement, Family Tax Benefit, Maternity Immunisation Allowance, Child Care Benefit, Schoolkids Bonus, Paid Parental Leave Scheme, Concession Cards, Assistance for Isolated Children, Carer Allowance, Double Orphan Pension, Maternity Payment Special Benefit. The list goes on and on and on. Many are legitimate, but some are just abused and manipulated by those that don’t really need them. Some are for paying people to do what you to be normal behavior, getting an education, having a family, and looking after your own kids. How about living within your means. How about subsidising medical support, childcare fees and numerous other benefits for families with 6 figure plus incomes? Paying extensive and expensive maternity leave for mothers who decide to stop work to have a family, then yes, subsidise their childcare when they return to work to return back to the families 6 figure plus income. Three month old babies in full-time childcare? And we still haven't worked out why society is collapsing around us. Financial support for illegal immigrants to pay legal costs to fight the very laws they have broken? As for billycox, willing to defend political correctness and freedom of speech as political theories? Someone better tell him we have moved on from believing the world is flat and Elvis is still alive and living in Florida. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Squirrel Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Socialism (aka State Capitalism) is alive and well in the US because we have really good credit and our government can print lots of free money. :) The majority of its spending is, in fact, welfare and "entitlements." And, since it can mint monopoly money, it hasn't run out of other people's money yet. If you scan this long enough, you'll find the little square that says how much of Squirrel's money the US government has spent on Squirrel's behalf... http://usdebtclock.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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