Cancel culture is spinning out of control:
If you have a group of people who are constantly talking about the importance of inclusion, diversity, and tolerance, you might expect them to actually demonstrate these traits. However, that is exactly what we are NOT seeing happening with those who shout these mantras the loudest: the secular left. They forever drone on about how we must welcome everyone and reject no one, yet they are the most intolerant and exclusive mob around.
And Christians, conservatives, and especially conservative Christians, are their primary target. They will not be allowed to have a hearing, they will not be allowed to speak, and they will not be allowed to have a differing point of view.
In Germany last century the Nazis burned books that were considered to be a threat to the State. Today we have Big Tech Giants in bed with Big Government doing just the same. Thus, YouTube pulls videos it does not like; Facebook takes down pages it does not approve of; and governments ban groups from being allowed to freely meet.
The latest example of this comes from the Labor stronghold of WA. There the government has declared conservative Christian groups to be a real threat, and are therefore verboten. They will NOT be allowed to share their views in public, even though such discrimination is illegal in the state. As one news report states:
A West Australian government policy of refusing to lease its entertainment venues to groups with alternative views to the government has scuppered plans for a series of appearances in the state by the head of the Australian Christian Lobby.
The Perth Theatre Trust invoked the venue hire policy last month when it rejected the ACL’s request to book the Albany Entertainment Centre and the Perth Concert Hall for events featuring the group’s head, Martyn Iles, declaring the ACL had “politically motivated objectives”.
The venue hire policy was finalised just days after the state government’s emphatic March election win, and amended following its decision to ban the ACL from its venues across the state. It states the trust will not accept individuals or organisations “where the content of the event does not represent the views of the West Australian government or the vast majority of Western Australians”.
The updated guidance echoes a 2017 edict from WA Premier Mark McGowan. The ACL has found itself at odds with the McGowan government on issues including the Voluntary Assisted Dying legislation that came into effect at the start of July.
The ACL is now considering whether to take legal action against the trust, with the policy potentially in breach of section 62 of the Equal Opportunity Act. That act makes it unlawful for a person to not make facilities available to another person on the grounds of their religious or political convictions. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/mcgowan-venue-edict-bans-christian-lobbyists/news-story/d1eacd37df917019bb6ccf98eb6f416c
“Potentially”? It seems pretty clear to me! Here is section 62 of the WA Equal Opportunity Act:
Goods, services and facilities
It is unlawful for a person who, whether for payment or not, provides goods or services, or makes facilities available, to discriminate against another person on the ground of the other person’s religious or political conviction —
(a) by refusing to provide the other person with those goods or services or to make those facilities available to the other person; or
(b) in the terms or conditions on which the first-mentioned person provides the other person with those goods or services or makes those facilities available to the other person; or
(c) in the manner in which the first-mentioned person provides the other person with those goods or services or makes those facilities available to the other person. https://www.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-07/Equal%20Opportunity%20Act%201984%20-%20%5B07-f0-02%5D.pdf
That seems quite straightforward. So I do hope the ACL presses ahead with a legal challenge if the leftist government does not back down on this ban. This is clearly a case of anti-Christian bigotry and a blatant case of discrimination based on one’s religious and political convictions.
But of course conservatives and Christians are not at all surprised by this. It has been going on for years now and gets worse each passing month. All over the West war has been declared on conservative Christians, and the censorship, bullying, intimidation and cancel culture is getting out of control.
Thankfully a few sane voices have spoken out against this recent episode, most notably on Sky News. Last night a number of their presenters dealt with this clear case of injustice and discrimination. For example, Chris Kenny did a segment on this on his show: https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/chris-kenny/wa-government-policy-banning-acl-doesnt-pass-the-pub-test/video/7a69d953913814b2fbbae801c29aad14
A few other media outlets have reported it. Melbourne radio station 3AW for example ran with the story. Tom Elliott said it’s a sign that the government is “drunk” on power: “I don’t agree with the Australian Christian Lobby, but I don’t want to live in a society where a group like that is banned from hiring a hall because what they say might be at odds with government policy.” https://www.3aw.com.au/the-move-thats-left-tom-elliott-thinking-the-wa-government-is-drunk-on-power/
Even those who are not conservative or Christian can see just how wrong this is, and how bad the political left is getting to be. Indeed, when I looked at the Australian article on this, there were already over 1000 comments on the story.
People are getting sick of cancel culture and the war on our basic liberties and democratic rights. If they can ban Christians today, who will get banned tomorrow? Thankfully there is some fightback against the way Big Government and Big Tech are doing things.
As I wrote about yesterday, in France President Macron has announced heavy-handed policies to deal with Covid, including what is effectively a mandatory vaccine passport system: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2021/07/14/revelation-13-are-we-there-yet/
But the French people have had enough of these assaults on their basic freedoms. They are now taking to the streets. Here is how one report on this begins:
Thousands of people have demonstrated in France against plans to restrict restaurants and cultural spaces to those that have been vaccinated or have recently tested negative for COVID-19. Police used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators in several French cities, including the capital city, Paris, and Lyon. The measures, announced on Monday, were part of an attempt by President Emmanuel Macron to fight a new wave of infections and potential hospitalisations. https://www.euronews.com/2021/07/14/protests-in-france-over-bid-to-restrict-those-without-both-covid-jabs
And in Germany, the heavy-handedness of Tech Giants like YouTube is being challenged. Given that I have been subject to YouTube censorship and cancel culture, it is great that some fightback is now taking place. Here is how the story goes:
Google’s YouTube has been forced to pay a €100,000 fine for censoring a video from a protest against Covid lockdowns. The Dresden Higher Regional Court ruled that YouTube was wrong to delete the video, filmed in Switzerland.
The court first, in late April 2020, issued an injunction ordering the behemoth to restore the video immediately – but YouTube ignored the ruling for almost an entire month before complying on May 14, 2020. The German court found this behavior to be a “deliberate and serious violation” and fined the giant.
Regardless of the amount in question, which appears to be the highest on record in Germany but is insignificant to Google’s trillion-dollar business – the lawyer for the operator of the channel that was subjected to censorship, Joachim Steinhofel, put the stress in his comments on the legal precedent here, calling the ruling “historic” – because YouTube has to comply with court decisions regardless of whether or not it thinks its own “community guidelines” had been violated.
Unlike in the US, where Big Tech’s right to censor speech is granted to them as private internet operators, it seems that Europeans are ready to stop playing by those rules and start imposing their own laws. https://reclaimthenet.org/youtube-fined-100000-euro-after-german-court-rejects-its-misinformation-excuse-for-deleting-anti-lockdown-protest-video/
Sure, a €100,000 fine is peanuts for Google – but it is a start. And of course President Donald Trump is now involved in a class action lawsuit against some of these censorious and hyper-left Tech Giants as well. I hope he also succeeds and teaches these tyrants a few hardcore lessons about their war on free speech. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/11/trump-social-media-legal-action-499153
So with all these ugly incidents of the left’s totalitarian cancel culture, we are now seeing some resistance. It is about time. If you are a praying person, pray that the ACL wins in WA. Pray that the French people cause a turnaround with government policies there. Pray that more legal wins like the one in Germany will occur. And pray that Trump wins big time against these tyrannical outfits.
It cannot happen soon enough.
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