Free Speech is a Double Edged Sword

Singleton High School teacher apologises after racist classroom rant

The two disturbing words in this headline are "apologises" and "racist". 

It's alleged the teacher made comments about Indigenous Australians living in state housing and taking money from the government.

In this sentence the word "alleged" is used probably to protect the publisher but it is incongruous with the use of the word "racist" in the headline. If you're going to call someone a racist I can't see why the qualification "alleged" is necessary.  

"Then the teacher's turned around and said the best thing to happen to Aboriginal people is the European colonisation," Ms Franks said.

That is not a racist statement. It is a debatable point. That certainly wasn't true for the first encounters with the British because the aboriginal lands were being invaded and slaughters happened. They lost their land, were devastated by diseases brought in by the invaders, and in many situations were later treated little better than slaves. The horror began quickly and continued for a long time. Here's an example:

However we shouldn't fall into the error of presentism, where modern day values are used to judge past behavior. The type of treatment Macquarie demands is probably no different to the types of strategies used fighting armies of opposing Caucasians(Vlad the impaler!). It was an invasion, it became a war, and well ya know people get kinda nasty in war ... . 

For modern aborigines it becomes debatable because 21st century life in modern societies offers so much more than any previous society in history. 

"To which the teacher smiled in my daughter's face and replied: 'Look how white you are, no one is even going to know you're Aboriginal'." 

Look at the top photo in the article. True statement.

The teacher should have been much more circumspect in her remarks but the other side of the argument is have we now reached the point where any criticism of minority groups constitutes racism and discrimination? Are we not allowed to challenge the status quo and if we choose to do so should we face loss of employment as a possible consequence of that?

This teacher will now be called a racist. She may well face threats of physical violence and probably will not feel safe in her home. It will be in her interests to move away from the area. 

Yet in the article I see no evidence that she would discriminate against aborigines. She may entertain less than pleasant ideas about aborigines but there are plenty of right and left wingers expressing much more vile ideas about their political opponents. 

This is difficult to succinctly express because speech sometimes clearly has belligerent intentions and is intended to hurt but for the most part I believe that racist behavior is about we treat people from different cultures much moreso than what we say. Increasingly any negative comment about a culture or people is perceived as unequivocal evidence of racism. This is a stifling of free speech, it is reminiscent of Soviet style social policies that repressed any expression that was in contravention of the State. 

 

One of my favourite sayings is this from Nietzsche:

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” 

He's wrong, now the price can be too high. Threatening a person's livelihood and career because they have different opinions is a very dangerous trend in recent years. It has to stop.