Richardson Post readers, and most other Australians, will probably remember the furore over Israel Folau’s comments on Instagram regarding homosexuals.
It wasn’t the only time he had weighed in on the subject on social media.
But it was the first one which really got him into hot water, possibly because he named homosexuals. Rugby Australia’s elites decided that:
“The content within the post is unacceptable,” and “It does not represent the values of the sport and is disrespectful to members of the Rugby community.”
I’m not sure if Folau’s comments represented “the values of the sport” whatever they may be. It almost certainly didn’t seem to represent the values of the Qantas CEO.
That is quite relevant as Qantas was Rugby Australia’s major sponsor at the time.
Not surprisingly, some people questioned whether it was “the sport” who was really so upset. There didn’t seem to be a major backlash from the fans.
Quite the opposite, if the comments section of most of the online articles were to be believed.
Perhaps Rugby Australia weren’t worrying about the feelings of some random LBTGQI people.
Maybe they were just worried about the super rich 24 million dollar a year CEO of Qantas and the shareholders money he could withhold from them.
But if Folau was threatening the income stream of Rugby Australia by voicing his opinions, what about the damage Alan Joyce was doing to Qantas.
Lots of people (self included) will avoid flying Qantas in the future. Through his public activist stance, Joyce has upset millions of Christians, free speech lovers, and probably lots of closet homophobes.
Whether you agree with these people or not, his activism will have impacted the Qantas bottom line as well as its reputation and brand loyalty.
Qantas shareholders will be the ones paying for this. If we were to apply the same standards to Joyce, then he should be removed from his high paying job and refused the chance to ever work as an executive again.
After all, why are the LBTGQI communities feelings so important?
How about the feelings of Christians? Does anyone remember the Sydney Mardis Gras festival when they paraded a caricature of Fred Nile’s head on a platter?
I would imagine that Fred, his friends, family and supporters would have been deeply butt hurt (if you’ll excuse the pun) about this.
So why was no one sacked from their job over Fred’s head? Why did Aussies just shrug (or snigger) over this hurtful prank.
What people are only just beginning to realise, is that when Christians held power in this nation, they mostly tolerated dissenting opinions.
Even when the churches were opposed to homosexuality, they wouldn’t go after people and have them sacked from their jobs for disagreeing with them.
As other groups, such as the organised LBTGQI community gain steadily more power, this repressive tolerance, as Herbert Marcuse termed it, is being turned around and weaponised against its enemies.
Australia was such a great country because we didn’t allow the filthy rich and powerful to dictate what opinions we could or couldn’t voice.
If we allow these people to get away with this, we will be going down the gurgler where we deserve to be.
Australians should be free to advocate for homosexuality, or to advocate against it without some wealthy opponent being allowed to destroy our lives.
What Israel said is not the issue here. You may agree or disagree with what Israel said, it doesn’t matter.
What he did, was to express an opinion. The day an Australian is not allowed to do that, is a day we are sliding towards tyranny.
Thankfully, assistance has arrived from an unexpected quarter. Clive Palmer is supporting Israel Folau and inviting him to play for a small club on the Gold Coast.
Kudos to Clive Palmer for stepping up. Clive told a press confererence that:
“Religious freedom in this country is a fundamental right,” and “I have some resources and if it got down to a legal battle, I am sure anyone opposing someone on the basis of religious freedom, would go down seriously and pay a lot of damage.
“I will be surprised if he is not registered and I certainly would support him 100 per cent with all the funds, all the resources and all the skill that I possess to ensure that he is treated fairly like all Australians.
“Make no mistake about that. My commitment to Israel Folau to ensure he can play football again is rock solid. I would pledge every cent, every dollar and every waking moment of my time to ensure that he takes the field again.
“It is also pretty clear people have the right to practice whatever sexuality they want. That is a right that was hard won.
“It is the same thing to say a person doesn’t have the right to believe in the Bible when I have sworn on the Bible in court, I have sworn on the Bible when I have been in parliament.”
Clive is taking this huge stand so that Israel Folau, one of the country’s top rugby players ,can play a ball game with the Southport Tigers in the piddling Gold Coast A-Grade competition.
Israel has been stripped of his position, lost millions of dollars in revenue, been mocked, misrepresented and demonised for expressing an opinion about what may or may not happen in an alleged afterlife.
If that doesn’t send a chill down your spine, nothing will.
Because this isn’t just about Folau. This is about all of us and what we can and can’t do or say.
To quote George Washington on what happens when we can’t voice opinions:
“freedom of Speech may be taken away—and, dumb & silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.”
Baaah Baaah Baaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
