Lindsay Perigo
The Politically Incorrect Show - 08/08/2000
[Music - Die Fledermaus]
Good afternoon, KAYA ORAAAA & welcome to the Politically Incorrect Show on the free speech network, Radio Pacific, for Tuesday August 8, proudly sponsored by Neanderton Nicotine Ltd, the show that says bugger the politicians & bureaucrats & all the other bossyboot busybodies who try to run our lives with our money; that stands tall for free enterprise, achievement, profit & excellence against the state-worshippers in our midst; that stands above all for the most sacred thing in the universe, the liberty of the human individual.
[Music up, music down]
Some time back I did an editorial on the subject of two Christian videos about homosexuality banned by the Film & Literature Board of Review at the instigation of some self-appointed Thought Police called the Human Rights Action Group. A member of that group has just written to me as follows:
"It appears that yet again you are supporting those who would wish to assault gay men & lesbians - either with words or fists. It makes me sad that there are people around who support that kind of thing happening. No amount of words will ever bring back those gay men, lesbians & transgender people, members of your community, who have been killed by those who think they know better. Videos such as these grant the homophobic viewer (or in different circumstances the anti-Semite, or white supremacist, or anti-Christian viewer) who has a propensity for violence or discrimination an unequivocal permission to obey violent or discriminatory impulses, enabling them not only to feel sanctioned, but righteous in doing so."
Honestly, I despair to see my views twisted beyond recognition in this way. I most certainly do not support those who would wish to assault gay men & lesbians - or anybody else - with fists. I do not support the words of those who would attack them verbally. I DO, however, support their right to utter those words, because I believe in freedom of expression, which includes the freedom to express thoughts that are contemptible. If such thoughts cannot be out-argued in a free exchange of ideas by those who oppose them, then there is something wrong with those who oppose them. None is more vehemently opposed to the traditional Christian view of homosexuality than I, & I have no fear of not being able to hold my own against a Christian in an argument on the matter. What I do ask of the Christian is that, disapprove though he might, he leaves homosexuals alone to be themselves & instigates no violence against them - just as I would ask of homosexuals that they observe the same tolerance towards Christians. Both may properly reserve the right to express their views; both must refrain from imposing their views on each other, or preventing their opponents expressing their views, by force. The banning of the Christian videos is force. As such, it is a travesty of law. It is not the job of the law to protect us from thoughts; it is the job of the law to protect us from actions - specifically, actions which involve the initiation of force against us, whatever their motivation might be. Those who hate homosexuals have every right to do so; they have no right to assault or kill them. THAT is what I argue, & THAT is the distinction deliberately ignored by my correspondent.
The real answer to a bigoted outlook is a philosophy of individualism - which is, incidentally, anathema to the Human Rights Action Group & its ilk. As scholar Chris Sciabarra writes in the current Free Radical, discussing the murder of young gay man Matthew Shepard:
"For a larger culture that practices social oppression of difference, more needs to be said - and bona fide individualists should be saying more - about our rights as individuals to pursue our own vision of happiness without violent interference from others."
As a bona fide individualist, I am saying about as much as I can about these rights. And I can - just - bear to hear the truth I've spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools.
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