Dr James Allan: In Defence of Cancelling the Left

This past fortnight has seen an explosion of interest in free speech in the United States. First there was the political assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA. Then there was the decision by Disney (owner of the ABC TV broadcasting network in the US) to remove late night host Jimmy Kimmel from the air. A lot is going on in the name of ‘free speech’ so let me start with some facts.

Michael Rainsborough: Britain’s Descent Towards Civil War is No Accident

Having lived in Australia for the past three years, I sense that this country is the least advanced down the road towards the multicultural dystopia confronting much of Europe. That is not to say there is room for complacency: Australia has its own canaries in the coal mine, echoing trends observable across the Western world. Yet relative prosperity, firm immigration policies, a distinct welfare regime (mandatory health insurance, means tested pensions), a robust federal system, and above all a unique electoral framework of three-year cycles and compulsory voting all help, willy-nilly, to keep politicians on a short leash and broadly tethered to the popular will.

Dr Will Jones: Britons Believe They Can No Longer Speak Their Minds, Poll Finds

Britons believe they can no longer speak their minds, a poll has found, in the latest indicator of a free speech crisis in the UK, as nearly half of Britons say people are too easily offended. The Telegraph has more.

Free speech is under threat because Britons feel they cannot speak out for fear of offending others over race, religion and immigration, a study has found.

Dr Bryce Edwards: NZ’s “Chumocracy” and the suppression of Prof Robert MacCulloch

New Zealand’s “soft corruption” has been called out this week by leading economics professor Robert MacCulloch of the University of Auckland. He’s launched some heavy broadsides at the way that political and business elites in this country are ruining the economy and the political process by their dysfunctional hold on power in which dissent and debate are suppressed using patronage and threats.

MacCulloch’s criticisms come about in the announced closure of his website, which he says is due to pressure from Cabinet Ministers and others. His main complaint seems to be that New Zealand is run by a “chumocracy” of mates whose “cosyism” is leading to national decline.

Matua Kahurangi: The left’s buzzword backfire

Who’s really importing cultural wars?

Over the past few weeks, a new phrase has crept into the talking points of the left: "imported cultural wars." You’ll hear it everywhere now, especially from Green Party figures like Chlöe Swarbrick, Ricardo Menéndez March, Benjamin "Bussy" Doyle, and Lawrence Xu-Nan. Like clockwork, they’re all parroting the same line, trying to paint conservatives and critics as the ones dragging foreign conflicts and ideologies into New Zealand politics. It’s almost impressive how coordinated it is. But it’s also completely dishonest.

Julian Mann: Is Labour Bending to US Pressure on Free Speech?

Labour’s General Election victory last July filled me with pessimism about the future of free speech in the UK. But has there been a change in the Government’s attitude to free speech as a result of US pressure? An unlikely statement from Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson this week suggests this may be the case.

Sallust: Smug Lefties Most Likely To Think They’re Right And Everyone Else Is Wrong

A polling group called More In Common has found that the “young, highly educated and socially Left-wing”, which the group euphemistically calls Progressive Activists, constitute just 8% of the UK population, but are found in far higher proportions in public-sector bodies and charities. They could have added in the BBC.

Dr Will Jones: Labour U-Turns Over University Free Speech as it Brings Back Tory Law....

Labour U-Turns Over University Free Speech as it Brings Back Tory Law – But Removes its “Teeth”

Labour has U-turned over university free speech as it brings back a Tory law clamping down on ‘woke’ cancel culture – but removes its “teeth” by dropping the ability of academics to sue their institutions. The Mail has more.

Andrew Dickens: Cancel culture continues to grow

Well the culture wars and cancel culture just grows and grows and grows.

All Black captain Sam Cane was criticised by some, including himself, when he tripped a pitch invader after the All Black game in Agentina.

The invader was one of about 15 that took to the pitch, generally making a nuisance of themselves. The invader ran past Sam who swung a foot and tripped the invader, who then scampered off while security staff ambled along in his wake.

Bruce Logan: Compulsory Hypocrisy

Let me declare myself. I am an orthodox Christian who welcomes criticism and satire, even ridicule of my faith. I welcome them because they sharpen my own thinking and they give me an opportunity to talk about what I believe.

Hate speech legislation will kill so much of what I enjoy. It will coerce self-censorship and encourage me and nearly everyone else to be a hypocrite, indeed it is remarkably close to making hypocrisy compulsory. And it does that because perpetrators are infatuated by the cult of diversity, inclusion and equity (DIE) and muddled about human rights. And in that fog of muddle and infatuation there is no fresh Nor ’wester permitted to clear the air.

Jacqueline Athanasatos: Hands Off Our Bard!

Is nothing sacrosanct from the insidious creep of The Cancel Culture? Apparently not.

The distressing, un-glad tidings that Creative New Zealand has withdrawn its modest $30,000 per annum funding for the Shakespeare in Schools programme, has come as a body blow to those who value the enduring literary power and drama of the late great William Shakespeare.

This decision was apparently justified by its “advisory panel” opining that “Shakespeare was locked within a canon of imperialism and missed the opportunity to create a living curriculum and show relevance to the contemporary art context of Aotearoa.”

Garrick Tremain: Cancel culture

 Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on toppling NZ's democracy! 

Bryce Edwards: Culture wars stifling critical debate on our campuses

“Cancel culture”, “callout culture” or “woke politics” – these trends are often accused of reducing political debate and diversity of thought in society. And it’s on university campuses where this is said to occur the most.

Yet until now, it hasn’t been clear if academic freedom is being eroded and whether academics are being stifled in their role as “critic and conscience” of society. We have had occasional controversies – such as the fallout at the University of Auckland and in the Royal Society over the academics who questioned the way that mātauranga Māori is being used in the education curriculum, but it’s been hard to know whether this type of controversy is indicative of wider problems.

There is now evidence that there is indeed a problem. The first New Zealand Annual Survey on Academic Freedom, published today, shows that a significant proportion of university academics feel very constrained in what they can discuss and disagree with. The survey, commissioned by the Free Speech Union and carried out by Curia Research, asked academics how free they felt in challenging consensus, debating issues such as gender or the Treaty of Waitangi, and so forth. Respondents were asked to rate their academic freedom on various topics on a 0-10 scale, in which 0 meant “unfree” and 10 meant “entirely free”. There were 1266 responses to the survey.

Peter Williams: Hurricanes fans, TJ Perenara - Troy Bowker is not racist

The insipid cancel culture is doing a lot of damage to NZ.

What do we make of this carry on with the Hurricanes rugby team and one of their owners Troy Bowker? Now regular listeners to this show will know of Troy Bowker. We’ve had him on here quite often because he’s a man of ideas and opinions. We’ve had him on here talking about the capital gains tax, the hypocrisy of electric vehicle manufacture and on allowing high net worth individuals to come and live in New Zealand as long as they bring a big chunk of their money. Opinions which I thought were eminently sensible.

He’s an entrepreneur, a type A personality who takes risks and has made a decent amount of money in his time, and along the way employed a good number of people. He’s the kind of guy who, in that respect, should be encouraged in our community.

Karl du Fresne: Kowtowing to censorious "stakeholders"

Oh, the irony.

The Featherston Booktown Festival, to be held on the weekend of May 6-9, will include a panel discussion on cancel culture, the anti-democratic phenomenon whereby ideas and opinions deemed heretical are silenced and suppressed to protect a small but noisy minority that claims to be harmed by them.

But oh, dear: the festival organisers have announced that they won’t be repeating a popular Harry Potter quiz, a feature of the last festival in 2019. The reason? The quiz might upset members of the so-called LGBT community, some of whom are offended by J K Rowling’s forthright opposition to the trans-gender lobby’s demands that trans people should be treated as authentic women, in denial of biological reality.

Kate Hawkesby: Modern-day angst could be better suited on better causes

 

I’m just wondering if we are living in a heightened age of upset and this level of angst is all new - or have previous generations gone through this much agitation?

Have we always railed against societal norms and demanded change and that’s actually how we’ve evolved as a civilized society?

Have we always had this many grievances, but they’re just being flagged more now due to social media and the easy access to click on a petition and make a complaint? Or are we living in peak angst?

Change.org, for example, currently has a petition for just about everything.

Peter Kurti: Bye-bye, oh sweet Eskimo Pie

Stop right there and put down that chocolate-coated ice cream treat! It’s not just sugar that is dripping from those delicious rivulets of vanilla confection. Racism is apparently blended into the recipe too.

Just when you thought we’d seen off racist ‘Coon’ cheese, followed by the equally racist ‘Smarter White Milk’, it turns out there’s still more racism lurking on the diary shelf.

In another case of corporate virtue signalling run amok, venerable Aussie ice cream maker Peters has now dumped its allegedly racist ‘Eskimo Pie’ brand — a favourite of generations — to rename it ‘Polar Pie’.

Peter Kurti: Beware the sinister dangers of cancel culture

First they came for the cheese. Last month, Canadian company Saputo agreed to change the name of its Coon brand of cheese. Indigenous rights activist Stephen Hagan quickly claimed victory in his long-running battle against the food brand.

Even though the cheese – named after American cheese maker Edward William Coon, who patented the ripening process involved in its manufacture in 1926 – had been on sale in Australia since 1935, Hagan insisted the name had racist connotations. So now it’s gone.

Next they came for the milk.