Koup Klutz Klan

 Koup Klutz Klan

By Ranting Panda, 13 June 2021

6 January 2021. The date that traitors stormed the US Capitol in an effort to usurp democracy and keep Donald Trump as President. Trump was resoundingly defeated in a valid election, but neither he nor his supporters could accept the truth. Even today, Trump still believes that he won the election. 

Trump's followers, gullible and gutless, refused to take responsibility for the insurrection, and instead blamed Antifa for it. The FBI, however, confirmed that it was Trump loyalists who staged this coup attempt (Anderson 2021, Sadeghi, 2021). Antifa isn't a threat to democracy. The real threat is the MAGA cult, with its inability to grasp truth, its willingness to rewrite 'facts' to suit its ignorance, its hatred of anyone who is different, its twisted religious fervour, and violent nationalism. They wanted to kill the Vice President during the coup attempt. They'd bought wrist ties & built a noose. These people are not right in the head.

There's no point arguing with MAGA cultists. It doesn't matter what facts are presented, they are so brainwashed that they can't accept truth, fact or reality. Just like cult-members, the MAGAs need de-programming, otherwise they stick with their self-pitying, paranoid, victimhood talking points that Trump cultivated and nourished. 

Trump deliberately attacks truth in order to create doubt about facts. He once admitted to a journalist that he attacks the media to, 'discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you' (Applebaum, 2020). This is one thing that Trump has been very successful at. His supporters lack the critical thinking skills to challenge Trump's blatant lies; they believe everything he says. The real danger of this is that despots are renowned for their propaganda, manipulation of media and use of falsehoods and fear to manipulate the populace. 

When Twitter purged its platform of Trump and many of his adherents because of their flagrant lies, conspiracy theories and hate speech, the MAGAs claimed it was an attack on their freedom of speech. However, freedom of speech doesn't mean that others have to listen to it. Twitter was cleaning house ... as anyone can if some racist fool comes into their house and starts spewing vitriol. MAGAs can get their own soapbox and head down to the local corner to spew their vile hate-speech, ridiculous conspiracy theories, and victim-mentality rubbish.  

Freedom of speech only goes one way for the MAGAs; the moment anyone has a contrary viewpoint, the MAGAs screech socialism and 'Reds under the bed' conspiracy theories. They believe that if someone challenges them, they are victims of 'cancel culture' ... yet, the MAGAS tried to cancel an election because they didn't get their own way. They only believe in freedom of speech for themselves, not for anyone else.

Stripe Inc ceased processing payments for the Trump election campaign because of the 6 January insurrection (Andriotis, Rudegeair, & Glazer, 2021). Ever portraying themselves as victims, the Pity Party MAGAs claimed it was yet another attack on their freedoms. However, the action by Stripe was similar to the action that financial institutions took in dealing with terrorism. And the Trump cult is a terrorist organisation, evidenced by their violent attack on the very heart of US government.

Trump was impeached for inciting the insurrection. It needs to be kept in mind, that he did nothing during this riot to quell it. He was hoping that the coup would succeed and install him for another term ... perhaps a perpetual term in which he never loses (Applebaum, 2020). Trump is anti-democratic and only interested in his own power. Despite significant evidence of Trump directly inciting the coup attempt, the Republican Party voted against convicting him at his second impeachment trial (Holpuch, 2021). This says a lot about how anti-democratic the Republican party is. They try to claim they are patriotic defenders of democracy, but they value power over free and fair elections. Republicans value authoritarianism over liberty.

During riots following Black Lives Matter protests, Trump big-noted himself by dog-whistling to his racist followers that 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts' (Burns, 2020). Trump incited violence with this tweet. A couple of months later, a gutless piece of shit named Kyle Rittenhouse, shot dead BLM protesters. Trump and his followers supported these killings (Wilson, 2021). Yet, when it came to the Capitol riots, Trump didn't threaten to shoot the protesters, instead, he supported them and even told them how much he loved them (Caldwell, 2021). Although he eventually told the rioters to go home, he did it under duress. Trump had an expletive-laced argument with House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, after McCarthy told Trump to call the rioters off because they were Trump supporters. Trump abused McCarthy, telling him that the rioters cared more about the election than McCarthy did (Gangel et al, 2021). Republican senator, Ben Passe, claimed that Trump was delighted that the Capitol was being stormed (Papenfuss, 2021). 

Prior to the riot, Trump gave a speech in which he told his supporters to 'fight like hell' or they would lose their country because, according to him (and in keeping with his admitted attacks on truth mentioned earlier), the election was corrupt. He then told his supporters to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol to 'try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country' (Blake, 2021). Trump directed conspiracy-theorist, Alex Jones, to lead the march that stormed the White House (Linge, 2021). It took six hours for the situation to be brought under control. This period revealed Trump's leadership to be paralysed, to be no more than a passive viewer who stood back as five people, including a police officer, were killed by his supporters (Parker, Dawsey & Rucker, 2021). 

Only weeks before the riot, Trump the Grand Traitor, directed the neo-Nazi Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by' (Pilkington, 2021). Now we know what he was asking them to stand by for. 

This isn't the first time he has supported violence. In 2017, he condoned white supremacist violence that culminated in the killing of an innocent woman. He even went so far as to describe the white supremacists as 'very fine people' (Coaston, 2019). Throughout his presidency, he directly incited violence by white supremacist groups (Pilkington 2021). 

The traitors who stormed the Capitol included Nazis wearing shirts such as 'Camp Aushwitz - Work brings freedom' and '6MWE', which stands for Six Million Were Not Enough ... in reference to the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust. These are the extremist groups that Trump claims are 'very fine people' (Kessler, 2020).

Trump and his followers are white supremacists. They believe in fascism, not democracy. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a mass casualty event every single day of the final year of Trump's presidency, culminating in more than 420,000 deaths by the time he was finally removed from the White House. The deaths were directly caused by Trump's lies, inaction and incompetence. This puerile moron was more interested in shoring up his own power, while spreading lies, hatred and division, than in saving his fellow Americans. His incompetence was on a genocidal scale.

Republicans claim they are the 'law and order' party, yet they've let Trump get away with murder ... literally: around 420,000 deaths from his ineptitude in addressing Covid-19, five deaths during the insurrection he orchestrated, and several executions that he directed in the final days of his presidency (Honderich, 2021). They have let him get away with his threats and cheating over the election, such as when he rang the Secretary of State for Georgia and demanded more votes be found to overturn the election results (Morris, 2021). Does this seem like the leader of the free world, or the tyrannical dictatorship of a far-right murderous despot in a banana republic?

The Republican Party  condoned Trump's treason, by voting against holding an inquiry into the Capitol insurrection (Fandos, 2021). The Republicans are not defending democracy, they are defending the traitors within their own party. They are defending Nazism, white supremacy, and fascism. 

Nothing was done about the deadly 2017 white supremacist protests in Charlottesville ... and this culminated in the storming of the Capitol by Nazis. The Trump presidency wasn't the first time that white supremacists were incited to violence by a megalomaniac. Another leader also incited mobs to violence by using racist dog-whistling and bigoted fear-mongering ... and nothing was done to stop it! That leader was Hitler and we saw how that went. Many of the Capitol insurrectionists were Christians who believed they were doing God's will to keep Trump in power (Green, 2021). They claimed that God was telling them to 'let the church roar' (Posner, 2021). This has an eerie resemblance to Nazi Germany. Throughout his rambling manifesto, Mein Kampf, Hitler stated numerous times that he was doing the 'work of the Lord'. Not surprisingly, this galvanised Christians to support Hitler and incited them to violence and, ultimately, genocide. 

Today's United States faces the same threat of Nazism that Nazi Germany did (Brenner, 2021). The Republican Party has links to many far-right extremist groups, including the Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, Proud Boys, and QAnon (Broadwater & Rosenberg, 2021).

No leader has damaged the US as much as Trump has. All the efforts by the Soviet Union during the Cold War to bring down the US never undermined democracy as much as Trump. It's not surprising then, that Trump is alleged to have been cultivated by Russia to undermine US democracy. An ex-KGB spy claims that Trump was cultivated as a Russian asset for 40 years (Smith, 2021). A book by journalist, Craig Unger, entitled American Kompromat, states that the spy alleged there were celebrations in Moscow as Trump parroted anti-Western propaganda (Smith, 2021). 

Trump did significant damage to US democracy, however, what may have saved it was Trump's mental instability and his complete ineptitude as a leader. This ineptitude however, killed more Americans than World War 2. 

Meanwhile, Republicans continue supporting Trump. There's even talk that he will run for president in the 2024 elections. This is a clear indication of just how morally bankrupt the Republican Party is, and by extension, the Christians who continue supporting and defending Trump in the face of significant evidence of his genocide, treason and white supremacy. 

In 1993, musician Frank Zappa, made the prescient observation, 'There's been an incredible rise in racist and fascist attitude here, most of them being helped along by the Republican Party' (Ouellette, 1993). 

Nothing has yet been done to hold Trump to account for the Covid genocide in the US, that is directly attributable to him. Nothing has been done to stop Trump inciting Nazis and conservative Christians to violence, so we have not seen the end of extreme right-wing blood-shed, insurrection, and treason. Allowing Trump to continue empowering these extremists could signal the end of democracy and the rise of fascism in the United States. 

References

Anderson, M 2021, Antifa Didn't Storm The Capitol. Just Ask The Rioters, NPR, 2 March, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/03/02/972564176/antifa-didnt-storm-the-capitol-just-ask-the-rioters.

Andriotis, A, Rudegeair, P, & Glazer, E, 2021, Stripe stops processing payments for Trump campaign website, The Wall Street Journal, 10 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/stripe-stops-processing-payments-for-trump-campaign-website-11610319116. 

Applebaum, A, 2020, Trump won't accept defeat. Ever., The Atlantic, 7 November, viewed 13 June 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/trumps-forever-campaign-is-just-getting-started/617021/.

Blake, A 2021, What Trump said before his supporters stormed the Capitol, annotated, The Washington Post, 11 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/annotated-trump-speech-jan-6-capitol/.

Brenner, M 2021, Pre-Nazi Germany tells us the fight to save American democracy is just beginning, The Washington Post, 9 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/01/09/pre-nazi-germany-tells-us-fight-save-american-democracy-is-just-beginning/. 

Broadwater, L, & Rosenburg, M 2021, Republican ties to extremist groups under scrutiny, Hartford Courant, 29 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.courant.com/nation-world/ct-nw-nyt-gop-extremist-groups-20210129-fstili3spvea7fss3mdsobu5eu-story.html.

Burns, K 2020, The racist history of Trump’s “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” tweet, Vox, 29 May, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/5/29/21274754/racist-history-trump-when-the-looting-starts-the-shooting-starts. 

Caldwell, T 2021, Trump's 'We love you' to Capitol rioters is more of the same, CNN, 7 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/07/politics/trump-history-comments-trnd/index.html.

Coaston, J 2019, Trump’s new defense of his Charlottesville comments is incredibly false, Vox, 26 April, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.vox.com/2019/4/26/18517980/trump-unite-the-right-racism-defense-charlottesville.

Fandos, N 2021, Democrats failed to get enough votes for an independent inquiry into the Jan. 6 riot, The New York Times, 28 May, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/us/politics/capitol-riot-commission.html.

Gangel, J, Liptak, K, Warren, M, & Cohen, M 2021, New details about Trump-McCarthy shouting match show Trump refused to call off the rioters, CNN, 13 February, viewed 6 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/12/politics/trump-mccarthy-shouting-match-details/index.html. 

Green, E 2021, A Christian Insurrection, The Atlantic, 8 January, viewed 7 June 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/01/evangelicals-catholics-jericho-march-capitol/617591/. 

Holpuch, A 2021, 'White supremacy won today': critics condemn Trump acquittal as racist vote, The Guardian, 14 February, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/14/trump-acquittal-white-supremacy-racist-vote. 

Honderich, H 2021, In Trump’s final days, a rush of federal executions, BBC News, 16 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55236260.

Kessler, G 2020, The ‘very fine people’ at Charlottesville: Who were they?, The Washington Post, 8 May, viewed 12 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/08/very-fine-people-charlottesville-who-were-they-2/.

Linge, M 2021, Alex Jones claims he funded rally that led to Capitol chaos, The New York Post, 9 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://nypost.com/2021/01/09/alex-jones-claims-he-funded-rally-that-led-to-capitol-chaos/.

Morris, J 2021, Georgia secretary of state's office launches investigation into Trump's phone call, CNN, 16 March, viewed 6 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/08/politics/georgia-secretary-of-state-trump-investigation/index.html.

Ouellette, D 1993, Frank Zappa, Pulse!, August 1993, sourced from https://www.afka.net/Articles/1993-08_Pulse.htm.

Papenfuss, M 2021, Trump Was 'Delighted' His Supporters Stormed The Capitol, Says GOP Sen. Ben Sasse, Huffington Post, 9 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/ben-sasse-delighted-trump-capitol-attack_n_5ff93b1bc5b6c77d85e6df60.

Parker, A, Dawsey, J, & Rucker, P 2021, Six hours of paralysis: Inside Trump’s failure to act after a mob stormed the Capitol, The Washington Post, 12 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-mob-failure/2021/01/11/36a46e2e-542e-11eb-a817-e5e7f8a406d6_story.html.

Pilkington, E 2021, 'Stand back and stand by': how Trumpism led to the Capitol siege, The Guardian, 7 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/06/donald-trump-armed-protest-capitol.

Posner, S 2021, How the Christian right helped foment insurrection, Reveal News, 30 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://revealnews.org/article/how-the-christian-right-helped-foment-insurrection/.

Sadeghi, M 2021, Fact check: What's true about the Capitol riot, from antifa to BLM to Chuck Norris, USA Today, 14 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/01/14/fact-check-truth-capitol-riot-antifa-chuck-norris/6653343002/.

Smith, D 2021, 'The perfect target': Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years - ex-KGB spy, The Guardian, 29 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book.

Wilson, J 2021, US police and public officials donated to Kyle Rittenhouse, data breach reveals, The Guardian, 16 April, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/16/us-police-officers-public-officials-crowdfunding-website-data-breach.

The day a make-believe potato destroyed the world

The day a make-believe potato destroyed the world 

Conservative cancel culture & the perpetually offended right-wing

By Ranting Panda, 1 June 2021

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to rile a conservative? There are so many ways. I mean, just mention how easily offended people are today. Said conservative will launch into a tirade about everyone being offended so easily these days. A great response is to agree and then pick a topic, like 'Black Lives Matter, 'Australia Day should be moved', or 'Trump is a traitor'. Bust out the pop-corn, sit back and watch the fireworks. It's kinda ironic how easily offended conservatives are as they wail about how easily offended everyone else is. 

Another way to rile a conservative is to talk about political correctness and being 'woke'. Apparently being woke or politically correct is bad. Just ask a conservative. 'Woke' is just another word for critical thinking, however conservatives idea of critical thinking is to go 'conclusion shopping', that is they will seek out confirmation bias to support their ignorant beliefs. Being woke means to appreciate people (regardless of differences), the environment, and science ... without bigotry or ignorance. Critical thinking means that a person would change their views if presented with compelling evidence to the contrary. It's not surprising that conservatives reject being 'woke'; they aren't renowned for their critical thinking or self-reflection abilities. They believe anything they are told if it confirms their own bigoted biases, while criticising science and academic study. 

For conservatives, being 'woke', being considerate of others, the environment, and appreciating science, are all part of a Marxist plot.

But my personal favourite way to peeve a conservative is to discuss 'cancel culture'. Holy. Mother. Of. God. They will go off like a fruit bat in a mango tree at sunset! They'll get their knickers in a twist every tim; which doesn't solve anything, but it makes them walk funny. Conservatives often melt down over left-wing 'cancel culture'. Which is ironic because conservatives cancel everything!

Dare to question a conservative's uninformed opinion and they'll screech that their freedom speech is being curtailed, that everyone is easily offended, and that they're SICK AND TIRED of political correctness, woke snowflakes, lefty scientists, and GOD DAMN neo-Marxist cancel culture! Funny shit, really. 

Conservatives continue living in the dark ages, condemning anything and anyone who questions their ignorance.

Actual image of conservative cancel culture

A couple of recent decisions offended the sensibilities of conservatives so much that they took to social media to wail about 'do-gooder snowflakes' and 'political correctness gone mad'.

One decision was by Dr Seuss Enterprises, who decided to cease production of six of their own books that they felt were overtly racist. This was a business decision of the company and not the result of campaigning by any group (Helmore, 2021). Conservatives claim the books were banned by lefty snowflakes, however, they were not banned nor have they become illegal; they are just not being published because of a decision by the publisher. 

The second decision was by Hasbro who manufacturers the Mr Potato Head series. Hasbro rebranded it to 'Potato Head'. 

Yeah. That's it. Offended yet? Well ... our resident conservative snowflakes melted down like a ... er ... snowflake in the heat. 

Apparently, the 'de-genderisation' of a pretend potato was some sort of left-wing woke agenda to remove gender from society ... according to conservatives. In fact, according arch-conservative commentator, Piers Morgan, this was a harbinger of the apocalypse: '... woke imbeciles are destroying the world' (Mellor 2021).  It was nothing of the sort. Try to follow me here. There is the brand and then there are the products within that brand. The products include Mr Potato Head, Mrs Potato Head, and soon there will be little Potato Head children. Hasbro felt it looked a bit weird packaging Mrs Potato Head with a Mr Potato Head brand sitting on it, so they made the brand 'Potato Head' in order to more openly accommodate the various products sitting under that brand. So conservatives need not panic or rush out and stock up on Potato Heads, because Mr Potato Head, Mrs Potato Head and all the little child Potato Heads will still be available. 

The great Potato Head Crisis of 2021 was summed up nicely by Jon Stewart on Twitter.

Some years are defined by a significant event. For instance, 2020 has been defined by the emergence of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Surely, it couldn't get any worse right? Well, 2021 was particularly troubling for Conservatives, because the year was bookended by the Great Potato Head Crisis in February and the Big Bird Controversy in November. Focusing on the big things, Conservatives lost their collective minds over ... checks notes ... Big Bird. In case you're not familiar with this particular character, Big Bird is a muppet from Sesame Street ... a make-believe character of a giant, feathery bird. Said character innocuously tweeted in support of Covid vaccinations. The Conservative establishment melted down like ice-cubes on a hot bitumen road in the middle of summer in North-West Queensland. Big Bird (a pretend character remember) was accused of being a Communist and promoting government propaganda (Gillespie 2021). After all, sending a community health message is Communism according to the ultra-right-wing extremists who seem to dominate the Conservative establishment. 

Speaking of make-believe characters, there is the global phenomenon, Harry Potter, the fictional boy-wizard created by best-selling author, J.K. Rowling. Across the globe, conservative Christians burned or destroyed the Harry Potter books because they depicted witch-craft (Tucker, 2017). Those who didn't burn the books, often protested at cinemas showing the Harry Potter movies, or campaigned to have the books banned or removed from libraries. In 2017, conservative voters torched the books for political reasons, not religious ones. J.K. Rowling was openly criticising the inept, bumbling and racist Donald Trump. Of course, Trump supporters are not well known for having thick skins, so they react poorly to critical thinking and criticism. Trump's cult-like, brainwashed fan-base melted down like snowflakes dropped in a witch's hot cauldron ... 'double, double, toil and trouble'. They burned Rowling's books because of her opposition to Trump (Brockell, 2021). 

It is kind of funny how conservatives melt down over these things while accusing the left-wing of being snowflakes. 

Trivial things trigger intolerant minds.

Some commentators have even blamed President Biden and the Democratic Party for the Dr Seuss and Hasbro decisions, even though they had nothing to do with it (Cillizza, 2021). However, the reality is that conservatives confected their outrage by misrepresenting the facts ... yet again. 

Conservatives talk of 'cancel culture' and 'political correctness gone mad', yet they have their own forms of political correctness and cancel culture. For instance, it is politically incorrect in conservative mindsets to behave in an 'unpatriotic' manner, such as criticising the military action of conservative governments. When the ABC reported on complaints that the Australian military had physically abused asylum seekers, many conservatives claimed it was left-wing bias and that the ABC were traitors ... even though there was video evidence. Similar conservative outrage was unleashed when the ABC reported on alleged war-crimes by the Australian military in Afghanistan. Apparently, it was terribly unpatriotic to expect that Australia's defenders of democracy would not commit war crimes. 

When a journalist named Yasmin Abdel-Mageid tweeted about Anzac Day in a manner that was politically incorrect for conservatives, they were so offended that they unleashed a torrent of vile abuse, including threatening her with rape and murder. Yasmin left Australia in the wake of this abuse. This is a shocking example of conservative cancel culture, and is far worse than degenderising a make-believe potato.

Remember when conservative Christians tried to cancel rock music? It was reminiscent of the Central Scrutinizer in Frank Zappa's album, Joe's Garage, in which music was banned. In fact, some Christian conservatives even went so far as to try to cancel anything with a 4/4 beat ... which was a bit awkward when they realised that quite a few Christian songs are based on 4/4. Some pastors quite seriously explained that 4/4 was the devil's music because it emulated the beats of our heart. Yes, the heart has 4 chambers, so 4 beats, so 4/4 is of the devil. I wish this was one of those light-hearted non sequiturs, but no ... they were serious as a ... er ... a heart attack.

Here's a reminder of conservative cancel culture in action:

• cancelled Dixie Chicks and burned their merchandise when they criticised the 2003 invasion of Iraq
• boycotted the NFL because Colin Kapernaeck knelt during the national anthem in solidarity with Black Lives Matter
• boycotted Cadbury Chocolate because of Easter Eggs that dared not mention 'Easter' ... even though they were chocolate eggs ... and sold at Easter ...
• boycotted shops and hounded celebrities who said 'happy holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas'.
• boycotted Nascar because it banned confederate flags
• tried to ban Dungeons and Dragons because they believed it to be 'demonic'.

Diversity and inclusion are not high on the conservative agenda. As long as minorities and under-represented people tow the conservative line, then they might be tolerated by conservatives. If minorities want to be heard, to have equality, then conservatives will carry on about political correctness going mad and that the world is being taken over by a some sort of neo-Marxist agenda. In other words, minorities and under-represented people can be seen but not heard.

In May 2021, Australian Defence Force chiefs made the decision to ban diversity and inclusion activities, such as morning teas and lanyards (Greene & Mannheim, 2021). Apparently, this would make Australia a safer place. What it really showed was that as far as the ADF is concerned, Australia is for white, straight males. It meant that conservative cancel culture had cancelled morning teas or wearing rainbow lanyards or ally pins that supported events such as Harmony Day, Women's Day, National Reconciliation Week, or International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT). In other words, if you support these issues, conservative snowflakes have one message: don't be seen or heard.

Conservative cancel culture has been with us a long-time. You may recall many centuries ago, the burning of witches, and the Spanish Inquisition. In the 1950s, we saw something similar with the 'Reds under the bed' fear-mongering, in which hundreds of people were arrested, imprisoned, and their careers destroyed, for allegedly have left-wing sympathies. 

In the 1980s, Queensland was very much a hick state with an exceptionally conservative, authoritarian, and corrupt government led by Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, supposedly a Christian. Jackboot Joh, as he was known, used the cops as his own personal attack dogs to violently quell protests and concerts. After all, how dare people protest against South African apartheid or the export of uranium, or march in solidarity with indigenous issues. How dare they attend concerts and have fun. Joh's fun police even raided record stores to remove albums that may offend the sensitive ears of conservatives ... even though conservatives would never listen to those albums any way. Joh hated communism so much that he established a fascist police state. He hated anyone who aligned themselves with left-wing politics, including the community radio station, 4ZZZ. Apart from supporting human rights causes and local music, Triple Zed was also holding the government to account over allegations of corruption and police brutality. Thankfully, Triple Zed outlasted Joh and his fascist dictatorship. 

By 1979, Triple Zed was operating out of the iconic and heritage-listed ballroom, Cloudland, which it also used for hosting large international and local bands that drew the ire of Joh and his police bully-boys. Many of ZZZ's journalists were subject to police surveillance and intimidation, and in some cases their homes raided (Stafford, 2004); so paranoid was the government of anyone who questioned them. On the morning of 7 November 1982, Brisbane residents woke to find that Cloudland had been demolished overnight. Joh had directed its illegal demolition without a permit. The demolition was an act of political bastardry against journalism, music and the young people who frequented Cloudland.

Conservatives can't claim the high moral ground against cancel culture, particularly when they are perpetually fearful and looking for things to offend their myopic sensibilities. Recently, they cancelled Coca-Cola, because the world's largest beverage company dared to criticise the Republicans for their anti-democratic voter suppression laws in Georgia (Carter, 2021). 

Conservatives have a very liberal approach to truth. The truth is whatever they say it is, regardless of the facts. Dare to contradict this narrative and you'll find yourself cancelled ... or worse. Conservatives seem to believe that Truth is a tool that Antifa uses to destroy democracy. Give them alternative facts so they don't have to deal with substantiated facts that contradict the comfortable lies they like to believe.

The Godfather of Conservative Hogwash is Donald Trump, former president who told thousands of lies while in power, who embraced and promoted racism, hate-speech, white-supremacy, and normalised lying as 'alternative facts'. In the face of overwhelming evidence that Trump lost the 2020 election, he tried to gaslight the United States into believing the election had been stolen from him. It was truly the most remarkable piece of blatant bullshit by a president in the history of the United States. His gullible followers believed him and refused to accept the legitimacy of the election. On 6 January 2021, whipped into a brainless furore by the Trumpenfuhrer, they stormed Congress in an attempt to cancel the election results. The attack on Congress went further than mere conservative cancel culture; it was an act of treason, of sedition. Republicans have since voted against holding an inquiry into the storming of the Capitol (SBS News, 2021), because they know they are culpable. Conservatives claim to be patriots, but that very act showed they are nothing but gutless traitors who act like spoilt kids if they don't get their own way. They hate democracy, because they don't want anyone else to have a say in running the country. Put it this way, these deluded snowflakes were so offended by losing an election that they tried to cancel democracy. Forget Marxist cancel culture, conservatives showed us fascist cancel culture ... these nutters are extremists, they are terrorists, they are cowards, they are traitors. 

What conservatives call cancel culture, is merely people asking that they be treated with respect. Ironically, conservatives will bemoan the lack of respect in today's society, while defending why they should be able to disrespect, abuse and denigrate others. Respected Australian entertainer, Kamahl, was subject to years of racist taunting while performing on the TV show, Hey Hey It's Saturday. He recently made the observation, 'I know they call it cancel culture, but they’re not stopping culture. They’re only trying to limit unnecessarily vulgar or crude terminology or gags or whatever ... If something has merit, if it is witty, if it’s clever, so be it. If it’s crap, maybe we can do without it' (Stafford, 2021).

The problem is that conservatives can't handle criticism. They accuse others of being sensitive snowflakes who are easily offended. Yet, the perpetually offended conservatives have a victim-mentality in which they believe they are being persecuted and their freedom of speech stifled whenever someone argues with them. Challenging falsehoods is not persecution. Asking someone to stop abusing someone else does not make the abuser a victim. All it demonstrates is the persecution-complex that conservatives wallow in.

Cancel culture is an innate part of the conservative psyche. They've been doing it for centuries. 

References

Brockell, G, 2021, Burning books: 6 outrageous, tragic and weird examples in history, The Washington Post, 13 November, viewed 15 November 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/11/13/book-burning-history.

Carter, A, 2021, Republicans are cancelling Coca-Cola after company denounced Georgia voting law, Now This, 7 April, viewed 7 April 2021, https://nowthisnews.com/news/republicans-are-cancelling-coca-cola-after-company-denounced-georgia-voting-law.

Cillizza, C, 2021, Why Republicans think Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head can save them, CNN, 3 March, viewed 1 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/02/politics/cancel-culture-potato-head-muppets-dr-seuss/index.html. 

Gillespie, E, 2021, The tweet from Big Bird that caused waves of backlash from US Republicans and anti-vaxxers, SBS News, 9 November, viewed 14 November 2021, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-tweet-from-big-bird-that-caused-waves-of-backlash-from-us-republicans-and-anti-vaxxers/c72d7924-a22c-43c8-9801-f5569206a25f. 

Greene, A and Mannheim, M, 2021, Defence declares war on political correctness, bans morning teas aimed at promoting inclusion and diversity, ABC News, 21 May, viewed 21 May 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-21/defence-chief-angus-campbell-political-correctness-morning-teas/100156436.

Helmore, E, 2021, 'It's a moral decision': Dr Seuss books are being 'recalled' not cancelled, expert says, The Guardian, 7 March, viewed 1 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/07/dr-seuss-books-product-recall-cancel-culture. 

Mellor, J, 2021, Best reactions as usual mouthpieces are foaming over a genderless Potato Head, The London Economic, 26 February, viewed 1 June 2021, https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/best-reactions-as-usual-mouthpieces-are-foaming-over-a-genderless-potato-head-222403/. 

SBS News, 2021, US Senate Republicans block bipartisan inquiry into the deadly 6 January Capitol riot, 29 May, viewed 29 May 2021, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/us-senate-republicans-block-bipartisan-inquiry-into-the-deadly-6-january-capitol-riot.

Stafford, A, 2004, Pig City - from The Saints to Savage Garden, Chapter 8 - Everybody Moves, Kindle 2014 edition.

Stafford, A, 2021, 'I felt humiliated': Kamahl on racism, Hey Hey It’s Saturday and cancel culture, The Guardian, 27 March, viewed 27 March 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/mar/27/i-felt-humiliated-kamahl-on-racism-hey-hey-its-saturday-and-cancel-culture.

Tucker, T, 2017, What do protests about Harry Potter books teach us?, The Conversation, 26 June, viewed 15 November 2021, https://theconversation.com/what-do-protests-about-harry-potter-books-teach-us-79327. 

Updated 15 November 2021

Cancel culture & the Snowflake War: Do-gooders, No-gooders & Do-nothings

Cancel culture & the Snowflake War: Do-gooders, No-gooders & Do-nothings

By Ranting Panda, 8 August 2020

If one listens to conservatives, it would seem that lefties, or progressives at least, are waging a war on freedom and free-speech. Conservatives frame this non-existent war as a product of 'political correctness', or 'virtue-signalling', because of left-wing do-gooders, who are supposedly being overly sensitive snowflakes who manufacture offence and then meltdown in the face of this 'contrived' offence.

There is some truth in conservatives claims. There are times that progressives 'cancel' those who are perceived as having some moral failing, such as being racist or sexist. 

Many conservatives see themselves as thick-skinned heroes defending freedom ... they see themselves as victims of the Snowflake War. 

Anyone would think that conservatives are resilient people who would never indulge in 'cancel culture' or 'political correctness'. However, they have been guilty of these very issues themselves. The difference is that when progressives do it, it is because of abuse perpetrated by systemic discrimination or in response to someone harming others. When conservatives do it, it is usually because they are upset that someone thinks, acts or looks different to them.

Yes, believe it or not ... Conservatives are epic snowflakes, waging war on freedoms using their own brand of self-centred political correctness and virtue-signalling that dog-whistles to other conservative snowflakes.

'Conservative political correctness?', I hear you ask! Yep. Conservative political correctness usually revolves around respecting flags and statues, rather than people. For instance, patriotism is sacrosanct. 

One such example occurred in Australia in 2017, when a Muslim feminist writer named Yassmin Abdel-Magied, posted a tweet on Anzac Day which stated: 'LEST. WE. FORGET. (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine...)'. Conservatives were so affronted by this innocuous tweet, that Yassmin was hounded out of the country. She received rape and death threats because of it and ended up leaving Australia to live in England. Many of the threats targeted Yassmin's religion and gender. I mean, being a Muslim and a feminist was never going to sit well with conservative snowflakes. Conservative commentator, Prue McSween, called Abdel-Magied a flea and stated that it was acceptable for her to feel unsafe in Australia, then compounded this disgusting tirade by stating that if she saw her, she would be tempted to run her over (BBC 2017). Ironically, many of the people who were offended by her tweet, claimed that Anzac Day commemorates those who fought and died for Australia's freedoms. Apparently, those freedoms don't include freedom of speech for young, feminist Muslim women, even though these same conservatives will claim that it's Muslims who hate Australia's freedoms ... 

In 2017, not long after the disgustingly racist and sexist abuse of Yassmin Abdel-Magied, the Australian Human Rights Commission made a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into multiculturalism, regarding the lack of non-Anglo-Celtic people represented in the public sphere. This may seem innocuous enough, however it triggered Rowan Dean, editor of The Spectator Australia, into racially attacking the federal Race Discrimination Commissioner, Tim Soutphommasane. This racist abuse was given a platform on Sky News, were Dean defiantly declared that Mr Soutphommasane should 'hop on a plane and go back to Laos'. It should be noted that Mr Soutphommasane isn't from Laos; he was born in France to Laotian parents. (BBC 2017).

Then there was Scott McIntyre, a former SBS journalist, who tired of the drunken nationalism that has taken over Anzac Day. McIntyre believed that Anzac Day had taken on a cult-like following, in which people glorified war and dehumanised the 'enemy'. McIntyre decided to remind Australia that some of our diggers were involved in horrendous crimes in the fog of war, such as rape and murder (Davidson 2016). These snippets of truth went down like a lead-balloon with conservatives, leading to McIntyre being sacked by SBS in response to howls of conservative rage.

The problem with this unquestioning nationalism is that it condones and perpetuates war crimes and other criminal behaviour by defence force personnel. For instance, when the ABC reported on the abuse of asylum seekers by Australian military personnel (Roberts 2014), then Prime Minister Tony Abbott accused it of being unpatriotic (Bourke 2014). Apparently waving the Aussie flag was more important that stopping the abuse of innocent people by the military. When the ABC reported on alleged war crimes by the SAS in Afghanistan (Willacy 2020), conservatives were angry with the ABC for reporting it, not because there may have been war crimes committed by Australian troops. 

Still don't believe that conservatives can be snowflakes? Tell them that their food is Halal. In their apoplectic rage, they will boycott the product, write angry letters to the company, to their local politicians, to the newspaper, and fire off incoherent tweets and social media posts. Yep, cancel culture, right there!

More fun can be had if one dares say 'Happy Holidays' at Christmas time. They will become proudly indignant and declare that it is 'Merry CHRISTMAS'! Even though many of these conservatives only look forward to Christmas for the presents, food, decorations and holidays. Most of them couldn't care less about it being the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Most of them have never set foot in a church. And those who have? Clearly, they love their dogma more than they love people. I mean, seriously, if someone wishes you well, then be thankful. It takes a special kind of spitefulness to complain that a season's greeting didn't meet the expected standard. As Benjamin Franklin astutely observed, 'How many observe Christ’s birthday! How few, his precepts! O! ’tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments'.

There was a call to boycott Starbucks because their coffee cups were deemed 'anti-Christmas'. How can a coffee cup be anti-Christmas? When it is red. Well, when it is red only and does not feature Christmas trees, grimacing Santa Claus faces or (most appropriately) snowflakes ... because nothing screams 'Jesus is the reason for the Season' than a coffee cup covered in European winter symbols (Dvorak 2015). 

Conservatives can continue the rage and wallow in their victimhood straight after Christmas, when Easter Eggs appear on the shelves. Well, there will be rage if said egg dares not mention the word 'Easter'. God forbid selling a chocolate egg that doesn't say Easter. I mean seriously, What Would Jesus Do? We all know how that Jesus smashed down a big helping of Easter Eggs during the Last Supper. Over the years, conservatives have boycotted Nestle and Cadbury for both daring to produce Easter Eggs that don't meet the high moral standard set by privileged conservatives who clearly have nothing better to be offended at. Ironically, these symbols of Easter that they lose their collective minds over, have nothing to do with Jesus, but are pagan symbols of fertility. Easter has links to several pagan fertility religions, including Ishtar, the Mesopotamian 'Queen of Heaven' and goddess of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. Although Easter was likely named after the German 'Eostre', it was a northern hemisphere celebration of fertility, that Christians appropriated to make their message more palatable to the locals (D'Costa 2013). Compromise, anyone? It seems that the early Christians weren't quite the snowflakes that today's conservative Christians are. 

Speaking of drugs, sex and rock'n'roll, how can we forget when conservatives waged all-out war on rock music: the 'Devil's Music'! This reached peak silliness when John Lennon made the astute observation that The Beatles were 'more popular than Jesus now'. People melted down, believing that The Beatles thought they were greater than God. Lennon clarified later that he was referring to how their fans saw them, not that he was anti-God or anti-Jesus. In response to this perceived insult, Christians bought Beatles albums and then burned them (think about that, take all the time you need ... cancelling a band by buying their stuff ... riiiiight). Tragically, this attempt to cancel The Beatles culminated in Mark David Chapman shooting and killing John Lennon in 1980. Chapman was a 'born-again' Christian, who stated that part of the reason he did it was because of Lennon's comment about The Beatles being more popular than Jesus (Jones 1992, pp 117-118). Chapman had also been upset with the songs 'God' and 'Imagine'. Chapman believed that Imagine was a Communist song, and subsequently wrote his own lyrics to it, which included 'Imagine John Lennon dead' (Jones 1992, pp 117, 189). 

Chapman's hatred of Communism wasn't his own invention. The last time Christians got so upset about Communism, they unleashed they sang the praises of Adolf Hitler ... and we know how that ended.

Conservatives are currently melting down over cheese. Yep, believe it or not, they are more interested in cheese than in ending racism. In fact, many of them don't believe in either systemic racism or casual racism. Systemic racism is evidenced by significantly higher incarceration rates of indigenous people or people of colour, higher suicide rates, poorer educational and health outcomes, and increased poverty. Casual racism is much more insidious, but just as harmful. It may include jokes or snide comments based on racial stereotypes, but it presupposes white superiority and the subjugation of people of colour. 

So, cheese. Australia's Coon Cheese was named after the man who invented the ripening process for cheese, Edward William Coon. The ripening process is also named after him and is known as cooning. Unfortunately, Edward Coon's surname is also a racial slur. For decades there were requests to change the name of the cheese. Keep in mind, that Edward Coon did not found or own Australia's Coon Cheese; it was merely named after him. It was created by the Warrnambool Cheese and Butter company, and launched by Fred Walker. In July 2020, it was under the ownership of Canadian company, Saputo Inc, who decided to change the name based on its association with the racial slur. 

And didn't the conservatives cut their collective cheeses over it! Now, the cheese could just as easily have been called Walker Cheese, WCB Cheese, or any other variant of its original or current owners. It's just a name. Saputo recognised that while Coon was the surname of the man who invented the maturation process, it can cause significant offence, so they changed the name. They didn't shoot Bambi. But conservatives carried on as if their first-born was being torn from their arms, and promised to boycott the cheese. Not that the boycott will do much, because some had already boycotted the cheese when it became Halal certified. Yep, conservative cancel culture: cancel cheese. Conservatives tackling the big issues. After all, cheese is more important than addressing racism. 

The man who drove the name-change is Dr Stephen Hagan. In retaliation for Dr Hagan daring to challenge the name of a cheese, One Nation member, Mark Latham, mocked him and suggested that 'evil snowflakes' would start targeting products that included the word 'white'. He included a photo of Paul's 'Smarter White Milk' product. Not surprisingly, several media outlets ran this as a factual story. So incensed were the racists who actually believed this puerile drivel, that Hagan received more than 30,000 abusive comments, hate mail and several death threats (Roe 2020). Yeah ... death threats over a fake story about the name of a milk product. Latham is leader of One Nation in New South Wales and a member of the NSW Legislative Council, the Upper House in the NSW Parliament. This is the standard of politics and media in Australia. It also shows just how sensitive racist snowflakes are in Australia: they will cry over milk and cheese. 

Speaking of racism, there was the matter of an NFL player, Colin Kaepernick, who kneeled during the national anthem prior to a football match in 2016. He was protesting against police brutality. Small-minded conservatives took this as a affront to US sovereignty. Yeah, I know ... how freaking sensitive does one have to be to interpret an anti-racism protest as an attack on US sovereignty? But such is the depths of nationalism that permeates right-wing media and group-think. In protest, many conservatives burned their own NFL jerseys and Nike shoes. Again ... take all the time you need to think about this ... protesting by burning something they've already bought. That's really going to hit the NFL or Nike's bottom line. The sad thing, when asked, many of these people had no idea what Kaepernick was protesting. Many thought he was opposing the flag, the anthem, or US troops, because of bigoted group-think manipulated by racist politicians and media. 

The anti-Kaepernick brigade were already so emboldened with nationalistic fervour and racism, that it didn't take much to push them over the edge ... and we ask how Germans could be so duped by Hitler? Indeed.

Speaking of football players, in Australia many indigenous people played in the rugby league and Australian Rules football codes. Throughout the years, many reported receiving racist abuse, including former Brisbane Broncos player, Steve Renouf (Pengilly 2020), and former St Kilda player, Nicky Winmar (NMA 2020). Adam Goodes had a stellar AFL career, playing more games than any other indigenous player, twice winning the coveted Brownlow Medal for being the best and fairest player in the competition, and in 2014, he won Australian of the Year. Despite his achievements, Goodes was subject to years of racist abuse. During the Indigenous Round in 2013, Goodes was racially vilified by a spectator. Goodes called her out for it during the game (McRae 2020). It transpired the spectator was 13 years old. The conservative response? Well, rather than agreeing that Goodes had every right to challenge racist abuse from a 13 year old brat, they attacked him, doubled down on the vilification and drove him from the game. 

Conservatives have a track record of prioritising racism over respect. Although, they also have a track record of claiming that 'kids of today have no respect for their elders'. Well, why should they, when their elders glorify such disrespectful behaviour.

Don't get conservatives started on statues. During the Black Lives Matter protests, there were calls to tear down statues of confederate soldiers because they had defended slavery. Conservatives, in their rather simplistic rationale, equated this to changing or erasing history. Hello ... there are things called books! These books actually record history. Ditching a statue of some slave-owning racist white supremacist is not erasing history, it is acknowledging history and raising awareness of the person's vile behaviour. Interestingly, many of the confederate statues were not erected during or immediately following the American Civil War, but were erected specifically in defence of racism (Robinson 2020). Many were put up during the early 1900s to defend the Jim Crow laws which legalised the disenfranchisement and segregation of black people. In the 1960s, many of these statues were erected in response to the Civil Rights movement which was calling for the dismantling of the racist systems established by the Jim Crow laws, and the attitudes and systems that had existed in America before, during and since slavery (Williams, Armitage & Stein 2020; Gunter & Kizzir n.d., p 11).  

Speaking of Black Lives Matter ... not surprisingly, many conservatives piously claimed 'ALL lives matter', not just black ones. This little act of defiance represented an incredible level of hypocrisy because these same ALM advocates have actively campaigned against, or voted for politicians who oppose, refugees and asylum seekers, LGBTIQ+ rights, same sex marriage, Islam, migrants, and the list goes on. Perhaps, the ALM brigade should look up the meaning of 'All' in the dictionary. Just to be clear, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines 'all' as meaning, 'every member or individual component'. Everyone! Not everyone except for black people or gay people or Muslims or refugees! Funnily enough, those marching for BLM are also most likely to also march in defence of the rights of other persecuted groups; its BLM activists who actually believe that all lives matter, rather than the pious ALM proponents.

Nothing triggers some conservatives like suggesting that others have equal rights. Recent campaigns for same sex marriage resulted in conservatives boycotting numerous companies who expressed solidarity with the cause, such as Qantas, Virgin and Hallmark. 

Sadly, many conservatives see social justice and human rights as being an affront to their own rights. This is typical of the selfishnessness of conservatives who only sympathise with issues that impact them specifically. They couldn't care less about issues that impact others. This is why they oppose anti-racism campaigns, they oppose same sex marriage, they oppose other religions. Meanwhile, they will hurl insults at those who dare to stand up for these rights, labelling them 'do-gooders', 'social justice warriors', 'bleeding hearts', or accusing them of 'virtue-signalling', just because they want to help others. If you're not a do-gooder, then what are you? A no-gooder? A do-nothing? Seriously, if you're not wanting everyone to have the same rights as you, then you can't say 'ALL lives matter'. At best, you're a do-nothing ... at worst, well you're doing no good and maybe those words like bigot, racist, white-supremacist, may appropriately describe you. 

These conservatives label human rights and social justice as 'cultural Marxism'. Conservatives have been responsible for a lot of fear-mongering: fear of black people, fear of Islam, fear of a gay agenda, fear of communism. During the 1940s and 1950s, the 'reds under the bed' paranoia was cancel culture writ large. It culminated with witch-hunts led by Senator Joe McCarthy and a Congressional committee known as the House Un-American Activities Commission (HUAC). These witch-hunts resulted in the destruction of many people's lives and careers. Dozens of singers and actors suffered through this paranoia, including Charlie Chaplin, Harry Belafonte, Pete Seeger and Orson Welles. There were some who managed to rebuild their careers, others disappeared into obscurity, reputations destroyed by anti-Communist paranoia.

The new focus on 'cultural Marxism', or neo-Marxism, is just rebranding of McCarthyism, playing on the fears of gullible conservatives. Their fears are unfounded. President Donald Trump exploits these fears by accusing the far-left and Antifa of inciting violence during BLM protests. However, in the last 25 years, no-one has been killed by the far-left in the USA. Contrast this to the 329 people who have so far been killed by right-wing extremists in the United States (Pasley 2020). This indicates the danger of fear-mongering and demonisation is that people will focus on the wrong things. Racism continues and hate-crimes escalate, while conservatives wring their hands claiming 'All lives matter'. Some claim that they oppose racism, but will then boycott a business that supports Black Lives Matter ... nothing says anti-racism like boycotting a business that is actively anti-racist ... 

Conservatives love to play the victim, even though they are often the perpetrator. Their claim of 'Cultural Marxism' is ingrained in them by opinionated conservative commentators dog-whistling to their xenophobia and bigotry, which reinforces their feelings of victimhood (Wilson 2015). They will claim that free speech is under attack because of left-wing do-gooders. What they don't seem to understand is that free speech means that everyone is entitled to speak their mind. Just because a conservative is called out for their racist, bigoted or false claims, doesn't mean that their freedom of speech is being threatened; it means that someone else is exercising their freedom of speech in retort. 

I saw a statement recently, which said, 'Racism asks for your silence. Anti-racism asks for your voice'.

It is important to speak up and challenge racism. Speaking up is not the silencing of others. 

While there are some examples of left-wing cancel culture, it is blown well and truly out of proportion by conservatives who struggle with changing social norms, so react by manufacturing their inability to adapt into a national crisis (Hobbes 2020). 

We share the world with billions of people, which means that there will be billions of disparate views and values. Rather than trying to ban everyone or everything that we disagree with or don't understand, we would be much better off trying to understand others and learning to disagree without taking offence. Having said that, there are times when behaviours and systems need to be addressed. Racism, sexism and bigotry are harmful and should not be tolerated. This is not just a matter of agreeing to disagree. We need to reach a point where these behaviours and values are not acceptable. 

Why do conservatives feel led to defend racism, sexism and bigotry? Why do conservatives defend exploitative labour conditions and environmental degradation? Why do conservatives feel it is acceptable to condone violence against black people, women, Muslims, refugees, leftists and anyone else they don't understand? Why do conservatives deny science, but take the word of uneducated, unqualified shock jocks as gospel? They claim they are the victims, when they have no idea what being a victim of racism, sexism and bigotry means. 

Most conservative protests are to enforce their views on others, rather than defending the rights of  others. They think their opinions and values are superior to the rights of others.

Many conservatives value symbols over humanity. Their idea of morality is symbolic. Their idea of equality is that everyone should think, look and act the same as them; they do not value diversity, whether it be in culture, art or ideas. 

Until conservatives empathise with those who suffer discrimination, they won't change their behaviours. As the old adage says, 'Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are'.

References

BBC News 2017, 'The Anzac post, outrage and a debate about race', 10 August, viewed 31 July 2020,

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-40712832.

Bourke, L 2014, 'Prime Minister Tony Abbott says ABC not on Australia's side in interview with 2GB', ABC News, 4 February, viewed 1 August 2020, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-29/tony-abbott-steps-up-criticism-of-abc/5224676.

Davidson, H 2016, 'Former SBS reporter Scott McIntyre repeats Anzac Day accusations on Twitter', The Guardian, 25 April, viewed 1 August 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/25/former-sbs-reporter-scott-mcintyre-repeats-anzac-day-accusations-on-twitter.

D'Costa, K 2013, 'Beyond Ishtar: The Tradition of Eggs at Easter', Scientific American, 31 March, viewed 8 August 2020, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/anthropology-in-practice/beyond-ishtar-the-tradition-of-eggs-at-easter.

Dvorak, P 2015, 'The phony ‘War on Christmas’ is back, fueled by those alleged Jesus haters at Starbucks', 10 November, viewed 31 July 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-phony-war-on-christmas-is-back-fueled-by-those-alleged-jesus-haters-at-starbucks/2015/11/09/ed8471de-86f7-11e5-9a07-453018f9a0ec_story.html.

Gunter, B & Kizzir, J n.d., Whose heritage? Public symbols of the confederacy, Southern Poverty Law Centre, https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/com_whose_heritage.pdf.

Hobbes, M 2020, 'Don’t Fall For The 'Cancel Culture' Scam', The Huffington Post, 11 July, viewed 1 August 2020, https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/cancel-culture-harpers-jk-rowling-scam_n_5f0887b4c5b67a80bc06c95e.

Jones, J 1992, I'm going to take you down: Inside the mind of Mark David Chapman, Villard Books.

McRae, D 2020, 'Adam Goodes: 'Instead of masking racism, we need to deal with it day-to-day'', The Guardian, 3 March, viewed 1 August 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/mar/02/adam-goodes-interview-racism-walk-away-afl. 

NMA 2020, Nicky Winmar’s stand, National Museum of Australia, 13 March, viewed 1 August 2020, https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/nicky-winmars-stand.

Pasley, J 2020, 'Trump frequently accuses the far-left of inciting violence, yet right-wing extremists have killed 329 victims in the last 25 years, while antifa members haven't killed any, according to a new study', Business Insider, 31 July, viewed 1 August 2020, https://www.businessinsider.com/right-wing-extremists-kill-329-since-1994-antifa-killed-none-2020-7.

Pengilly, A 2020, ''It was crushing': Broncos apologise to Renouf for racist slurs during career', The Sydney Morning Herald, 31 July 2020, viewed 1 August 2020, https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/it-was-crushing-broncos-apologise-to-renouf-for-racist-slurs-during-career-20200731-p55hf2.html.

Roberts, G 2014, 'Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss defends Navy amid claims asylum seekers beaten and burned', ABC News, 18 February, viewed 1 August 2020, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-22/australian-navy-accused-of-beating-burning-asylum-seekers/5211996.

Robinson, J 2020, 'Myths About Confederate Monuments - ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jeffrey Robinson exposed Confederate monuments for what they really are', Now This News, 19 June, viewed 1 August 2020, https://youtu.be/55ehKPUm7dc. 

Roe, C 2020, 'Anti-racism campaigner cops death threats over fake story', SBS News, 18 August, viewed 15 August 2020, https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2020/08/15/anti-racism-campaigner-cops-death-threats-over-fake-story.

Willacy, M 2020, 'Culture of Cover-up', ABC, 17 March, viewed 1 August 2020, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-17/four-corners-sas-allegations-war-crimes/12028522.

Williams, P, Armitage, R,  & Stein, L 2020, 'As America grapples with its history of racism, relics of the past are being toppled by a new generation', 11 June, viewed 1 August 2020, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-11/why-people-are-pulling-down-statues-in-the-us-in-protest/12343766. 

Wilson, J 2015, ''Cultural Marxism': a uniting theory for rightwingers who love to play the victim', The Guardian, 19 January, viewed 1 August 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/19/cultural-marxism-a-uniting-theory-for-rightwingers-who-love-to-play-the-victim.

Updated 19 August 2020