OPINION: 'Silent majority scared of getting beaten up'

'Most activists I know are just as one-eyed as the rest of us'

The silent majority are too frightened to let their feelings show in case someone beats them up, letter writer says. Photo Scott Powick. Picture: Scott Powick

A letter to the editor by Julia Lawrence:

IT IS becoming a fashion to bully the communities into changing/supporting ideas that protesters want.

And often the silent majority are too frightened to let their feelings show in case someone beats them up.

The name calling, ridicule, violence to property and people is increasingly growing into a dirty habit.

Quite un-Australian - we were once a country better than that.

Most people I know are sick of the way the undisciplined are behaving.

There is no respect, and most people shut their ears and close their eyes and hope the protesters will go away.

Most activists I know are just as one-eyed as the rest of us - some with good intentions and others just out for a day's entertainment.

There are people who travel the world at the taxpayers' expense taking part in some other country's problems.

Letting people get away with obnoxious and dangerous behaviour is bad for the community and the protesters alike.

Teaching the young that's the way to behave is not doing them a favour either.

We will always need organisations that look after the needs of the underdogs, but we should be careful how we go about getting the results we want.

It will take more than the "naughty corner” to bring back respect.

But we need to start the journey now, if we want to be taken seriously.

Julia Lawrence,

Gympie