Miranda Devine: Drinking Coopers = Supporting hate? Oh, come on

If you’re for truly open and honest debate, commit a “hate” crime for freedom and crack open a bottle of Coopers Premium Light, writes Miranda Devine.

If you ever wondered what it means to live in an era of identity fascism, when any attempt at debating important cultural issues is verboten, there is no more perfect example than the case of Coopers Brewery V the Rainbow Gestapo.

Or, as Bill Leak used to describe the intolerant end of same-sex marriage activism: Waffen SSM.

So this is what happened. Two Liberal MPs, Tim Wilson, the former free speech warrior from the Institute of Public Affairs, and Andrew Hastie, the former SAS trooper from WA, appeared in a short video last weekend debating opposite sides of same sex marriage for the Bible Society.

Wilson is for changing the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples and Hastie is for retaining traditional marriage.

Their discussion, over a Coopers Premium Light, is a lesson in civility, a shining example of how two thoughtful friends can disagree respectfully, and maybe learn something from each other.

And yet all hell broke loose. Coopers, an Australian family-owned brewery was slapped with a vicious social media boycott for its “homophobic, religious rhetoric”. Wilson was maligned as a “self-hating gay”, and Hastie a homophobic peddler of hate.

Tim Wilson and Andrew Hastie have come under fire for appearing in the Coopers video. (Pic: Supplied)

Yet what Wilson and Hastie said on the video was the opposite of hate.

Each give their pitches.

Wilson: “I believe it would be sensible to change the act that deals with issues around civil marriage to include two people regardless of their gender.

“I hold that view because I believe everyone should be encouraged to have an equal investment in society, that relationships should be recognised as marriage if they’re long term and committed because they provide the foundations of a society going from the individual, forming family, building community and ultimately country.

“That’s how we build a strong country, and whether people are heterosexual or homosexual we should want people committed to that.”

Hastie: “I’m for retaining the current definition of marriage, which is between a man and a woman. I hold to a common view of marriage, common throughout culture and history. It’s a comprehensive union between a man and a woman. It’s equal and it’s diverse, and it’s got both genders.

“I Tweet therefore I am.” (Artwork: Terry Pontikos)

“It’s an institution that’s grown up organically, prior to politics, and so my view is the state shouldn’t be redefining something that exists prior to the state... That’s not to say that Tim and Ryan, his partner, shouldn’t be afforded the same rights before the law as a married couple. I just think the definition is distinct and important.”

Wilson lauds the benefit of respectful debate: “You can disagree without being disagreeable.”

Later in the video he asks why such civil discourse isn’t more common.

Hastie observes: “I think there’s a lack of public virtue now and a virtue is to listen, and I don’t think people are exercising that enough. We’re very quick to condemn, quick to judge, reflexively hateful of our opposition.”

Never more prescient words were spoken.

The two men finish by companionably chinking bottles of beer, and wishing the Bible Society, which produced the video, a happy 200th birthday.

Some pubs have chosen to boycott Coopers beer. (Pic: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

That’s it. No religious intolerance. No homophobia. No hate speech.

Each man put forward his argument logically and in such a way that any reasonable person might think twice about their own position.

Surely that’s how social change is won, by talking through issues, finding common ground, testing your own beliefs, listening to opponents, not with a vicious illiberal take-down of anyone who dares hold a contrary view.

But the Oberfuhrers of the rainbow community have whipped themselves up into such an insane fury, they discredit their own advocacy for same sex marriage.

“Nothing ‘civil’ about homophobia, and that’s what opposition to LGBTI equality is. Boycott @coopers brewery,” tweeted failed Greens candidate, LGBTIQETC activist and Global Atheist Convention spokesperson Jason Ball.

Former Greens leader Adam Bandt retweeted Ball, adding: “And I used to really like Coopers”.

Unfortunately, Coopers soon buckled under siege from the rainbow offenderati. The brewer yesterday issued a public apology, and cancelled a special edition of beer with Bible verses.

That was after issuing a craven statement saying it had not given permission to the Bible Society to use its beer in the video, even though the credits show a can of beer with the slogan: “Happy 200th birthday to Australia’s longest living charity from Australia’s longest living family brewery.”

It bought them no respite, and the boycott descended into farce when social justice warriors in Melbourne started filming themselves unloading a half case of Coopers into a plastic garbage bin, one bottle at a time: “I’m going to boycott #coopers, I can’t support hate.” Heroes!

The comments on Facebook are priceless. Someone named Hayley asks why bottles of Coopers are being smashed. Someone named Kylie replies: “They make donations to that homophobic church or something.” That’s enough for Hayley to join the take-down: “ah for f*ck sake. OK I won’t stand for that. Out they go.”

Forget redefining marriage. Here we have “hate” redefined as a civilised discussion between friends. If that’s hate, we need more of it.

Thus are displayed the fascist proclivities of identity activists of the Left. Shut up if you don’t agree. Go out of business. Curl up and die.

So if you’re for truly open and honest debate, commit a “hate” crime for freedom tomorrow and crack open a bottle of Coopers Premium Light.