Leftist agenda ignores the West, stifles free speech

Refusing to give students a rigorous and critically informed knowledge of Western civilisation, a la the Australian National Univer­sity, is not the only strategy employed by the cultural left to further its ideological agenda.

Universities also are employing what has become a powerful and virulent political correctness movement to restrict how people think and interact by controlling language and denying free speech.

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four details a totalitarian, oppressive government maintaining power via the ability to control language and to enforce groupthink. What is described as New­speak leads to a situation where “thoughtcrime” is impossible as “there will be no words in which to express it”.

The slogan “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength” best illustrates how Big Brother subjugates citizens by radically altering the meaning of words and, as a result, defining how individuals think.

Australia’s political correctness movement employs the same strategy.

The University of NSW’s “cultural diversity and inclusive practice toolkit” describes European settlement as an “invasion” and argues against describing pre-European indigenous culture as “primitive” because it is wrong to suggest “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies are not as ‘advanced’ as European societies”.

Clearly, the urge to reinterpret history and to deny the advances of Western civilisation is to ensure generations of Australians feel guilty about an event beyond their control and to ensure continued funding for an indigenous industry dependent on taxpayers.

Gender activists responsible for Marxist-inspired programs such as Safe Schools argue those who defend heterosexuality are guilty of being “heteronormative” and that gender-specific descriptions such as husband and wife must be replaced by partner.

The Victorian government’s inclusive language guide says “Hetero­normativity is the assumption that everyone is heterosexual (straight), and that this is the norm” and “heterosexism is the belief that non-heteronormative sexual orientations or gender identities are unnatural”.

The fact about 98 per cent of Australians self-identify as male or female and that the natural order of things is for men and women to procreate to ensure ­humanity survives is ignored.

More extreme feminists argue that the conservative definition of marriage is really a form of sexual exploitation and evidence of how Western, capitalist societies impose a phallocentric, misogynist relationship on women.

And proven by last year’s ­attacks on Margaret Court, when she argued against same-sex marriage and the more recent attacks on Israel Folau for condemning homosexuality, it is also clear that those daring to question the PC brigade do so at their own risk.

Those critical of Islamic fundamentalism and who are concerned about terrorism, no matter how justified, are condemned by the PC thought police as “Islamophobic”. To even question the rate of immigration means being attacked as xenophobic and racist. Clearly the intention is to restrict open discussion and debate and to redefine radically how society is managed and organised. Not only are those who express contrary views made to feel isolated but there is also a danger that careers can be ruined.

In the 1980s, Geoffrey Blainey was forced to leave the University of Melbourne for questioning the rate of Asian immigration. More recently, Peter Ridd from James Cook University was sacked for questioning the science suggesting the Great Barrier Reef was doomed to environmental destruction.

Universities are a key battleground for the political correctness movement. In language much like that of Big Brother in Nineteen Eighty-Four, the University of Sydney proudly proclaims the purpose of education is to “unlearn”. On the basis that “not everyone has been taught how to unlearn” the university exhorts students to “challenge the established, demolish social norms” in areas such as same-sex marriage, indigenous land rights, peace studies, refugees and the environment.

How literature is taught at Sydney University also adopts a decidedly postmodern, politically cor­rect approach. Instead of the Western culture’s literary canon, students learn about “the rise of identity politics, the culture wars and queer theory”.

Under the heading “postcolonial modernisms/modernities”, students learn how “race, gender, class, sexuality, nation and religion shape ideas of being modern”. If classic texts such as Shakespeare’s tragedies are studied, students are made to deconstruct them in terms of power relationships involving gender, ethnicity and class.

A third subject involves deconstructing “text-production as a social and ideological act”, where students consider the “ideological influ­ences impacting on theoretical discourse about language and textuality”.

One of the essential freedoms of Western, liberal democracies such as Australia is citizens’ right to think independently and to critically evaluate language and ideas — a right increasingly under threat from politically correct ideology and groupthink.

Kevin Donnelly’s book How Political Correctness is Destroying Australia is published by Wilkinson Press. It will be launched in Sydney tomorrow.