We live in an age of astonishing disengagement by far too many good citizens in the life of our nation. The Government calls it freedom, yet freedom demands responsibility; it can’t simply be doing what we want.
It seems our distorted version of diversity and inclusivity is not about rights, freedom, diversity, or inclusivity. It’s becoming more apparent it’s about forcing a uniformity of thinking and acting on a whole culture through schools, corporations, universities, and increasingly, sports: the so-called “long march through the institutions”.
This form of woke culture seeks to control and dictate how people should think and behave, creating a false sense of inclusivity and diversity. In short, accommodating the minority at the expense of the majority, whilst enforcing communist-style governance in schools, corporations and society.
Our discussions with members of the community indicate that Australians can’t demand freedom without taking on the responsibility that comes with it. As a society, we must acknowledge that there are multiple perspectives and that no one has a monopoly on the truth. Only by embracing this kind of diversity and inclusivity can we truly achieve a more tolerant and open society, and not cause offence to any group of people.
This leads us to Reuben Kaye, a comedian who describes himself as “loud, politically active, queer and brash”, but at the vulgar expense and radical offence of others. On a segment of the Channel 10 TV show The Project, Reuben shared with the hosts a message he had received in the past and proceeded to broadcast his offensive joke:
“I think it’s hilarious when someone messages me and says, ‘you have to accept Jesus’ love or you will burn in hell’ because I love Jesus. I love any man who can get nailed for three days straight and come back for more.”
Some hosts and panellists laughed with Kaye, and some managed just a slight smile. The 2GB Radio called it “appalling”, Sky News labelled it “disgusting”, and Daily Mail said it was “an x-rated joke”.
The Project is broadcast from 6:30pm until 7:30pm, the prime time for family viewing.
Andrew Bolt from The Bolt Project on Sky News asked, “would we get that same lazy laughter if the joke was about Mohammed, or Aboriginal smoking ceremonies?” to which Sophie Elsworth, media writer for The Australian, replied:
“Can you imagine if this was the case? They would be dominating the headlines all day… I also question why The Project is allowing content like this at family time. They’re being subjected to this type of crude content. Channel 10 Executive Producer and staff at The Project should really be questioning how this content got to air, and there are now claims that there could be protests in front of Channel 10 by various groups, such as Christian groups because they’re so disgusted with these comments,” Elsworth stressed.
Keeping News Local can confirm that Muslims and Christians have held private Zoom meetings and are calling on The Project to be cancelled. Both communities have agreed to unite to protest Channel 10’s broadcasting of the show despite the apology by the two main hosts, which many in the community are calling “fake”.
The Australian also reported, “Christian and Muslim leaders have dismissed Channel 10’s apology for a disgusting joke mocking their faith and have revealed plans to protest at Sydney’s Hyde Park.”
One Muslim woman expressed her concerns in a Zoom meeting hosted by Charlie Bakhos:
“They have no right to mock our religion. If you flip it around, and someone said something remotely offensive to the queer community, and the people on the panel of The Project laughed the way they did, there would be an uproar. God is not a joke. Religion is not a joke. Faith is not a joke.”
Charlie Bakhos, who leads Christian Lives Matter posted on Instagram:
“We have all had enough and this show last night crossed the line with the mocking of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone needs to stand united, and we need to put a stop to all this.”
He further commented in his Zoom meeting, “Muslims and Christians are now joint in this mission. This must be very scary for them.”
One of the Zoom debate participants said that “this isn’t even about the LGBTQI+ community versus Christians”.
“It’s about discrimination. If you discriminated against someone’s religion in a corporate workplace, you’d be fired,” she said.
The Manly Sea Eagles are another example. They were already a team of genuine racial, religious, and intellectual diversity. Some players agreed with LGBTQI+ ideology, and some did not. The management’s initiative of promoting diversity and inclusivity resulted in excluding seven players who did not want to celebrate this ideology and wear a rainbow on their jerseys. In other words, the team that ended up playing was not diverse at all; it was made up only of those who submitted to mandatory ideological uniformity.
According to the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census, Christianity is the most common religion in Australia, with 11.1 million people or 43.9 per cent of the population identifying as Christian. While the 2021 Census did not collect information on sexual orientation, the 2020 ABS General Social Survey provides estimates of the number of people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or other (not heterosexual). This showed the LGBTQI+ group represented almost 4% of the population aged 15 years and over.
It seems the buzzwords of ‘inclusivity’ and ‘diversity’ have been distorted in modern society. The Manly Sea Eagles controversy and The Project’s no-shame broadcast blatantly illustrate how woke inclusivity is a form of exclusion that imposes uniformity over genuine diversity.