The mouse trap
THIS opinion piece comes with a warning.
Are you the sort of person who is locked into the social media scene? Do you check Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit or Snapchat on an hourly basis and contribute to the discussions? If the answer is yes to these questions then this article isn’t for you. I mention this only to give warning that this is an attempt to actually have a reasoned discussion where there actually might be some other colours involved other than black or white. It will contain nuance, shades of grey and may even suggest that there can be more than two sides to an argument. So that’s why it is totally unsuitable for the vast majority of those, largely anonymous, social media aficionados who spit out vitriol and spite with never a thought for truth or honesty in debate.
The Surf Coast Shire Rainbow Flag debate has been taken over by the above so any rational thoughts have been ditched for good as it has now become a debate over whether or not you support gay marriage. Unfortunately that is not what the discussion is about at all. If you remember at a council meeting in April, Surf Coast Councillor Rose Hodge gave notice of the following motion: “That Surf Coast Shire Council flies the Rainbow Flag continuously from 17 May 2017 (IDAHOT Day) until formal acceptance of marriage equality by the Federal Government.” Cr Heather Wellington, herself a supporter of gay marriage over many years, was absent from that meeting but in a letter to the Addy said “Councillors can contribute to social and political change at State or Federal level using their personal resources if they choose to do so”.
So for those that can actually understand or really want to know what is going on, there is no disagreement between Rose and Heather over supporting gay marriage. They both believe in the same thing, that the LGBT community deserve the matter to be settled and in a timely manner. Cr Wellington has already been vilified by the social media warriors of being homophobic, anti-gay and with many far more derogatory personal attacks. This is largely because these warriors are so busy instantly posting an opinion, about everything and anything, they never bother trying to find out what is actually being discussed.
So to those that care about open and honest debate this issue is about whether or not a Council should waste ratepayers’ money and the councillors’ time on issues that they have no input towards or means of changing. The answer to that is a definitive NO. Other- wise prepare yourselves for the Palestinian flag to be raised in a show of solidarity, that should focus the ratepayers’ attention.
In April, companies including Qantas, ANZ, Google and eBay launched a campaign to promote marriage equality. Again why? Just like councils, they have far bigger problems to concern themselves with than something they can’t change. You might even think that because the ‘pink’ dollar is so significant that the whole thing was just a cynical marketing campaign to make people think they actually care. Certainly Senator Abetz had no problem in distilling the essence of the companies’ motives for the declaration saying, “It’s disappointing that certain CEOs are trying to establish their personal PC credentials rather than being fully focused on the interests of their shareholders.”
Even poor old Margaret Court has been caught up in the de- bate by saying she wouldn’t fly Qantas now because of their support for gay marriage. Social media’s comments centring on removing her name from the tennis arena abound. Do I agree with her comments? Of course not, but please let’s separate it from her contribution to world sport.
Social media, rather than increase free speech, is now a mouse trap. It’s either open or closed. When it’s open, it’s empty, and when it’s closed, some poor bugger has just had their head chopped off, just like Heather Wellington.