It’s vital to cherish team effort
DISMISSING concerns about a multicultural Australia is arrogant and ignores ordinary people who don’t believe in the Utopian dream of harmony without conformity.
Left-wing activists say things like “Our diversity is our strength”, but try telling that to average Aussies who know harmony depends on conformity and commonality, not diversity.
At the moment, society seems determined to let people not only reject majority opinion, but demand the majority change to suit them.
If little Johnny is disrupting class, the school is encouraged to find a teaching method that suits him.
If a man wants to have a sex change and compete in women’s sports and use women’s bathrooms, we must change the rules and structure to allow it. Bad luck for women, and for anyone who disagrees.
If a little girl wants to wear non-approved shoes to school, there’s a social media campaign to get the school to change the rules.
If a foreigner wants to live in Australia, not learn English, not stand for a judge, only eat religiously-prepared food, and not adopt local customs, our leaders not only seem to tolerate it, but also outlaw criticism of it.
A sporting team can have individdon’t ual standouts with different styles of play, but the team won’t succeed unless the misfits follow team rules.
A team with everyone doing whatever the hell they want is not going to be harmonious and is unlikely to succeed. A player who demands the team change its philosophy to suit his “diversity”, risks becoming a pariah.
When I was at boarding school and in the Army Reserve, you couldn’t have found more diverse groups of people. While each person had individual views and quirks, the only way harmony was achieved was by: changing philosophies; conforming to common standards; adapting behaviour. Those who stuck to their own unusual ways were bullied, disciplined, and eventually rejected.
If you want to paint yourself purple and prance around quoting Voltaire, expect wider society to be fine with it and don’t expect institutions to change their standards just for you.
You are free to behave that way in private but if you want to do it in public, you’re likely to cop some criticism and be faced with rules that don’t match yours. Bad luck.
On the first day of grade 8, I wore medically-approved sunglasses because of an eye condition and I was teased mercilessly.
Part of me felt the school should stick up for me, punish my detractors and force them to accept my wishes.
But instead, I stopped wearing the sunnies, the teasing stopped and I was enthusiastically welcomed.
Restrained individualism should be encouraged, unrestrained diversity is a recipe for disharmony. Selfishness is human nature, solipsism – selfishness on steroids – is poison.
I attended a Free Speech Forum in Cairns on Monday night where antimulticulturalism activist Lauren Southern spoke. People in the crowd expressed concerns with large numbers of immigrants from vastly different cultures moving to Australia.
They’re worried about ethnic gangs, homegrown Islam-inspired terror attacks, and the abandonment of traditional, commonsense values.
There were no swastikas or “white power” signs, just very average mums, dads, young and old worried about governments forcing them to accept people who appear to be making little effort, if any, to accept Australia.
I liken it to a new housemate, Ivan, moving in.
At Ivan’s old house, he could put his feet on the communal lounge. But the new housemates don’t like feet on the lounge.
Ivan is welcome to move in provided he abides by some new rules.
If he doesn’t like the rules, he can find another house, or – because it’s 2018 – he could appeal to a tribunal.
The tribunal says Ivan can stay and can put his feet on the lounge.
That’s a win for diversity, but how do you think the old tenants are going to treat Ivan now?
Will they pat him on the back as they wipe mud off the lounge, or will they grow resentful and agitated?
All that average Aussies are saying is they want the “Ivans” to respect the existing tenants and enthusiastically embrace established rules.
They’re not telling them to abandon what makes them an individual, they just want them to be more conforming to the host country’s ways.
RESTRAINED INDIVIDUALISM SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED, UNRESTRAINED DIVERSITY IS A RECIPE FOR DISHARMONY. SELFISHNESS IS HUMAN NATURE, SOLIPSISM IS POISON.