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Pretence and posturing all the rage

By Mark Christensen - posted Friday, 21 June 2013


It's ridiculously self-absorbed and arrogant to expect reality to miraculously conform to the safety and behavioural requirements we nominate.

The NRL needs to grow a set, have some faith in the game's fundamentals and stare down pseudo-intellectual pundits and anxious, over-protective parents who don't want to accept most males enjoy the risks of physical combat.

Which brings me to another high-profile instance of this insipid disease.

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David Morrison has received endless plaudits from the usual suspects for his fierce commitment to reform the Australian Army after its latest sex-related scandal.

No matter the man is delusional, convinced he can generate a culture of respect by hunting down and rooting out anyone who doesn't agree with his Utopianism. Like so many others, Morrison has been seduced by the velvet-gloved fascism of progressive politics.

Left-leaning rhetoric is all warm, caring and fuzzy, proclaiming the solution to societal ills is self-actualisation through education. We are all in this together, but only the individual can learn to make it a better world by standing against sexism, racism, whatever.

There is no faith in the individual to work it out. Hence the ever-expanding mass of rules and controls. The progressive agenda is distinctly us-and-them. Being better and smarter, the "us" know what the country requires. And what it requires is a re-engineering of the "them", the likes of Sattler, knuckle-dragging army officers, footballers and those who watch rugby league for its gladiatorial qualities.

Unsurprisingly, an out-of-touch Morrison believes equality between the sexes amounts to women doing whatever they like. Endless choice is the purpose of political power, apparently. If young Lucy or Caroline has her heart set on serving in the army, then democracy must stop at nothing to enforce policies and rules that make it happen.

Of course, no-one dares to ask if the women are actually suited to the job. No, that would be discriminatory and discrimination justifies bad behaviour. It's irrelevant if vocational standards decline. It doesn't matter if the younger generation are wrongly encouraged to believe adversity and human constraints are a problem, rather than a necessary challenge, an opportunity to forge your character and be guided toward a personal destiny that is both enduring and meaningful.

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Like it or not, men are more naturally built for warfare. This is not a reason to exclude women, as has been done in the past. But nor is it a sound basis to wish away reality.

Alas, this is what Australia is doing, and it's costing us dearly.

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About the Author

Mark is a social and political commentator, with a background in economics. He also has an abiding interest in philosophy and theology, and is trying to write a book on the nature of reality. He blogs here.

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Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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