Reason for Existence

This blog is a work in process. I don't quite have the raison d'etre nailed down yet. And I hadn't considered who the audience might be. Initially I just started writing it for myself. But since I could write without actually blogging, I should give some thought to who might be readers. And maybe it helps to start with where I'm coming from.

I wanted to start a blog as a forum to air and share my views on current affairs. I am a passionate Australian who is proud to live in a liberal democracy that upholds the rule of man-made laws applying equally to all its citizens. I want to develop the knowledge, skills and the confidence to claim my birthright as a citizen of this country and defend the hard-won cultural values for which it stands. It was not for nothing that my grandfathers and their fathers fought in successive world wars in the name of freedom on this fatal shore.

I don't really like politics. It's a messy business. But there is no better frame for guaranteeing the widest possibilities of individual freedom than democracy. In essence I agree with the Winston Churchill quote, "No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." So I'm an idealist. But free of ideology. Maybe that's why I never completely agreed with my socialist friends but could sympathise with their basic motivation. As an Australian I am essentially egalitarian, but apparently that means different things to different people. I'm a humanist. I believe man is the measure of all things. And as a staunch secularist, when it comes to the state, I've been disturbed over the last so many years at how supposed secularists have apparently sided with other religions against Christianity. As if it were something of threat to some kind of secular utopianism. I couldn't understand the vitriol reserved for an historical font of our civilization. Being critical of religion is essential for the practice of freedom, but it is patently hypocritical and even dangerous to heap critique and loathing on one religion whilst shielding others from the rigorous analysis of scholarship and the mockery of the marketplace of ideas.

Religions weren't all created equal. Few of them could lead to societies where we in principle believe that all men and women were created equal. We have that basic belief in Australia (and other so-called Western countries) in part because of our Christian heritage. I respect that. What I don't respect are religions that denigrate women and non-adherents. That doesn't mean I don't respect, as human beings, the adherents of such religions. And that's where people tend to get confused and can't handle honest conversations about funny and dangerous faiths. Ideas are only as influential as the people who believe in them, and so people are involved, and if the ideas are dangerous so are their adherents.

This blog will be critical of Islam, and especially the more expressly political variety referred to as Islamism. That by no means requires me to hate Muslims, although it's apparently incumbent upon them to hate me. It says so in their holy book, for I am a non-believer. Sometimes I will generalise. How else can we talk about the world? Cups are useful, but I wouldn't drink out of all of them. Snakes are generally dangerous, but if you're familiar with them some can be milked to make anti-venom and others can even be kept as pets. I have nothing against Muslims in general. As people, I'm looking out for them. I mean, for their best interests. If they want to live a peaceful life in accordance with the law and the spirit of secular social values, such as egalitarianism and not imposing one's beliefs on others, then each to their own. But there are some Muslims, as evidenced by the protest-riot in Sydney on September 15th, that have other ideas. And we have to talk about them. They won't just disappear, them or their ideas. If we just stick our head in the sand we will loose everything we now have and value, and that generations of Australian (and generally western) men and women fought and strove for.

I want us to preserve our freedom. And I want it to be enjoyed by many. But that won't happen if we just open our borders to anyone. Not everyone is prepared to share the values that shape our way of life. Some people don't like to hear talk about values, they assume it's conservative and reactionary. But they could often equally be called principles; perhaps that's a little more palatable to progressives. I don't know how to define my own political views, perhaps I don't want to, and I shouldn't need to. I'm a bit sick of the tired old left-right divide. I don't think Westminster style democracy is the only way. But hopefully for better it's what we've got. And there is good and bad in all mainstream political parties. I just don't like the screaming socialist fringe. And they don't really like democracy. They can't seem to politely listen to other people's unpalatable opinions. And it's very popular amongst young people, a kind of unconscious communist totalitarian bent. The educated left doesn't seem to trust the ordinary citizen voters to make up their own mind. Consequently, I don't trust the educated left to make up my mind for me. Thus I prefer to consider myself a freethinker. Since much mainstream media and academia is ideologically hamstrung by the left, to the young educated reader I might appear right-of-centre. However, I'm no dyed in the wool conservative either. No one apart was born to rule, certainly not religious ideologues or true believing racists (who fortunately are actually few) and there is much positive change I'd be happy to see in our society; such as a healthy disregard for dangerous beliefs anathema to our Australian and western societies' utilitarian aims.

So dear reader, who are you? I trust you are comfortable in your country and you want to keep it beautiful. That you're looking for intellectual ammunition in the fight for freedom from oppression and ignorance. Maybe you're an internet ninja or a political provocateur, a counterjihad activist or sympathiser, or just a weary humanist dismayed at the stifling of debate on topics deemed politically incorrect. Let me know. We are part of the conversation in the battle of ideas, the war for the west, or whatever other or future writers will call the outcome of the information age. Like me you are also passionate about freedom in Australia and around the world. We who believe in its value must guarantee it for future generations to enjoy and pass on. It may be that you have also discovered that freedom isn't simply a right or furniture for your nice life style, but that it is a treasured value and a responsibility. 

I trust that all sounds reasonable enough for this blog's existence.