The Right to be Racist?

Australians are fortunate enough to have, amongst many other wonderful priviledges, the freedom of speech. Australian's are able to voice their disagreement with the government, able to stand up and fight for the rights of women, children, babies, all human kind and able to follow and preach for whichever faith they choose.

Freedom of speech lets all Australian's have the opportunity to voice their beliefs about what is right and perhaps make a positive difference to the world. Yet, because Australian's have freedom of speech, people are also able to express their disgust at another person's life choices, express feeling of entitlement and hatred towards those who may be different from oneself.

I have quite often heard of 'villians' described solely by their religious affiliation, as if to say "keep away from THOSE people". An us and them approach that attempts to clearly seperate however in Australia, a multicultural country, Australians come in all shapes, sizes, colours and nationalities. This is the country that I live in and I feel priviledged to be a member of such a diverse society. 

Stepping back and thinking about it, freedom of speech is a powerful right that many other nations across the world are not afforded. Australians are lucky enough to have this right, yet it is so often abused. I urge you to think more carefully about the stereotypes you have formed, the interactions you engage in as well as perceptions you express about those who are 'other' to you because if you take a stand, others will follow.


Image Source

Audio Female Girl [Image]. 2009. Retrieved from http://pixabay.com/en/audio-female-girl-karaoke-15936/