To paraphrase the late, great Billy T James: “Hey Billy, someone is stealing your gate bro! Aren’t you going to stop him?” “Nah. He might take a fence!”
These days the “takers of a fence” are crawling out of the woodwork, primed and cocked, ready to “take a fence” at any and every utterance made in their direction. Every minority group, every pressure group perceive themselves to be belittled, bullied, subjugated and repressed by one faction or another of the majority.
What is offence?
Offence can be any category of hurt or pain, displeasure, disgust, distress or mental suffering felt by someone. Something is offensive if some people do not like it in a certain way; it hurts their feelings, it distresses them or disgusts them.
The ever-growing numbers of “takers of a fence” are able to be described most appropriately as “thin-skinned”. If you’re thin-skinned, you take criticism, rejection, disappointment, and failure very hard. Being left out of anything could be perceived as a major insult.
But in truth things do not give offence; people do, by their words or actions. While it is quite common to recognise pictures, cartoons, and language as offensive, what is really offensive is that someone has represented them in such a way as to give offence.
Giving offence involves intent. Intent is the crux of the OFFENCE issue. Do the givers of offence intend to impart offence?
Intent: Public nudity is often considered offensive. But what if it was a result of someone escaping a burning house? Surely, no intent, so it is not likely to be seen as offensive.
Remember the Danish newspaper that published, in 2005, cartoons depicting images of Muhammad? Muslim groups were insistent in their complaints and the newspaper responded that the intent of the cartoons was to enhance the debate about the growing influence of the Islamic community in Denmark.
In this instance, the voice and numbers of “takers of a fence” prevailed, with the issue eventually leading to protests around the world, with violence and riots in a number of Muslim countries, culminating in attacks on Danish diplomatic missions, attacks on churches and Christians, and a boycott of Denmark.
As a result, some groups responded by endorsing the Danish policies, by launching “Buy Danish” campaigns. In a show of international journalistic solidarity, the cartoons were reprinted in newspapers around the world (except here).
A culture war in action?
And how can we forget the French satirical weekly magazine, Charlie Hebdo.
Charlie Hebdo, a magazine with a tradition of left-wing radicalism, is renowned for publishing critical articles about the far-right, quite often concerning the French National Front party, religion, including Catholicism, Islam and Judaism, politics and culture.
They too published cartoons depicting Muhammad and were the subject of three terrorist attacks, in 2011, 2015, and 2020. Very sadly, in the 2015 attack, twelve people were killed.
In this case, ten years on from the Danish offences, the “takers of a fence” had massively amplified their sensitivity and response levels.
Those attacks were perpetrated by Islamic cultural warriors, intent on promulgating a cultural conflict between Christian or Western groups for the dominance of their Islamic values, beliefs, and practices.
Contemporary issues such as abortion, homosexuality, transgender rights, multiculturalism and racism have become the battle grounds for cultural conflicts. The cultural warriors of these minorities, often ultra-minority groups, brook no criticism or denigration nor allow any exploration or investigation of their views from the outside.
Expressions and outbursts of entitlement and privilege have become an identifying feature of current times. Almost every leader in every sector is now dealing with angry stakeholders and minority groups.
Such encounters are nothing new. Many people feel pessimistic about their future, that there is a systemic bias in the opportunities available to their particular minority. Many are being drawn toward ideologies that legitimise themselves and create an us-versus-the-majority outlook. Many, also, feel, rightly or wrongly, that the game has been rigged against them, that they are disadvantaged in life and society is marshalled against them.
None are more so “takers of a fence” than the extremely visible and vocal transgender minority. Any attempt to debate this issue quickly becomes toxic and anyone asking any question gets immediately denounced as transphobic.
The transgender lobby and their LGB, intersex and asexual supporters are actually attacking the foundations of a democratic society by suppressing free speech, with bizarre concepts such as “trans women are women,” “gender-neutral pronouns,” or “there are more than two genders”.
There is a certain irony in that these “protectors of public enlightenment” are guilty of the very behaviour that phrase derides. We may dismiss the transgender lobby as just an extremist fringe movement, but the views, claims, rights and recognition they demand and we accept are actually infecting and affecting our politics and our culture.
Politicians, especially, walk on eggshells when faced with a transgender/transgender rights question. Witness Chris Hipkins left struggling for words at a news conference when a reporter asked him to define the term ‘woman’.
Interestingly in the US, Apple, whose CEO Tim Cook is the nation’s most visible gay executive, is quietly mobilising its vast resources to lobby against anti-LGBTQ legislation that is proliferating across the country. Apple has deployed its lobbyists to oppose legislation that limits protections for trans and gay people or their families in Iowa, Florida, Texas and at least six other states.
That is a remarkable stance by one of the world’s most valuable companies, stepping into a culture war.
Surely the most effective way to deal with these most virulent “takers of a fence” is to ignore them. How they choose to live their lives is up to them.
More often these days, we see the trans community saying they, as a people, are disadvantaged, at risk and have fewer opportunities in life.
Seemingly, when marginalised groups such as the transgender lobby, ask for (or is it demand) recognition or understanding, it’s an attempt to make their own lives safer and more fulfilled.
Alas, they seem to have a strong desire not to allow us to ignore them. They toil diligently to keep the fires of vitriol and conspiratorial discourse aflame.
And who provides oxygen for those fires? The Main Stream Media! The MSM have a vested interest in promoting the dissent and argument as it is a creator of great headlines.
During the 1992 United States presidential election, Pat Buchanan, campaigning for the Republican nomination against incumbent George H. W. Bush, gave a speech on the culture war. He argued: “There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be, as was the Cold War itself.”
Very prophetic words.
