Discrimination is a Four Letter Word
By Peter Walker
Two disturbing reports hit the media this week. In the first, a group of vigilantes terrorised a Christchurch woman in her home.
Her crime? She is the sister of serial paedophile Colin Davies. He was going to live with her while on home detention.
The second, even more disturbing report was that Mark Worsley, father of twins and innocent shipping manager, was told he could not sit next to a young, unaccompanied boy on a Qantas flight.
His crime? He is a man.
There are so many things wrong with these scenarios it staggers me. The fatalist in me is tempted to throw my hands up, resigned that this is the society we have created. So too, however, is there another voice inside me demanding some serious finger-pointing.
It’s too easy to point our white-knuckled fingers at the airlines. Their purpose is two-fold – to make money, and to not lose money.
The cost of seating an unaccompanied child next to a paedophile could potentially cost more than being accused of gender profiling. The Qantas Risk Management team has done their job well.
This is, of course, not an isolated case of man-bashing. Watch TV for, let’s say, ten seconds. It’s everywhere. This’ll blow over. Wayne Mapp will score some brownie points as Chief PC buster.
Men’s group leaders will get sound-bites.
Kevin Gill will come down. And Qantas will continue to discriminate.
We live in a society that discriminates all the time. Sometimes it’s policy. Smokers pay more for life insurance. Men pay more for car insurance than women. Men aren’t allowed near lingerie changing rooms in some department stores. Apparently, we might all be peeping toms too.
Sometimes prejudice is simply entrenched. Who, now, cannot look at men of obvious Arabic ethnicity without wondering? Little boys are still told “you don’t hit girls.” If someone is covered in tattoos, he must have done it. Let’s face it, discrimination and prejudice are here to stay.
The finger-pointing, therefore, needs to be in the right direction. First, let’s point way back to the original “feminazi’s” who accused all men of being rapists. It is astounding how much of that mud has stuck. It is even more astounding how much of their insidious philosophy remains shrouded in our liberal “policies.” We have truly been brainwashed.
Second, let’s point our fingers definitively at the pond-scum who have stuffed it up for the rest of us. It is true, as far as we can tell, that most child sexual abusers are men.
And because of the cowardly nature of the crime, and the secrecy with which paedophiles usually operate, it inevitably casts a shadow over those of us who are not child molesters.
Consequently, no men are allowed to sit next to unaccompanied children on planes.
That’s not right. It sucks. It’s insulting. But the airline’s catch-22 dilemma is clear. Would you want Colin Davies seated next to your child on a plane?
