The disease killing people in Australia is violent extremism but Chris Minns pointed a scapegoating finger at the gun owner in the town square and yelled, “Burn the witch!”
The Greens and anti-gun lobby were already halfway to catching the witch anyway, their pyre ready to light. They’d been wanting to burn a witch for years.
Part of the crowd knew the witch hadn’t cast a spell of pestilence but Minns cried louder: “Burn the witch! Do it now, before it’s too late!”
The Greens began whipping the townsfolk into a witch-hunting frenzy, joined by half the town criers.
The Liberals said it was wrong to burn the witch but passed the matches. The Nationals said they would not burn the witch, but when the chance came to take the matches away they didn’t.
The few who stood in the way of the witch-hunters were trampled.
And then it was too late. Minns strutted away, telling the townsfolk their Christmas was saved and they could sleep safely in their beds.
But nothing he had done would cure the disease, which festered in the shadows.
I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve been dunked to see if I’ll sink or float. I don’t cast spells or invoke spirits, let alone wish ill on anyone, but I am apparently too ugly and scary to be tolerated, and am therefore a fair target for unfair persecution.
I have just experienced the mob descending on me, seen the sanctimonious hatred of the Greens, the contempt of the Labor Party using me as a political punching bag and distraction, and the complete disrespect of the Liberals who (bar one!) knowingly went along with the crowd.
Through it all, I saw society’s political leaders in action, heard their words and knew they were nothing better than witch-hunters.
Whether it was driven by ideology, pragmatism, ego or ignorance, it was wrong. It was painful. And it was all so bloody unnecessary.
To be reduced to a piece of political theatre is humiliating. To be corralled alongside terrorists and extremists is worse.
Labor called it the Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Bill and aimed it directly at me and you. And it contains nothing that will have the slightest impact on the fight against terrorism, but it does contain a lot of assaults on our civil liberties. It will have a significantly negative impact on me and many, many other law-abiding shooters and businesses.
Bring on the next election.
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