If ever the Australian public and our politicians needed additional evidence of how biased, vulgar and politically correct woke the ABC is need go no further than this week’s Q&A where a panel of “outspoken feminists” and “strong women” engaged in a bitter and vindictive tirade against men and boys and Western society in general.

Ignoring any attempt to be balanced or reasonable, the selection of the panel was guaranteed to act as a self-congratulatory, radical feminist echo chamber devoid of any impartiality or awareness of opposing views.

Describing herself as an Egyptian/American, Mona Eltahawy is in no doubt as to why women suffer oppression and disadvantage. Drawing on neo-Marxist critical theory with its blend of feminist, gender and post-colonial narratives Eltahawy condemns Western society as a “white supremacist, capitalist, imperialist patriarchy”.

In addition to peppering her tirade with the f-word on multiple occasions, the self-proclaimed “woman of colour” argues women must “smash the patriarchy” and that if freeing themselves involves violence then so be it.

Such is the inherently misogynist and oppressive nature of societies like Australia, where all men and boys are supposedly guilty and the police and legal system conspire to marginalise so-called victim groups, that Elthawy argues violence is necessary as “the most important thing is to destroy patriarchy”.

The Indigenous activist Nayuka Gorrie also advocates violence when condemning Western societies and Australia in particular as racist and guilty of white supremacism.

Notwithstanding the Mabo decision regarding land rights, the right to vote and to be treated equally under the law and the billions of taxpayers’ dollars spent every year addressing indigenous disadvantage, Gorrie argues violence is acceptable.

Such is the oppression and disadvantage suffered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that Gorrie argues her people are forced to exist in a “colonial state” where they experience “a constant state of duress”.

And the solution? After suggesting that Australian society is approaching a tipping point where “people will start burning stuff” Gorrie concludes “I look forward to it” and agrees that “violence is OK”.

Even worse than the speakers’ acerbic and poisonous diatribe against men and boys and Western society in general was the fact that the woman in charge of the program, veteran senior presenter Fran Kelly, appeared either unwilling or incapable of ensuring some balance in the discussion or stopping Eltahawy from employing such offensive and crude language.

And for those who might believe that this week’s Q&A is an isolated example of the all-pervasive influence of cultural-left critical theory and political correctness the reality proves otherwise. 

(It’s worthwhile noting that as of this morning both the entire program itself and a full transcript were available online despite the ABC launching an internal inquiry into Monday’s broadcast.)

For years now the ABC has long since given up any pretence of being balanced and ensuring it remains true to its charter. The overwhelming majority of its political affairs journalists and social commentators are left-of-centre and it’s nigh impossible to identify anyone of a conservative nature.

Best illustrated by the supposedly impartial Andrew Probyn’s description of Tony Abbott as “the most destructive politician of his generation” and his startling admission on the night of the commonwealth election that “we” appear to have lost there is no doubt as to the ABC’s political leanings.

It’s also true that many of our universities and school curriculums are awash with PC ideology and cultural-left critical theory. At the University of Sydney Dr Omid Tofighian condemns the traditional curriculum for enforcing ‘whiteness’; defined as a curriculum that is Eurocentric, oppressive and complicit in denying the “identity and cultural background of marginalised groups”.

According to Tofighian subjects like history, literature, art and music must be radically overhauled as they are guilty of “racism, sexism, classism, historical injustice and prejudice based on religion”. The hatred and disdain for the benefits of Western civilisation explain why hundreds of academics argue against accepting money from the Ramsay bequest to establish a Western civilisation centre.

Across Australia, school students are being indoctrinated with radical gender and sexuality programs like Safe Schools and Respectful Relationships. Students are taught that men and boys are inherently misogynist and violent, that there is nothing preferable about being heterosexual and that they can self-identify as whatever gender they desire.

The national curriculum, compulsory for all schools government and non-government, also espouses politically correct ideology and groupthink in areas as diverse as multiculturalism, the environment and sustainability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture and the negative impact of Western civilisation.

As a result, generations of young people are leaving school culturally illiterate and incapable of distinguishing between socialism and capitalism. As noted in the Centre for Independent Studies paper Millennial socialism: Australian Youth are Lurching to the Left 58 per cent of those millennials surveyed thought favourably about socialism while 59 per cent felt capitalism had failed and there needed to be more government intervention and state control.

Dr Kevin Donnelly is a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Catholic University and author of A Politically Correct Dictionary and Guide (Connor Court, forthcoming).

Illustration: ABC Television.

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