Last night on the news I heard that, in France, Marine Le Pen’s National Front (political party) achieved first place in the European Parliamentary elections.

Horror of horrors! That woman’s party is “anti-immigrant” and “anti-European Union”. Shocking!

When did an opposing opinion become so threatening? Why is an opposing viewpoint not just an opposing view point; rather, it’s ‘anti something’, with all the negative connotations that go with ‘anti-something’?

I must confess to being ‘anti’ a lot of things. I’m ‘anti-pornography’. I’m ‘anti-gambling’. I’ve been called ‘anti-choice’ but that’s wrong because I am very much in favour of choice. What the person, who called me ‘anti-choice’, meant was that I am ‘anti-baby-killing’.

Some people are so insecure in their own viewpoints and their ability to defend their opinions that they have become very adept at branding opposing viewpoints. If you don’t support the gay lobby then you are ‘homophobic’. If you don’t support Muslim cultural advances then you are “Islamophobic”

Dictionary.com defines ‘phobic’ as: a persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity or situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid it.

I don’t know how disagreeing with something becomes ‘a persistent, irrational fear’.

I think perhaps that I am becoming ‘anti-phobic’ or perhaps a ‘phobia-phobe’.

Perhaps, understanding about this would help explain Prime Minister Harper’s ‘abortion-discussion phobia’ or perhaps it’s actually that he’s ‘anti-abortion-discussion.’

However we define the refusal to allow adults to carry on an adult discussion about moral issues of the day, the truth is that we Canadians, of average intelligence, ought to be demanding our right to carry on conversations. We should NOT allow ourselves to be bullied into keeping silent about our viewpoints.

You see bullying is not just about schools. Although, staff employed by the educational departments of our government are definitely very, very adept at bullying. Ask a campus pro-life group what bullying they have faced by administrators. Try to prevent your child from being sexualized by educators in public schools. You’ll find out about being bullied if you go against the ‘foolishness of the day’.

Perhaps, if society wishes to control bullying they should look at the model our leaders set for the rest of us. Perhaps, if all social lobby groups quit ‘swarming’ individuals expressing a viewpoint then, maybe, we would see a reduction of overall bullying. It’s a new concept but it’s called ‘setting an example’.

God gave us intelligence and the ability to reason; we use logic and reason to formulate arguments; we use logic and reason to express our points; and we use logic and reason to deal with the loss of an argument.

As a society, let’s bully bullying into submission by requiring those who support group rights, rather than individual rights, to back off and allow individuals to express their own thoughts, whether or not we like their thoughts.

As a society, let’s start being ‘anti-ad-homineim’ and use our intellect to argue points not label the other person so we can bully them into submission.

As a society, let’s not be ‘discussion phobic’ rather let’s discuss the issues that divide us as individuals and find a way to express our viewpoints. We don’t have to agree but it’s never hurts to have the discussion.

Candidates for CHP Canada are ready and willing to defend our positions. If you’re near the by-elections in Macleod, AB, or Trinity Spadina, ON, attend the All Candidates Meetings and ensure that your CHP candidate is free to express their views.

If we won’t stand up for freedom of speech then who will?

Join CHP Canada and show Canada that you will not cower in fear of speaking your beliefs.

Comment on this Communiqué