It’s okay to admit you have been wrong in the past. In fact there often comes a time when it is important to do so. I wish I could say it is a cathartic experience, but in reality it is mostly painful and embarrassing. I wrote about one such experience a few years ago in relation to my thoughts around the date of Australia Day. But that episode only scratches the surface of beliefs and actions from my past I would freely admit were wrong, some of which I am genuinely embarrassed and disappointed with myself over. I don’t enjoy dwelling on them, but I am also not going to pretend they didn’t happen. I would like to think that they were less a product of inherent prejudice or chauvinism than ignorance, but that doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better about any of it. Nor does the very real role that social conditioning would have played in my past behaviour. I just have to own that in both past word and action I have not lived up to values I hold as important. So what do I need to do about it? Well not a great deal really. I don’t feel a great sense of shame or the need to endlessly self-flagellate, but I have certainly made concerted effort to become a better person in recent years. But I would be surprised if there are many people out there (aside from a few mouth-breathing exemplars of the Dunning-Kruger Effect) who believe they have been on the right side of every debate they have taken part in and couldn’t admit to some actions they aren’t proud of.
So looking back, most of us can admit to some mistakes and erroneous beliefs from our past. But we don’t always have to. Those without the courage or awareness to admit wrongdoing (hello Sam Newman) will often double down, clinging to increasingly less credible, but more extreme arguments or trying to change the narrative with strawman arguments and non-sequiturs. This isn’t always a conscious process either. The widespread Black Lives Matter protests in the US have thrust racial issues back into the Australian political discourse and as a nation we are having to face some uncomfortable truths about racism in Australia. And yes, it can be a complex and not easily resolved subject, which is too often oversimplified (welcome to Australian politics in the 21st century), but there is a core element of truth about our long history of mistreatment of Indigenous Australians, as well as immigrants to this country. One that many Australians (although in an unsurprising paradox, not columnists for The Australian) are realising they had previously underestimated the extent of. As a consequence, a lot of people must be feeling a little uneasy about moral positions they have previously chosen to adopt around our treatment of race and their dismissive attitude towards 'political correctness.' And giving up said positions takes a lot more strength that doubling down. So we are seeing both responses. Many are educating themselves and adding their voices to the calls for greater action. But others aren't ready to relinquish outdated views and are pushing back with arguments I would describe as 'tangential to the issue' at best. And that brings us to the aggressive backlash to the recent Australian BLM protests. As someone who has taken the threat of COVID 19 pretty seriously and who has studiously obeyed restrictions, I have mixed feelings about these protests. I accept they have a genuine message, but I couldn’t bring myself to join them. Moreover, I wondered at the timing and the optics of the events. Although the massive US protests have been highly effective, tactically I am not sure the Australian events will have the same effect. If you are genuinely concerned about COVID- 19 you may well have taken umbrage at the protesters’ actions and if you chose to be critical that is a fair opinion. But unless you are a brazen hypocrite, you should be equally concerned about the big business lobby’s successful push to wind back isolation measures, reopen borders and basically pretend COVID 19 is no longer a threat. Most of us probably even know people who have been blatantly ignoring social distance regulations all year and unless you responded to those people with the same level of outrage, one has to question how genuine your outrage really is. Confected outrage over the risk of COVID 19 allows people to shift the BLM narrative to something that they feel more comfortable with. And sure, it’s easy to criticise protestors for increasing the community health risk, but it does nothing to diminish the validity of their message. So whatever you think of the protests, have the courage to consider the issue of racism fairly. If you really don't believe there is an issue to be addressed here, I don't really know what to tell you. Information about the level of disadvantage indigenous Australians face is not hard to find. If, like me, you have previously let ignorance or uninformed groupthink lead you to conclusions or behaviours you would now find harder to defend, it’s okay to admit that was a mistake and try to do better in the future. It’s a lot better than the alternative choice.
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