Rhrosty, "If it were your child?"

Then it would be my responsibility.

You are expecting parents to be responsible for *other* people's children!
"I must vaccinate my children, not just for their benefit, but to protect *other* people's children".
Ridiculous!

The non-smokers at the biker's pub can leave.
They can go to a specifically designated non-smoking area or another premises.
They have choices too.

So should the pub owners.
They, not the state, should decide whether smoking is permitted on their premises.

Life is full of risks, and you should have the liberty to evaluate them for yourself.

In the Adam Goodes saga, the young girl was ferociously berated for her ignorant and prejudiced beliefs, "beliefs for a different age", says Tanveer.

The young girl called Goodes an ape in the Swans versus Magpies match. If she called him a 'lame duck' or nearly any other bird or animal, no one would have cared. Obviously, labelling someone of darker complexion 'ape' is very sensitive and is going to get you in trouble. Why? Because there was once a time we believed that all life including people were and are evolving, The Aboriginal 'races' were allegedly separated from the European for tens of thousands of years, and as such have developed quite independently from the European. One supposed that the rate of change and development could not allow everyone to be still equal after so long. By implication, certain 'races' were more evolved than others. So the Europeans who had figured this out presumed they must be the superiors.

I agree with Tanveer that such ideology belongs in a different age. The problem is that this time is now. Much of this is still taught as fact in our schools. The young girl was berated for echoing the logical consequences of what she is hearing in her school classroom.  

Her parents have been copping the blame. But our current state education systems largely endorse evolution as fact, even to the point of not tolerating any dissenting questioning or discussion of the matter.

Why does the author talk of harm done by racial abuse and then mentions racial discrimination as if they were one and the same thing? Adam Goodes was not a victim of discrimination – he was a victim of verbal abuse. Many other players on the field that day would have been victims of verbal abuse as well.

It is very manipulative to mix these two terms. We have adequate laws to deal with discrimination and so we should. Discrimination is when you deny someone their rights based on nothing other than their race. We do not need laws to protect anyone from verbal abuse since verbal abuse does not cause anyone harm.

I would seriously question the credentials of a psychiatrist who claims that verbal abuse can cause measureable harm to anyone. Where is the proven cause and effect between what is said and what is felt? The current legislation suggests that a reasonable person could determine that cause and effect are present. I would suggest that no reasonable person would ever come to such a conclusion.

Pain may well be experienced when certain words are said but exactly who is responsible for that pain? I have seen Aboriginal children racially abused by their own mothers. If you grow up having been told by your own mother – the person you trust more than any other- that you are a lesser human being because of the colour of your skin then you already have a mountain of pain that you carry around with you every day. You do your best to suppress that pain but when certain phrases are mentioned it comes to the surface all over again. You can hear those phrases on a bus, on TV, during a movie, reading a book or a thousand other situations. That pain already exists but it can be eradicated with appropriate help. Millions have achieved freedom from the pain caused by their upbringing. The choice to seek help in attaining that freedom is open to everyone

LEGO still does not get it. I'm not anti USA and neither is Major General Albert Stubblebine. We are against the corporate lies that are stealing our freedoms and health.

'Liberty is more valuable than comfort/safety.
But we are losing it inch by inch, as the state tries to "protect" us.'

Well said Shockadelic