Of the 71 speakers at Adelaide's Festival of Ideas this weekend, not one is conservative. Another shining example of the susspressives' open-mindedness and balance.

Well, ttbn, it's a festival of NEW ideas, and by definition conservatives are conservative, and prefer tradition. I'm such they would be welcome if they wanted to put forward some new ideas.

Cossomby,

No. They are not new ideas. They are ridiculous ideas that have been tried and found wanting over time. They are ideas that,if adopted, would have us under the thumb of the oppresives. The oppressives like the ABC, don't want any opposition to their ideas.

TTbn:
This comes down to a matter of opinion. You are entitled to your own views. But why should the conference organisers invite people who they know will just attack everything they don't like?

How many speakers at the festival would be invited to a conservative conference, on the grounds of 'balance'? Have they ever been invited to one?

I would really like to attend a festival/conference where ideas are genuinely debated. My idea of 'balance' is focusing on common ground rather than retreating to defensive trenches. But your comments, for example, suggest that you would not be open to ideas you don't agree with. Is your idea of balance to have each side stand at 40 paces and take potshots at each other? That gets us nowhere.

I'd recommend you go to a Festival of Ideas with an open mind. Put to one side your own views for the duration, and think about what aspects of the ideas you might find palatable, perhaps if they were reworked a bit, or if they were put forward by someone you would regard as a true conservative. Basically, everyone wants the same things: life and liberty, they just often come at it from different angles. Here's an idea for a festival theme applicable to all sides: "Your freedom stops where my freedom starts."

Cossomby,

1."Why would the conference organisers invite people who they know will just attack everything they don't like?"

Perhaps, for the same reason the ABC stacks its Q&A audience, and pits four Leftists against one conservative, with host interupptions on top?

2. Talk-fests, not conferences. Conservatives are not given to such things to make themselves feel superior. Perhaps they should.

3. I, too, would like to see balanced debates, but neither of us is likely to ever experience such things. The Left controls the agenda, and conservatives are too polite or too wet to fight back. And, are you really "open to ideas (you) don't agree with"? If most people don't agree with an idea, that's that.

4. You want me to go along to something like this, as Andrew Bolt did, only to have a large lump of the audience wanting to 'punch' him, 'kill' him? Most of them settled for sending him hate emails, and telling him he had no right to be there, even though he was invited to the Sydney show. Hatred of anyone who disagrees is firmly imbedded in the Left. "Basically, everyone (does not) want the same things", Cossomby.

One of my brothers attended that circus. He did not mention the treatment of Bolt. But then, my brother is a man of the Left, also not interested in the ideas of others.