Dear Shadow Minister,

Terms like "Left wing" or "Right Wing" and facists -
bring back images of the past. Images of Stalin
and Hitler.

A past that my family ran away from and that I
would hate to see come to this country.
Therefore the use of
terminology like "Left Wing" "Right-Wing" or
references to dictators and facists - make me very
nervous.

Let us not forget
that Stalin admired Hitler, and initially, the two
worked hand in hand. History is clear that in 1939,
Stalin and Hitler were allies against the free people
of Europe. They were both, by then, accomplished killers,
even though Stalin led the score in victims tortured,
starved, and massacred. Each created panic and chaos
throughout Europe.

Each produced millions of refugees and homeless. Each
was expanding and building concentration camps in which
millions of innocent victims would perish. Both
despised and mistrusted democracies. Each abhorred Jews,
Christians, and organised religion. Both were set on
their conquests.

The two dictators used the same methods to deal with their
domestic opposition - terror.

I therefore question your use of the terminology in your
posts. Do you really believe that the past is being
resurrected here in this country and that only one side
"The Left" is bad?

Think again. We don't want history repeated. As David F.
Springer, an American lawyer once stated:

"The measure of our society over history is our fidelity
to our principles. We must remind our government and our
people to remain faithful to those principles or otherwise
our society, like so many in the past, will be swept on the
ash heap of history."

Therefore the point that I am trying to make is - extremes
of either side - left or right need to be avoided and
watched very carefully. Singling out just the one side and
finger pointing will still end up with very bad results
as history has shown.

Hi Foxy,

In my book there is no left wing, right wing, blame the French for that one. There is extreme and moderates. Stalin and Hitler were bedfellows, more united than divided them. The war between the two had more to do with power and control, than anything philosophical. Hitler could have been a communist, Stalin could have been a fascists.

Dear Paul,

They both used the same methods to deal with their
domestic opposition - terror.

Foxy,

I don't disagree with you, however, it was the tactics of the left whinge activists to call everyone right of centre fascists. In fact, the thugs that targeted Bolt were from the group identifying as the Melbourne branch of ANTIFA which is short for ANTI-FAscists who are the paramilitary bedwetters that target prominent citizens that don't adhere to their left whinge ideology.

Given that, real Fascists used violence to suppress unwanted opinions my argument is that the ease with which these left whinge activists resort to violence against those that voice differing opinions more solidly earns them the title of fascist than their targets.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Thank You for your explanation.

I'm still somewhat hesitant about applying labels
to any one group. I even somehow doubt if these groups
would even know what the labels really mean in
historical terms. I prefer the terms "extremists"
or even "fanatics."

Individualism versus collectivism.

Liberalism is something different.

It is annoying that the public broadcaster prefers to promote adversarial, B&W argument positions/thinking and sensationalism through its entertainment-pretending-to-be-educational shows like Q&A. There is an abysmal lack of nuance that could help the public understand.

However the bigger issue is the increasing criminalisation of behaviour. Migrants who fled Europe after WW2 should be noting with fear that creeping change in Western democracies and definitely happening in Oz.

Returning to the thread topic..