Margaret Court was a truly great tennis player. In her day, she was undoubtedly the best and her record of triumphs in Grand Slam events is testimonial to that.
Unfortunately for her, Mrs Court has views on some matters which run counter to currently promoted notions of supposed equality and she has received considerable criticism, even odium, for expressing them. In truth, Mrs Court has shown great courage, far greater than that shown by the undoubted vast numbers of people who share her views but are terrified to express them for fear of the backlash they will then suffer. Her views are based on an interpretation of the Christian bible which she, as a committed Christian, has total faith in; they are not violent or aggressive, but are simply social and cultural in nature.
Of course, in these supposedly enlightened days, we are all expected to kowtow to every minority group, granting them rights and privileges virtually on demand. Vote hungry legislators, terrified of the noise created by pressure groups, have supported the introduction of the most ludicrous arrangements; allowing marriage between 2 men or 2 women, allowing birth certificates to be devoid of a parent of one sex or the other, creating a legalistic difference between the terms 'gender' and sex', supporting the notion that a person who's had surgery to change their physical appearance can also lay claim to the sex (or is it gender ?) of their changed body form. The list goes on.
Mrs Court's crime has been to object to this nonsense on a religious basis although surely it can, and should, be rejected on the grounds of common sense. Yes, there are some people who are born with indeterminate chromosomal arrangements but these are few and far between; the rest of us are what we are - male or female, whatever medical or surgical interventions we undergo. End of.
I have no issue with 2 men or 2 women entering into a legal contract to be a couple, but for them to be 'married' in church is utterly ludicrous. For a child to have 2 men or 2 women named as their parents is equally nonsensical and for muscular men, who prefer to call themselves female, to be allowed to compete in women's sporting events is nothing short of insane.
Mrs Court has expressed such views and been vilified for it. Now she is back at the centre of more opprobrium as it's rumoured that she is to be granted Australia's highest honour, "Companion of the Order of Australia". Inevitably, the usual loud noises are emanating from the usual places and Mrs Court may yet be denied her honour for the simple reason that her views do not find favour with the fads and fancies of today's "Woke" brigade.
Mrs Court's predicament is little different to that of others whose beliefs now fail to find favour with some elements of modern society. The recent attacks on monuments to those of previous generations, who are now deemed to have held unacceptable views, are another example of this same lack of tolerance that is displayed by those who demand that that they should be not just tolerated but almost deified for their differences. Interestingly, while the demonstrators demand the removal of statues, and renaming of buildings and streets in their own image, I've heard no one suggesting that the vast fortunes often endowed by such offenders, Cecil Rhodes springs rapidly to mind, be returned to his family. Perhaps those who benefitted greatly from Oxford's 'Rhodes' Scholarships' would now like to repay the cost of their time at the university, in recognition of their own acceptance that Rhodes' fortune was accrued from practices which are, today, considered unacceptable. Not much chance of that, I think.
The moral of the story is quite simple. Agree with us, that is those who are 'Woke' and making the loudest noise, or be condemned as being bigoted, racist, homophobic or any of a dozen other terms of vilification. Essentially, it's no different to the approach of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and all those other tyrants of history. We already have a variety of 'thought crimes', how long before conviction carries a prison sentence ?
What a terrifying world we live in.
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