Your right versus responsibilities

September 11, 2025

I blame the ridiculous oscillation and indecision by our government and medical officers, and the unquestioning gullibility of our media during the pandemic, for the rise of the right-wing sovereign citizens, Australian Zionists and white fundamentalists.

If government officials oscillate during life and death moments regarding masks and vaccines, and make a health crisis all about personal rights, it inevitably gives rise to citizens who put themselves at the centre of their own universe.

You have rights, yes, but they go hand in hand with responsibilities ie your civic duty towards your fellow citizens. I fear many of those above have never heard of civic duty, nor realise they have responsibilities as Australian citizens.

We know selfishness is a precursor to collapse of a friendship, a marriage, a family, but it’s also at the heart of collapse to a society. It’s also reversible. But that takes examination of one’s values and ethics. And we know any such modelling from the top is thin on the ground in this country.