From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 28 June

The time has come for all even-handed people to call for a halt. The invisible and ubiquitous ‘they’, whomsoever they might be, must stop looking for dark shadows where there are none!

WE used to believe that empty vessels make the most sound. These days it is the squeaky door which gets the oil. As a member of a still demonised minority group, I am aware of the emotional impact of social discrimination and prejudice; however, to view the ugly past through the prism of 2020 does not serve the cause, advance the much needed and urgent discourse, or help resolve the societal emergency. There is a far more serious conversation to be pursued, and more important outcomes to be achieved. The imbalance in the aggregate needs to be righted, and sooner rather than later.

The international Black Lives Matter rallies have demonstrated, unambiguously, we must look for serious change in how we think about, and react with, our fellow travellers, regardless of their colour, creed, race, or sexual proclivity. As a civilisation, we have to speak-out against discrimination, inequality, and the casualisation of racism, in any form. My late parents had no truck with racial prejudice.

To argue the 1939 film, Gone with the Wind, be withdrawn for offending vague sensibilities is a nonsense. Only a half-wit would be unacquainted with the evils of slavery. While GWTT is a homogenised version of life in the deep south of America, it is a reminder of the scourge which underpins the prevailing divisive ethos. To claim modern-day Germans might be offended by an episode of Fawlty Towers is spurious, and silly. Not all Germans were Nazis. Because you are forced to play in the mud does not make you dirty. Censoring the episode of Fawlty Towers is tantamount to silencing the voices of the seven-million whom the monstrous Hitler murdered. While UK-TV declined to list the precise issues it had with the specific episode, it is assumed the over-reaction was to the character of the Major, a gross figure of fun and utter contempt, saying the N-word several times. John Cleese wrote the character with purpose, and it hit the mark. The German content was designed to offend. The objective was to exaggerate the dreadfulness of the characters being lampooned, and to highlight, unequivocally, one group’s flagrant inhumanity to another. To ban it would be offensive to all its victims.

That a senior member of the New South Wales Police Force, Tactical Operations Unit, wrote and delivered a mock acknowledgement of country at an elite counter-terrorism unit’s Christmas party in Sydney, last year, is greater reason for disquiet.

The film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, should be banned, not for Mickey Rooney’s grotesque, stereotypical portrayal of a Japanese man, but for his extremely coarse acting!

Always, content and intent are problematic. Separating the two proves challenging, even for those skilled practitioners. It is too easy to misinterpret. Censorship is a vexed question and its implementation is fraught with peril. It requires careful and grave deliberation. It demands the cold, clear eye of contextual evaluation, and not the warm heart of subjective emotion. Before we accept any form of censorship, and that is a debate for another time, it must be conducted by a panel of highly qualified anthropologists, social scientists, historians, academics, and psychologists and psychiatrists. We cannot be seen to be whitewashing our history; to be hiding away those works which remind us of a dark past. For better or worse, we are the sum total of eons of happening. If we are too learn anything from what has gone before then it must be available for public scrutiny – even ridicule. We need to be reminded, constantly.

If we extrapolate the current spate of knee-jerk censorship to the extreme, what next in the chain of events? The burning of books and artworks? The destruction of public statues?

Roland can be heard on RADIO 3BA, every Monday morning, 10.45. You can also email him via [email protected].