Even though it’s Christmas Eve and I hadn’t been planning on posting anything except what I hope to be humorous holiday greetings, I couldn’t resist mentioning this example of political correctness run amok:
A Croatian rock star accused of anti-Semitism will be forced to undergo tolerance counselling as a condition of entry to Australia.
A Jewish rights group on Friday expressed anger over the federal government’s decision to allow Marko Perkovic into Australia.
Mr Perkovic, singer and songwriter with the Croatian rock band Thompson, has been criticised for making strongly anti-Semitic remarks and for supporting the Ustashe regime, the fascist Croatian movement accused of the slaughter of Jews and other ethnic minorities during World War II.
Thompson is scheduled to play several shows across Australia during the Christmas-new year period.
[…]
The immigration department said Mr Perkovic would be required to have tolerance counselling as a condition of his entry to Australia.
“The department can confirm that Marko Perkovic has been granted a visa,” a spokesman told AAP.
“Mr Perkovic will be counselled regarding the multicultural nature of Australian society and the need to avoid vilification or incitement of discord in the community.”
This is just silly. Either let the anti-Semitic twit into Australia to tour with his band or don’t. The whole business about “counseling” as a precondition for his being issued a visa is just ridiculous. Do they really think “tolerance counseling” will do one whit to change Perkovic’s views? All it will do is to give the appearance of “doing” something before letting him in.
