Australian DIngo

Source: Bigstock

Wolstencroft stressed that he was simply venting when he wrote the now-notorious post, as someone who had just been on the losing side of a major national vote. “After Trump won, look how many posts we saw all over social media from anti-Trump people who were screaming about how it’s the end of the world. But we let ’em vent. I was venting too. It’s healthy to vent.” He also added that he has no opposition to gay marriage per se, but he was concerned about the possible ramifications of the yes victory (ramifications like what we’ve seen in the U.S. regarding business owners forced to act against their religious principles). He rejects any notion that he’s “homophobic”: “I went to trial to defend a gay filmmaker. I think it’s really bizarre that anyone would accuse me of homophobia after I put so much on the line to defend a gay director.”

Wolstencroft believes he did the right thing by apologizing and resigning from the festival. He admits to being moved by the sentiments of his friends in the gay community who explained how and why his comments had hurt them. Unfortunately but not unsurprisingly, his apology was not accepted by lynchers like Pryor. “There’s nothing I can say to these people that will change their minds; they want blood,” Wolstencroft somberly remarked during our conversation.

And that is why this story is so disturbing. The man offered a sincere apology for his words. And they were just words. He didn’t kill anybody, he didn’t rape anybody, he didn’t assault anybody. A champion of the right of others to say inflammatory things himself said something inflammatory, something he now agrees was “stupid,” but there’s no clemency, no forgiveness. This lack of mercy toward “transgressors” is a problem with the SJW left in general, but, and I say this as a guy who’s about as “gay-friendly” as a straight guy can be, it’s especially a problem among the LGBT left. Because whereas things like race hatred and religious persecution have, for centuries, been recognized as foul by sizable segments of society, opposition to gay marriage is a brand-new “crime against humanity.” I will remind my American left-leaning LGBT friends that a mere nine years ago, most of you voted for a dude who openly opposed gay marriage. A mere sixteen months ago, you cheered the DNC speech of the man who signed the Defense of Marriage Act. And a year ago, you voted in a presidential election for that man’s wife, who had steadfastly opposed gay marriage until 2013.

Why is there such hatred toward people who currently hold the exact same position on gay marriage that Obama, Clinton, and Clinton held until very recently? More to the point, why were Obama, Clinton, and Clinton allowed to “evolve,” allowed to say “I was wrong,” while a guy like Richard Wolstencroft isn’t?

Because, as I said at the start of this column, it’s not about the dialogue, but the purge. Wolstencroft’s foes won’t accept his apology because they’re too busy enjoying the hunt, too busy savoring the kill.

Even in the land of the box jellyfish, the funnel-web spider, and the baby-eating dingo, the leftist social justice fanatic remains nature’s most ruthless predator.