Good old Vlad has passed a law outlawing swearing in films, television, theatres and so on. Violators will be fined up to $1500 for each offence and banned from performing for three months. 

As we look at the filthy language on television on Australia, perhaps we could learn from Russia. In Australia we used to have a Censorship Office that vetted films and books. Truly rude stuff was “censored” before it reached our television screens. 

The Times notes that in the film, The Wolf of Wall Street, the “f” word is used 561 times, in Russia worth a fine of $840,000, and Leonardo Di Caprio would have been banned for 140 years.

Putin’s campaign is nothing new. Trotsky denounced swearing. 

I remember years ago at Teachers’ College, when I was only 18, I used to buy a copy of Tribune, the Communist newspaper, from a shifty looking type hovering near Central Railway Station who called me “Comrade”.

Tribune had no swearing, just convoluted language and repetitive slogans. While researching a speech assignment, I went to The Domain to listen to the “soap box” demagogues on a Sunday afternoon. No swearing there, and their outrageous political comments weren’t censored either. 

With the Communists, controlling bad language is just an extension of what Communists do. They love to control what we as individuals can say, what we are allowed to think, and what we are allowed to do. 

In Australia we used to be able to express ourselves freely, as long as we were not defaming someone. Andrew Bolt’s conviction under Section 18C after an alleged racist comment would have made Vladimir Putin proud. 

Bolt’s conviction was meant to intimidate the whole Australian community. We should be able to talk about things openly, without fear of legal action. Those on the far left of politics don’t want to hear your opinion.

Their opinion is the only opinion. Isn’t it better to allow open discussion than have a Communist-style law to deal with it?

As President Obama so neatly put it, “When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you don’t really have to do anything, you just let them talk ...”

Racist types will be censured without legislation. Dumb ideas will fade away. Sensible ideas will gain an audience.

Speakers in The Domain said racist things, too. They could say what they wanted to say. Nobody was forced to agree. The time has come to rid ourselves of shackles to free speech. While we’re at it, we could save $25 million by abolishing divisive bureaucracies like the Human Rights Commission. 

This is Australia, and we must have the right to speak freely. Anything less puts us in the same class as the Communists.