I was reading the daily news this week and the more I read the more dismayed I became. I have been increasingly concerned recently about the erosion of respect at almost every level of society. When I was growing up there was an embedded basic respect everywhere in society from men politely giving up their seat on a tram for a tired, pregnant mother, to the removal of your hat, or cap, as you entered a place of worship. This was more than basic manners or politeness and it was so embedded as to be automatic. Likewise in public debate or discourse people with differing points of view maintained a respectful (not a merely tolerant) demeanour towards an opposing speaker because everyone was deserving of respect. Respect as the common denominator in society worked. And that was a good thing. It worked, by and large.
These days respect has just about disappeared. But it has not been replaced by disrespect which can sometimes be an unconscious and unintended trespass that, once recognised, would cause one to apologise and make amends. Or, disrespect that can be deliberate yet veiled in some sense of decency. So, not respect, but disrespect intended or otherwise. But we are no longer in that place either.
Disrespect has lost any veneer it may have had. It has been replaced by contempt. And contempt is a very different thing. Whereas disrespect can easily be unintended, or even a response out of ignorance or carelessness, contempt is intentional. It is aimed at the degradation of another human being. Contempt for another person is hatred – pure and simple. Disrespect is rudeness and desecrating. Contempt is degrading, hateful and the intentional, brutal undermining of basic human rights. It’s now almost automatic.
Now, I know that sounds like a harsh assessment of where Australian society is at right now, but bear with me. In today’s Herald-Sun (Wednesday, July 1st), for example, Libertarian MLC for Victoria David Limbrick, observed in his opinion piece, “Ideology Harming Our Kids”, that “many Victorian schools – public and private, religious and non-religious – have policies in place allowing children to be socially transitioned, including changing their name, without telling their parents. If a kid gets the flu or hurts their knee in the playground, a parent would expect a call, and be asked to come and pick them up. This happens because the school knows that parents are the best people to look after them. But if a child is experiencing gender distress this must be kept secret because parents cannot be trusted at that level for the welfare of their child”. This is ideology disguising contempt for parenthood – and it is directed and orchestrated by the Education Department, not the government.
This is not isolated contempt, either. Young teenage offenders facing court on very serious criminal charges laugh and smirk not with disrespect, but contempt. So, how did we get here? From disrespect to utter contempt? Well, some of it starts at home, for sure. But my view is that this is minimally impacting overall compared to what children are being taught in the classroom. From Pre-School, Australian children are now taught a cultural self-loathing. Recent Institute of Public Affairs research has highlighted that in kindergartens ‘educators’ are expected to teach children “feminist and post-structuralist theories that offer insights into issues of power, equity and social justice”.[1] Before they learn how to tie their shoelaces, Australian kids are being taught to apologise to aboriginal people for stealing their land. “As they progress through the system, the frame of oppressor versus oppressed is taught as the only way of understanding our society and our history.” Of course, this is not the only way to understand our society and history, but the contempt of left-wingers, wokeists and neo-Marxist idealogues has colonised the education system and have finally hijacked any sensible approach to understanding our history as a nation.
In short, a key driver of education is not respect but contempt. It gets worse. This contempt was expressed by two young women who spray-painted vile slogans on RSL and ANZAC memorials prior to ANZAC day, but who then expected their rights to anonymity be respected pending their court trial. Australia is not the only western society afflicted by the contempt pandemic, either. In Britain last month Henry Nowak was repeatedly stabbed by Vickrum Singh Digwa. When police officers arrived, his attacker accused Nowak of racism - and the police refused to help him. They handcuffed Nowak on the ground and all the while he was gasping that he had been stabbed. One police officer responded, “Sure you have, mate!”, and ignored his pleas for help. Nowak bled to death on the footpath. Digwa has since been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years.
Katharine Birbalsingh – “Britain’s Strictest Headmistress” and founder of the Michaela Community School in London – at the recent ARC forum commenting on all this, said that children across the West have been taught to view all people as belonging in one of two camps: the oppressed and the oppressors. “The man who killed Henry Nowak belonged to the oppressed class, so the police’s job was to protect him, not the dying man on the ground”.[2] What should have been the police officers’ deepest instinct to help someone claiming to have been stabbed was overridden by “their most powerful fear: being accused of racism”. She went on to conclude:
“A young man lay dying on the ground, and their [the police officers’] most powerful instinct was not to help him, but to manage their own terror of being seen as racist. This is not a policing failure. This is a civilisational failure, and it belongs to us because of what we have done and are doing to our children.”
This is powerful observation and is the result of education driven by neo-Marxist ideology whereby contempt is learned and lived out, even by those enforcing the law.
Our history is being revised and rewritten such that education is now contemptuous indoctrination – if you want to graduate from university you are forced to comply. This, too, is contempt for a student’s human rights and dissenting ideas. But it all starts in Pre-School where children are taught contempt. Contempt for their elders whose oppressive world needs to be overthrown, contempt for Israel, contempt for authority, contempt for traditional values, and contempt for our founding stories, such as the ANZAC story and our Judeo-Christian heritage. We are way beyond critique! The end result of all this is an emergent generation raised on a steady diet of cynicism. Unhitched from the past they are the most anxious and insecure generation yet – and they now parrot the same contempt that the system has taught them. All this has implications for parents and grandparents who must now educate themselves properly, and be brave enough to be able to counter this cynicism and contempt with the grace of God, and instil the sacred value of all human beings being equal regardless of viewpoints. In addition, we must not give up the task of teaching our kids right from wrong, taking personal responsibility, civil and respectful behaviour, articulate and intelligent public dialogue, a sense of duty and service to our nation, to build and not merely consume, and biblical morality. And, hopefully, as we bathe all this in prayer and commit seriously to disciple our children, we inoculate them from becoming robots spewing contempt. Yes, there is hope!
Proverbs 22:6 (NLT)
“Direct [train] your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.”
Pray into these things. Make the hard decision to counter contempt.
Ps Milton
[Sources: ARC Conference, London, June 2026; Institute of Public Affairs’ IPA Research Bulletins June 2024; Mindless, by Dr Bella d’Abrera, IPA, May, 2026; Herald-Sun July 1st, 2026]
[1] IPA RESEARCH NOTE: “Government-mandated Early Learning Frameworks forcing radical doctrines in childcare” JUNE 2024. Dr Bella d’Abrera
[2] ARC Conference, London, Dr. Katharine Birbalsingh, June 23rd, 2026