Former political activist and YouTuber Lauren Southern has filled in on the Sky News program Outsiders replacing News Corp columnist Rita Panahi.
During the program Southern delivered an editorial criticising the military for embracing diversity programs – arguing that the top priority for defence forces if the ability to win wars and kill the enemy.
Southern said Australia may not be sufficiently prepared for combat against China because too much time has been spent focusing on diversity programs.
Who is Lauren Southern?
Southern first came to prominence as a YouTuber and contributor to Rebel Media in her native Canada. She has often voiced controversial opinions about gender recognition laws, refugees, rape culture, and Islam.
In March 2018 she was denied entry into the United Kingdom. When she toured Australia a few months later several of her speaking events were met with protests.
Southern has previously been described as alt-right, a label she rejects. The Southern Poverty Law Center has described her past videos as anti-feminist, xenophobic, Islamaphobic and borderline white nationalist. In the past she has been critical of multiculturalism and highlighted the distinction between white nationalism and white supremacy.
In 2019 she announced her retirement as a political activist, but in 2020 she returned to public life. Now living in Australia after marrying, she has recently become a mother. When she returned to public life in June this year she announced she had undergone a radical transformation and “realigned” her beliefs.
“I’ve taken the real-life pill,” Southern said in a video released a few months ago. “I think people are multidimensional, complex beings and they are worthy of trying to understand.
“You can’t sum them up in a tweet you found six years ago or as a race or a gender, which too often polarising internet communities try to do.”
Now Lauren Southern is on Sky News
The former firebrand has been welcomed as a host on the Sky News program Outsiders having previously been a guest on the program on several occasions.
Speaking on Outsiders this morning Southern began by highlighting the recent take over the hashtag #ProudBoys by the LGBTI community.
Noting that former US Vice President Joe Biden had accused the Proud Boys of being white supremacists, Southern said she did not agree with the characterisation of the group.
“While we obviously have no love of white supremacists here, I do question the veracity of these allegations.” Southern said noting that the group’s leader Henry Tarrio is a person of colour.
Southern said while she had no objection to people taking over the ProudBoys hashtag and swamping it with pictures of LGBT couples she was concerned when the Canadian military posted an image of two men in uniform kissing, and included the phrase “Love is Love”.
“It seems we’ve gone from one problem ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ to another, ‘Must Ask, Must Tell.’ So essentially if you want to be a part of the Canadian military you have to be pro-gay marriage.” Southern said.
The commentator said there was concern about how the Canadian military supported personnel whose religious beliefs disagreed with support of same-sex marriage; “they are supposed to support freedom of religion as well”
“I have nothing against the LGBT community, you do you, but there is a reason we don’t allow our militaries to become political. We have apolitical militaries to ensure our fighting force does not become a populist movement.” Southern said, arguing that use of the ‘Love is Love’ phrase would adversely impact recruiting, and showed that the military was in danger of only supporting people with particular politics rather than all Canadians.
“Armies that fight for partisan causes within their own borders are the types of militaries pulling coups in developing nations.” Southern said.
The commentator said the problem of military forces supporting same-sex marriage was widespread in Western Countries, noting that the British forces allow their members to participate in uniform at the London Pride Parade, and have brought in large diversification pushes.
“Australia is not free from this nonsense either” Southern said, citing former Army Chief David Morrison’s support of gender inclusive language in workplaces.
“Seriously, imagine the soldiers in World War II storming the beaches of Normandy while they leader screams ‘Let’s go guys’ and one man stopping and piping up saying ‘Um, excuse me can we please use gender inclusive language here?’ It’s madness.” Southern said.
Southern criticised the Australian army’s recruitment campaigns which encourages people from different backgrounds to consider a career in the army, saying she was concerned that diversity was being put ahead of merit. Southern said while diversity and a range of perspectives benefited many businesses, it did not apply to the armed forces.
“In the military there only one perspective that counts. We win. They lose.” Southern said.
She continued saying that Australia could potentially face conflict with China within the next decade and our military might not be prepared as we’ve spent too long focusing on diversity initiatives.
“That very real potential situation is getting closer everyday, what are the west’s priorities going to be? Will we be having internal squabbling about how you can’t join your military if you’re not pro-gay marriage? Will western forces collectively be fussing about how our infantry corps is not female enough?” Southern asked.
Southern said she wouldn’t care if the entire military identified as being gay, but worried that the best personnel were being overlooked in the name of diversity.
“I don’t care if you’re gay, straight, blue, green, I wouldn’t care if our entire military were gay if they were the best at the job and the government could explain why.” Southern said.
OIP Staff
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