Adelaide Freedom Rally- Stop the Epidemic of Prejudice.

Did you know that incessant factory noise can be classed as a form of torture? We’re here to talk to you about the media - their factory noise and the harm its causing all of us. October was Mental Health Awareness Month, for most it was unpleasantly timed, occurring just before the first mandates came into effect. If there is so much concern for mental health, why has one of the biggest mental health crises been ignored?

The mainstream media has been entrusted with a responsibility to inform and promote health advice during a time of crisis. We believe the mainstream media has breached many of their own General Principles in the way they have been reporting in the last 19 months. They have hidden behind what they describe as “Public Interest” to do it. By their own admission they have stated that the importance of public interest hinges on ensuring freedom of expression, access to reliable information, protecting independent media, public safety and health. Can we see where this is going?
The arm of the Mainstream Media has a greater reach now than ever before, it is inside our homes and our phones. It is on our accounts and in the pop-ups, on billboards and papers. Due to this excessive saturation, the impact on society has taken its toll once again.

The mental health issues we are seeing is at an unprecedented level in our country, as any health provider statistics could testify. It must be acknowledged. We are here to give you some hope and acknowledgement of the undue trauma that has been inflicted on all by the mainstream media.
In South Australia we are generally unmandated, for non-essential workers there is still a choice. The essential workers who have lost their employment, are now no longer mandated. However, the discrimination remains. Where is it coming from?
We all remember the Public Health Officer telling the public to stop attacking people who are not wearing face masks. She did this because many had legitimate exemptions. Some people have continued being aggressive anyway, where is this aggression coming from?
What is stoking the fires of this epidemic of prejudice, the factory noise and the hatred? Why are they getting away with it?
You have heard Kathy talk about prejudice, discrimination, and the damage it can cause on a large scale.
We know that prejudice is a natural reaction that is linked to survival. Fear of contagion for example is so ingrained that we subconsciously react to its threat. What happens when an instinctive reaction is exploited? If the taint of contagion is connected to a minority it’s going to stick. The results of this conditioning can already be seen, for example:
When we feel so overwhelmed that we are forced to make a choice that goes against our conscience
If you have a valid medical exemption, but your friends, family or work colleagues avoid you anyway
When you are repeatedly described as a problem, a spreader, selfish, shameful, and irresponsible
When the science changes and your choices should no longer be mocked but the gaslighting continues
When you have chosen to immunize but continually worry for the safety and wellbeing of your loved ones who have not.
Even when there has been no outbreak for months many are still being persecuted as though contagious
We are all being groomed and or dehumanised. If at some point, we are abused or physically attacked, many in the public will feel that it is justified. And have done so.
We all know how this makes us feel. We are isolated, we self-censor, we argue with relatives or have been disowned, separated or labelled by those we love. Silence is the biggest killer in Mental Health and who do we have to talk to? Only others in our situation nobody in a position to help is listening, so the downward spiral continues.

Mental damage does not just stop with the individual, it is an intergenerational illness. It isn’t just the illness itself it is also the distrust it breeds, the loss of community and the economical liability that the public will end up carrying. How much of this responsibility will the mainstream media bear or will they try to hide behind clauses like ‘in the public interest’? We cannot let them hide behind clauses, there must be accountability. We believe they have taken the defence of what is public interest to an equivalent level of public harm. All choices have consequences but who are the mainstream media to deal out the punishment and discrimination?
The mainstream media are corporate enterprises, meaning they are publicly trading businesses. As businesses they have a duty of care with regards to the people they serve. They must not do harm to the extent that we are experiencing even in these unforeseen times. We should never have allowed them such power, they are not an elected entity. The factory noise consisting of belittling, shaming, invalidating, bullying, coercing or dismissing day after day does not fall within that remit. Where is the right of reply? Will the media shoulder the burden of blame when someone is beaten or maimed? Or when someone takes their own life? They must be made to stop. For too long they have hidden behind the ‘Freedom of the Press’.

We are demanding our right to reply, a royal commission and redress for the actions that we have been discussing here today. The final outcome, of course would be to reinstate honest and considerate reporting.

So how do we address the problem? First, we need to build an army of Chippers as we can’t do this alone.

What do we need from our Community?
1. We need fellow helpers coined ‘Chippers’ to join our work groups. Members who are willing to see this quest through, actively assist within their department, attend meetings, and undertake research
2. We need people to reach out to us who are willing to attest to their feelings of media driven isolation and anguish and submit them in writing as Victim Impact Statements.
3. We need people to monitor, analyse and collect articles and TV segments of interest of the past 19 months.
4. We need to submit gathered articles as complaints to the Press Commission and the ACMA stipulating how the material is threatening to community wellbeing. Their response while irrelevant still builds evidence.
5. We need those same people to send through copies of those complaints and the official responses received to us.
6. Legal assistance, advice and researchers. We are taking the Media on in court, if there is no precedent for our action, we’ll make one
7. We also need individuals with public profiles that have been named and shamed for their choices to lend their weight to the cause.
8. We would also encourage our members to join lobby groups that aim to promote responsible media reporting by pushing Parliamentary Bills through. Or perhaps we establish a powerful lobby group ourselves with large numbers.
9. We are looking for a landlord who will loan us a guaranteed city office or building. A neutral location to facilitate meetings and take down victim impact statements.
10. Volunteer health professionals to record victim impact statement and to liaise with the vulnerable
11. Health professional support staff who can assist with training, debriefing and counselling of team members
12. People who can undertake some administrative tasks, advertising, promotions
13. We have departments that need dedicated skilled and unskilled members to get us moving against the Epidemic of Prejudice and its factory noise.
14. We need donations, we are setting up a GoFundMe which can be accessed on the Freedom Rally Page and there is a bucket at the stand here
We don’t need armchair warriors, only Chippers need apply. The larger the departments the quicker the quest can gain momentum. Please come and see us or contact us there are flyers at the Freedom Rally table to see how and where you can help. One Chip at a time.
If all the good people give up in the world there will be no good left. So never give up, we are all in this together.
Doing it for the community in the interest of public health and safety.
All States need to Address how the media have played a role.