I sincerely wish I could say I was surprised by last Monday’s Q&A on our national broadcaster.

I was not.

I called how this unbearable drama would unfold before the show even aired. It summed up the culture wars in one neat hour — one on TV, one in living rooms across Australia.

Where we are today shines a light on the challenge we face if we are to restore civility to our national discourse and balance to debate.

Now, unfortunately, we need to shine a light on those who are still attempting to defend violence.

Last Monday’s Q&A was an utter disgrace.

The fact the(ir) ABC chose to air an entirely unbalanced panel was a disgrace.

The fact our national broadcaster, an experienced producer and a senior and seasoned host chose to proceed is a disgrace.

The fact it took days for the ABC to act — or, rather, acknowledge it had a possible problem on its hands — is a disgrace.

If you push all of those layers of disgrace to one side, it’s really important now that we look at the evidence confronting us.

Having received hundreds of complaints, the ABC is investigating whether the episode of Q&A breached editorial standards.

Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy, whose problematic views I specifically pointed out before the show had even aired, is digging in.

On Friday she joined Clementine Ford in public conversations event at Carriageworks.

“Two scary women together. She’s one up on me though -– they won’t even put me on the ABC anymore,” Ford posted.

Could that be because she called conservative commentator Miranda Devine a “c**t”, pushes an anti-men narrative around ‘Kill all men’ while the male suicide rate soars, has doxxed young boys and caused untold destruction to lives?

Be warned: Ford may be banned from the ABC but she’s not banned from Channel Ten. She tweeted last week she would like a panel spot on The Project now it’s confirmed Hamish McDonald will be the new host of Q&A.

Ford is still defending Q&A. In response to news the episode had been removed from iView she wrote, “What in the actual f**k. Shame on the ABC.”

Other panellists, including Jess Hill who used to be a producer at the(ir) ABC, are still defending it. A change.org petition is circulating online, pushed along by feminist circles, to get the episode reinstated onto iView. The petition currently sits at just over 10,000 signatures and I expect that to increase.

The culture wars in Australia are blazing.

The same “Mad F***ing Witches” who went after Alan Jones are incandescent with rage, appear not to have blinked in days and are incapable of writing anything other than in CAPS. Even a far-left activist masquerading as a “News Corp journalist” has joined forces.

Yumi Stynes is on board.

Jane Gilmore, regular The Drum panellist, is too.

Meanwhile, Eltahawy is still standing by her comments.

“I’m obviously not saying women are going to go out there on the streets and kill people,” she told the Nine Network’s tabloids. “Why are these white, male, right-wing commentators so obsessed with someone trying to shake people awake into noticing how horrific these statistics are when it comes to sexual violence and murder? Last year [in Melbourne] a young woman was raped and murdered in a park while walking home. How is this still happening today?”

She added, “If my asking, “How many rapists must we kill before men stop raping us?” scares men, then let them be scared.”

I could write a 100,000 word reply to her comments or I could just say this…

It is not “white”, “male”, “right-wing commentators” who found the entire Q&A discussion hideous; it is everyone who truly believes in creating a harmonious society who hasn’t swallowed the ideological pill of feminist theory.

Crucially, it was not the profanity people took issue with.

As is true with any religion, when you are a believer in feminist ideology, you take the leap of faith that men are the problem.

You look at statistics of women murdered and see men are the issue.

Gender is the air that you breathe.

You read feminist ideology and believe there is a utopia on the other side if only the masses would listen and see the world as you see it.

Feminists believe men are a problem to be fixed; the rest of us see crime. Glaring difference. (Fun Christmas game: try discussing Easter with a devout Christian and see how much common ground you find before you agree to disagree).

There is a very real reason that some call feminism a “cult”.

Just look at the feminist reaction to Pauline Hanson daring to suggest some women lie.

If you see violence as a gendered issue, you will take a gendered approach to the solution.

Feminism can never solve violence. Neither can violence can ever solve violence.

Hatred is never the answer.

Extremism is never the solution.

Hurling abuse should never be the response.

Venom is never justified.

Only respect can shape the way forward.

Equality of respect and true equality of compassion is progress. Our national broadcaster should be for all of us.

If only those filled with hatred could realise the fierce condemnation of Q&A is a good thing. It means people want better than men and women at war and they certainly don’t believe that violence is ever a solution.

Why do they believe this?

Because evil does not run through their veins and they are as appalled by violent crime as the rest of us.

Because the battle in life is between good and evil. There are good men and bad men, good women and bad women.

Bad men were not appalled by the Q&A panel because they do not care; all the preaching and ideological brainwashing in the world can not fix them.

Take heart. The vast majority of people know that violence is never, ever acceptable.

And certainly, this dangerous, unchallenged creep of feminist ideology should never have infested our national broadcaster to this extent. The sickening irony is that last Thursday the same ABC reported a woman has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for murdering her partner, the second time she has been jailed for murdering a lover.

People complained about Q&A because they know we can do better united, not because they’re happy about crime statistics. Similarly, they were glad to see the back of White Ribbon Australia not because they want to see violence increase.

We all agree on the problem but ideology is making some blind to the answer; unity.

Right now, we must unite in saying it is those who are still defending violence who are our common enemy.

Illustration: Clementine Ford, Twitter.

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