And if I am left believing in anything it is something very simple, that truth matters above all else. Anything that honours and guarantees the truth is not just good, but necessary and anything like mass conformity that threatens the truth, needs to be challenged. For the road to tyranny is never opened with a sudden coup de etat. It is a long path paved with the small cobbles of silence, lies and deceit that ends inevitably in horror. In Australia, we stand at the head of that road, only history will tell us if as a people we chose the terrible the terrible folly of choosing to walk down it.
I just listened to a repeat of this lecture by Richard Flanagan, author of The Sound One Hand Clapping and Gould's Book of Fish, (amongst others). It is a powerful piece of oration.
Listen to the audio here I transcribed much of this speech here
