Steve Price is experiencing backlash after proclaiming he feels his opinions aren’t welcome anymore because he is “white and old!” Of course, he did this via News Corp’s primary masthead, The Herald Sun.
Besides the obvious, if Price were truly ‘cancelled’, he wouldn’t have a column in a major newspaper to discuss his cancellation. But, never the less, Price persisted in airing and pushing forward this narrative.
Price wrote in his column, “I’m sick and tired of feeling I need to be ashamed of being an older, white Anglo-Saxon male. Feeling that I have no place in the debate about what we remember, celebrate, talk and write about because I’m white and old.”
The problem with this article explains itself. Price is paid to talk about his opinions, from his radio show to his regular appearances on 10’s The Project to the fact that he had an article in the paper about his opinion that he feels he isn’t allowed to have an opinion!
He is certainly not someone that is being silenced. He has made a very lucrative career out of being very loud, and if you are worried old white men are being silenced, look at the not-so-old Ben Fordham, Kyle Sandilands, Karl Stefanovic, Peter Overton, Eddie McGuire – all white men with vast and loud platforms.
White men in the media industry are doing just fine!
Price goes on to complain about diversity. Yes, diversity is the thing that makes people feel included. He wrote: “I could go on and on – golf clubs getting rid of the women’s tee, non-binary bathrooms in pubs, no TV commercials able to be made without a coloured person, someone of Asian background and equal numbers of men and women or the same-sex couple.
“It’s too hard to stop now. The vocal minorities have won, and now white males in our 60s make up a minority group all of our own.”
Now, the backlash came hard and fast. MasterChef Judge, Melissa Leong posted a photo of the article on her Instagram story and wrote,” “Old male writer spends an entire page in the paper, talking about how he no longer has a voice.”
Meanwhile, The Guardian has reported that Price’s article has prompted multiple complaints to Australia’s press watchdog. Price complaining that white men were among the “the minority!” contradicts the evidence gathered on diversity in the media. It is not based on statistical evidence, just Price having a whinge.
But this is all to be expected, right? What’s more worrying is that Price’s article probably stoked the fire of old white powerful men that see reaching equality as oppression. Why? Because if we do get true equality, men like Steve Price won’t be silenced, but they will no longer have all the power.
