Why Carrie Bickmore Should Apologise to Steve Price

{OPINION}

Last week was politically stressful for many people. The result of the US election took many by surprise, and left just as many angry, disillusioned and downright frightened of the future. But is that a valid excuse for degrading someone on live national television because their views might differ from yours? No. It’s not okay.

Controversially conservative panellist, Steve Price went head to head with news.com.au columnist Jamila Rizvi on The Project on Wednesday night. During the discussion regarding Donald Trump winning the election, Steve was interrupted and talked down to by Jamila, then when he defended himself, he was chastised by co-host Carrie Bickmore.

Things get a bit heated between @JamilaRizvi and @StevePriceMedia while discussing #Election2016. #TheProjectTV https://t.co/8nSBbH3A9q

— #TheProjectTV (@theprojecttv) November 9, 2016

“It shows you that people in real America, in small town America, weren’t buying the bulldust coming out of the elites,” Price said, before Rizvi jumped in.

“Sorry, can we cut this bullshit about the idea of there being a ‘real America?’” she interrupted.

“I’m sorry, I was speaking before you interrupted. Is it okay if I speak?” Price replied quietly while Rizvi continued to talk over him.

After Rizvi pointed out the question was directed at her, he appeared to become more annoyed.

“This is the reason why Donald Trump won,” he said. “Because people like you lecture and heckle people.”

Everyone was visibly shocked, with a ‘whoa’ buzzing through the audience before co-host Carrie Bickmore stepped in, admonishing her co-host.

“Pricey, we were talking to Jamila and you don’t need to keep that tone,” she said.

Since the unpleasantness, there has been a petition set up urging The Project to apologise to Steve Price live on air. It has already obtained more than 25,000 signatures and is growing by the hour.

The Project, and Carrie Bickmore personally, need to issue an apology to their long term co-host Steve Price for several reasons.

Firstly, because no one should be spoken to in such a manner by anyone else regardless of their political opinions. As a panelist on the program, Steve Price is entitled to express his point of view and for it to be received with the same amount of respect as it was delivered. He barely spoke for 4 seconds before he was interrupted and shut down by Jamila Rizvi.

Ms Rizvi relied on the security of her popular opinion to allow her to get away with speaking down to someone she felt was wrong. She knew she had the support of others on the panel who agreed with her views, and used that to her advantage, giving her the confidence to rudely challenge anyone who didn’t share the same opinion as her.

If a man had spoken to a woman the way that Ms Rizvi had spoken to Price, there would have been an uproar, regardless of what opinion they stood by. It has happened before, with Price being on the other side of the fence as recently as July this year, having called a female journalist “hysterical”. Bickmore and co-host Waleed Aly demanded an apology from him then, and Price refused. This is no different.

Lastly, The Panel and Carrie Bickmore should apologise to Steve Price because he’s absolutely right. Even Carrie herself used the same point that Steve attempted to make later in the discussion. Steve Price used the phrase “real America” and Carrie spoke of “ordinary Americans”. She wasn’t rudely interrupted or told to be quiet.

Donald Trump won the election because of the divide between city and rural way of life. Capital cities are more important than regional areas. Conservative country residents’ opinions don’t matter. It happens here in Australia too. If you live in a regional area, your community is pretty much ignored by state and federal governments and capital city media. You learn pretty quick that you’re not as important as the masses in the city. I live in regional NSW, I see it all the time.

Jamila Rizvi spoke to Steve Price the same way that the “real, ordinary” Americans are spoken to by the progressive city bigwigs. He was absolutely right in what he said to Jamila. She made his point perfectly for him.

Putting on a ball-busting ringer tee and getting all agro with people that don’t agree with you isn’t going to change an American election result, as much as most of us would like it to. Respect is important, and goes both ways.

For the record, this writer considers herself a progressive feminist leftie who doesn’t particularly like Steve Price or most of the thoughts he shares. But, equal rights for all, even if their opinions differ from my own. That’s what being a progressive feminist leftie is all about, isn’t it?