Finally it has happened: our words have started turning into bullets. The sentences carelessly flung around by the holders of megaphones, convinced of their righteousness, disdainful of the history of the 20th century, have started animating angry, deluded, racist gunmen. And here in Australia of all places. What have we done?

The ways in which we now talk to each other, especially the historical ignorance that increasingly colours our arguments, must bear part of the blame. Our political dialogue has become too vicious, too absolute, and just too much. And it has infected large amounts of our formerly non-political lives.

Jodie Gien visits the memorial at Bondi Pavilion, two days after the mass shooting at Bondi Beach. Credit: Getty Images

Over recent years, for example, it has become common to attend artistic events and festivals only to be forced to endure lengthy and sometimes completely inappropriate political statements from people who are often supremely unqualified to interpret complex events for us. We have also had to put up with the centres of our cities being stopped by increasingly extreme and performative rallies. The protests, the salutes, the endless hollow pledges of solidarity, the empty, inaccurate slogans about imperialism, the references to rivers and seas, the........

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