SARAH VINE: If we don’t stand up to new cultural mafia, free speech will cease to exist

Let me tell you a story. I once knew an old man, in Italy, who worked for a management consultancy.

It was the early 1980s, a few years after one of the terrible earthquakes that regularly hit the country. The money poured in through an international relief fund.

He was dispatched to visit a remote part of the disaster area to check on the progress of reconstruction that was taking place, funded by donations. But when he got there, there was nothing. Only dust and ruins. He went back to his hotel and called the head office for clarification. They told him to wait for further instructions.

Finally someone called back. He must have been mistaken, they said. Perhaps, the caller suggested, he should try again. Look closer. This surprised him. He was sure he had gone to the right place, but still agreed to drive out the next day, just to double check.

When he got there the next morning, a car was waiting for him. A well-dressed gentleman stepped out and greeted him by name. “So glad you could come and see our progress,” he said, pointing to the cracked ground. Then he reached into his inside pocket just enough for the man to glimpse the .38 Snub Nose Special holstered in its leather holster—and offered him a cigarette.

If what you say or believe conflicts with their beliefs, they will come for you. Not in an open and honest way, not by debating or trying to challenge you intellectually, but through intimidation

My old friend accepted. He thanked the stranger, got back in his car – and drove off as fast as he could. Back at his hotel, he handed in his report. Everthing allright. Nothing to see here.

This may sound like the opening scene of a Martin Scorsese movie, but trust me, it’s a true story. Not just from corruption, but also from fear – and how fear can very quickly unbalance our moral compass. People will do or say anything with a gun to their head.

We like to kid ourselves that we live in more civilized times, but the truth is that we all have that metaphorical gun to our heads these days. There’s a new breed of cultural mafia in town, one that describes itself as kind and caring and compassionate and socially sophisticated – but which is, in fact, just as ruthless, just as determined to bend us to its will.

Every day they make us offers in all sorts of ways that we cannot refuse, and we are asked to say and think things that are clearly not true.

And so we agree that women can have penises (Lib Dem leader Ed Davey claimed in a radio interview on LBC today that this was “very obvious”). And that men can give birth. We applaud when people with thighs like tree trunks and Adam’s apples accept first prize in female sports competitions, dwarfing their exhausted and bewildered rivals.

We do our best not to flinch when biological men are paid untold sums to advertise tampons and sports bras. We’re taking a step back as kids are put on puberty-suppressing hormones and encouraged to mutilate their bodies. We allow convicted rapists to access women’s prisons.

We watch in silence as those whose views or behaviors are inconsistent with the dogma of the immaculately awake are defended, their words and deeds twisted out of proportion.

We nod as our books and plays and comedy skits are rewritten, stripped of nuance, stripped of meaningful, thoughtful, original or—God forbid—humorous content. We accept our history being rewritten without context and time, sacrificing our heroes to the modern cult of victimization and guilt.

They will undermine your reputation, cast you out as a monster, unleash the mafia

Home Secretary Suella Braverman, Dominic Raab, the late Queen’s lady-in-waiting Susan Hussey (pictured), JK Rowling…the list is endless

What else can we do? We see the threat, take the hint, keep our heads down. We play the game. Not because we want to, but because we have to. We’ve seen what happens to those who don’t, and it’s not pretty. Most people cannot afford to lose their jobs, livelihoods and reputations.

When the waking mob comes for you, they mean business, aided by the fact that they’ve expertly infiltrated virtually every institution in the country. Schools, universities, arts organizations, government agencies, civil servants, justice, medicine, certain sectors of the media. You name it, they own it. Or if they don’t, they know someone who does.

And you never quite know who they are, which of your colleagues or friends will be the one to take notes, record your mistakes, add up your transgressions. They are the laughing assassins, the ones who shout discrimination, as they pick their targets to be eliminated.

If what you say or believe conflicts with their beliefs, they will come for you. Not in an open and honest way, not by debating or trying to challenge you intellectually, but by intimidation. They will undermine your reputation, cast you out as a monster, unleash the mafia.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman, Dominic Raab, the late Queen Susan Hussey’s lady-in-waiting, JK Rowling. . . the list is endless. Their latest target is Baroness Falkner, chair of the Commission on Equality and Human Rights, a woman whose only ‘mistake’, as far as I can see, was supporting legal reform to protect the rights of biological women in gay spaces.

Isn’t it because of her point of view – one shared by many women, including myself – that she is targeted by the waking crowd? Her ideology goes against theirs, so she should be removed.

Their latest target is Baroness Falkner (pictured), chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, a woman whose only “mistake,” as far as I can see, was supporting legal reform to protect the rights of biological women in spaces of same sex.

A series of derogatory accusations have been made, in most cases rather vague, seemingly intended not so much to accuse her of a specific crime as to malign her character.

Falkner is accused of ‘bullying, harassment and discrimination’ and of ‘politicization’. Similarly, earlier this year they attempted to discredit Braverman after she visited Rwanda to discuss plans to send migrants there — by photoshopping her photo onto a photo of the railway leading to Auschwitz.

As far as I can tell, Baroness Falkner is a victim of all of the above simply because she had the guts to push back against the dogma that biological sex does not exist. If she had given in to this fantasy – and I’m afraid it is a fantasy – you can be sure she wouldn’t end up in the dock.

Likewise, if Braverman had simply given up trying to find a way to curb immigration, no one would care about her speeding ticket.

It takes courage to stand up to the crowd, and not everyone has it. Not everyone has Rowling’s deep pockets or Braverman’s thick skin. Not everyone can handle having their reputation destroyed, their livelihood stolen, their words and actions twisted outrageously. Especially when, as in Falkner’s case, she is simply trying to protect vulnerable women in places like prisons and hospital wards.

But the truth is that if we don’t follow her lead and resist the threats of the waking mob, none of us will be safe. Freedom of speech will cease to exist and we will have no choice but to believe what we are told, regardless of the reality staring us in the face.

Meaningful discussions will be silenced, and we will be like my old friend standing in the earthquake zone, staring at the dust and ruins – watching his integrity go up in smoke.