Even 'orthodoxy' isn't what it used to be in Christian dominated societies. Once it was the name of a state to which almost everyone sane aspired. Now, 'orthodoxy' is a term of abuse for other people's beliefs, and those who want to influence public opinion routinely pose as heretics often in the name of 'the silent majority'. All this overblown rhetoric obscures the fact that most of the time in modern democracies we are comparing different orthodoxies and assessing their implications. It is which of these codes of behaviour is more likely to shape a tolerant society that cherishes debate, protects dissent, and gives us all a chance to participate.
Language does have a new kind of volatility in Australian social and economic life.
When Queensland National Party MP Bob Katter mixed up 'slanty' and 'squinty' in an unloving ode to feminazi eyes, all hell broke loose in the media. Paul Keating caused an international incident when he called the Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir, recalcitrant instead of intransigent. Watching the feeding frenzy that follows whenever somebody trips on their tongue, it's not surprising if everyone who has ever mixed up a few words wonders when their turn will come. New communications technologies and the expansion of education and tourism have, quite as powerfully as immigration and multiculturalism, increased our exposure to other people's parochialisms and to ideas of civility that differ from our own. The noise of all this difference can no more be kept out of Australian social spaces than words can be stripped of their social power.