No, Brendan O’Neill (“Silence of the illiberal lambs”, The Australian, 5/10), Andrew Bolt was not “simply expressing his opinion about the weird fluidity of modern-day identity politics”.

This “fluidity” is nothing new; for example, many Jews have little genetic connection to the ancient Middle East, and many are not religious. It is one thing to discuss this in general terms. It would be quite another to accuse individuals, by name, of assuming a Jewish identity for financial gain.

Bolt singled out individuals for public humiliation using their cultural identity as a weapon, with brutal disregard for truth, reputation and feelings. He paid the price.

In taking issue with this result, O’Neill seems to be arguing against the notion of defamation itself, or at least that in his view, some classes of plaintiff are not worthy of redress.