Freedom, it seems, is a troublesome concept for Nanny to understand.
Lat year Universities UK issued a guide on dealing with hate crimes and intolerance on campus. It advised vice-chancellors of the following:
"Proportionate interference with the lecturer's right to freedom of expression is permissible where necessary to protect the rights and freedoms of others".
In other words, if Nanny doesn't like what you say she will stop you saying it!
That is wrong!
Nanny's minions in the University of Leeds are currently using this rule to silence one of their lecturers, who has set the cat amongst the pigeons with his views on race and gender.
Today it is a controversial lecturer that they silence, tomorrow it might be you!
Is it not important any more, in our free and democratic country, to be able to voice one's opinions and views without being stifled? No matter how extreme or unpopular a viewpoint is, it is of primary importance to debate an opinion openly, challenge it in a reasoned manner backed with evidence, and prove it incorrect if necessary.
ReplyDeleteBut it is the stifling of these views which is so wrong, not the views themselves. Hundreds of years ago Christians were fed to the lions for their views, nowadays these views prevail in the western world (well, possibly not for much longer!!)
I have commented before and would urge everyone to read Anthony Browne's truthful and accurate book "The Retreat of Reason", from either the website at www.civitas.org.uk or Amazon. This book should be made compulsory reading by every politician, school child and PC nanny in this country.
Did we not fight a world war to defend the right to freedom, including freedom of speech. Moreover, a wise man, I believe it was Voltaire, the French philosopher, who said, "I disagree with what you are saying, but I would defend to death your right to say it."
ReplyDeleteIt was indeed Voltaire.
ReplyDeleteAt one time in this country you could get up on a soap box and say whatever you liked, however odious or stupid it might be. The point was that the other fellow could argue with you and, if he was right, prevail.
Now there is no longer freedom of speech in Britain. One must say what is deemed acceptable or keep silent for fear of prosecution. This is just the atmosphere in which totalitarianism thrives - just the atmosphere being so carefully cultivated by the control freaks of New Labour. My God, when I think of the struggles our forefathers made to win their freedom; when I compare those struggles with the spineless acceptance of today's generation, I just want to weep.
What the man in leeds has said is nothing original , in america the "bell curve" is widely understood and endorsed by many learned people, in fact if it were not true , we would be trading and exchanging valuable data of all kinds with those twenty-first century ultra-civilised societies , that abound in the african continent.
ReplyDelete