The Slow Death Of Free Speech

[silverfaun]

A scroller but intensely interesting to anybody who cares about our rights and freedom.

How the Left, here and abroad, is trying to shut down debate —  from Islam and Israel to global warming and gay marriage

April 2014

These days, pretty much every story is really the same story:

• In Galway, at the National University of Ireland, a speaker who attempts to argue against the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) programme against Israel is shouted down with cries of  effing Zionist, effing  pr…..… Get the eff  off our campus.’

• In California, Mozilla’s chief executive is forced to resign because he once made a political donation in support of the pre-revisionist definition of marriage.

• At Westminster, the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee declares that the BBC should seek ‘special clearance’ before it interviews climate sceptics, such as fringe wacko extremists like former Chancellor Nigel Lawson.

• In Massachusetts, Brandeis University withdraws its offer of an honorary degree to a black feminist atheist human rights campaigner from Somalia.

• In London, a multitude of liberal journalists and artists responsible for everything from Monty Python to Downton Abbey sign an open letter in favour of the first state restraints on the British press in three and a quarter centuries.

• And in Canberra the government is planning to repeal Section 18C — whoa, don’t worry, not all of it, just three or four adjectives; or maybe only two, or whatever it’s down to by now, after what Gay Alcorn in the Age described as the ongoing debate about ‘where to strike the balance between free speech in a democracy and protection against racial abuse in a multicultural society’

http://www.spectator.co.uk/australia/australia-features/9187741/the-slow-death-of-free-speech-2/?

[just_me_karen]

I wouldn't call traditional liberal voters loopy... Only the radical denier reverse chronology 1950s fearful screamers. I've seen some of those and they get voted down with logic.

[freakiness]

---

@icyfroth wrote:

what if it's actually the loopy ppl trying to get the rational ppl to shut up?

---

Do you mean like all those loopy doctors and immunologists trying to get the rational anti vaccination groups the provide evidence of their claims or shut up?

[lakeland27]

---

@icyfroth wrote:

---

@lakeland27 wrote:

---

@icyfroth wrote:

what if it's actually the loopy ppl trying to get the rational ppl to shut up?

---

 in some cases i guess. for instance i wouldn;t describe liberal voters as loopy, merely misguided. there are many examples.

---

But I'm sure the same could be said in reverse about the Labor voters!

---

 well depending on point of view i'd say thats right, but its mainly the far right .. the lunatic fringe karen refers too i really meant. take my dear mother () she's a diehard lib (although she wasn't when my father was alive)  i wouldn't describe her as loopy. its merely an accident caused by location. Adelaide has one daily newspaper.. guess who owns it

[lakeland27]

a one paper town is a definite handicap to free speech, as is media domination. yet the dominant player is the loudest whinger in respect of free speech. go figure .

[icyfroth]

Ah. I see the loopy's have overrun this thread already lol.

[boris1gary]

 "free speech" is a myth, when has it ever been free in this country? "Free Speech" remains with those who can afford to pay for it. For those  that seem so concerned, don't worry too much, our very own attorney general says it's OK to be a bigot.

[just_me_karen]

The sudden increase in litigious threats and intimidation by those who demand free speech is a clear demonstration of their real intention.

Power and money to dominate and rule.
The oppressed and poor to suffer.

Do we really want an Australia like that?

And that's why the loopy are losers, in the end,,,because society just won't tolerate the hypocrisy or danger of radicals & unethicals.

Unfortunately the media and govt spin doctoring does have an impact on the uneducated. For example, look how many uneducated and intellectually / societally challenged people have started calling asylum seekers "illegal".

[icyfroth]

---

@boris1gary wrote:

 "free speech" is a myth, when has it ever been free in this country? "Free Speech" remains with those who can afford to pay for it. For those  that seem so concerned, don't worry too much, our very own attorney general says it's OK to be a bigot.

---

erm...I'd say if ppl can hold anti-government protests in t-shirts emblazoned with the text "F**k Tony Abbott" on the front, then no, it's not a myth in this country

Spoiler

 Yeah charming sort of thing for your kids to wear.

But hey, that's free speech.

[icyfroth]

anyway I can't sit here entertaining you lot all day, I have a bathroom to clean

BBL

[boris1gary]

no it isn't  "free speech" at all and in fact in this state (NSW) the Libs recently passed a new law with $500 fines for swearing.