In defense of free speech: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear”, the oppression of ideas and free speech is becoming normalised, from nasty little hater thugs to state discrimination, we are living in a society which has to change

Dear All

One of the things which make the United Kingdom the place it is in the world; is the defence of free speech, but in order to defend it, you have to recognise that in order to protect your right, you have to protect the right of people who you oppose.

Westminster is called the ‘Mother of all Parliaments, a cradle of democracy, but increasingly we are seen the rise of a political doctrine that makes it acceptable to ban people for ‘thought crimes.

In academia, a person can say that child molesters are innocent and not criminals, keep his job and cite academic freedom, and jog on, still spouting this nonsense with no consequences.

In the same educational environment, we seeing people getting “No-platforming”, not allowed to get the same opportunities to put their view points across. Speakers with whom we fundamentally disagree can suggest that force ought to prevail over free speech and no one bats an eye on the left. 

Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, recently announced that it was investigating Professor of Psychology. Rick Mehta had a number of complaints over controversial comments he made in his class.

Was he proposing sex with children, humping dead bodies or promoting incest, no, it seems that his view on the value of multiculturalism along with the existence of gender inequality in the workplace provoke a few reactions.

Multiculturalism is a recognised failure of the left and the trendy liberals, a social engineering experiment gone badly wrong, not just in the UK but right across Europe.

Here is a story which highlights how badly.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5487167/Telford-child-sex-scandal-involving-1-000-Britains-worst.html

Look at what happened to Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham, who was sacked from the shadow front bench for exercising her right to free speech and telling the truth.

Sacked for telling the truth, what does that say about values and social justice?

Amina Lone, a Muslim councillor from Birmingham, who rightly defended Champion but was then told she cannot stand for re-election, where was equality, fairness and social justice there?

In places like Germany and through-out Europe, we have seen the effect of the migrant crisis. Breitbart is a good source of news to witness a decline of the western values.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_Eve_sexual_assaults_in_Germany

Jordan Peterson provokes a similar reaction; his interview with Cathy Newman is a classic piece of what happens when a trendy liberal gets destroyed in an interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMcjxSThD54

There is a war on, a war set to continue, not just about free speech but also about political control and how it is used.

Austrian Identitarian leader Martin Sellner was detained and refused entry to Britain, he was handcuffed, held in a detention centre for three days and then along with his journalist girlfriend deported.

Had he committed a crime?

Originally, the Identitarian leader was scheduled to speak at a conference organised by UKIP youth wing Young Independence that got cancelled, so he was going to go to Hyde Park and stand on his soapbox, and follow a tradition of dissent and speak there. If a British person had spoken the same words as Sellner, he wouldn’t have committed any crime, so was his deportation a racist act under the guise of being undesirable.

Brittany Pettibone was refused entry into the UK on the basis that she wanted to attend her boyfriend’s speech and also as a journalist, she had plans to interview former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson.

Here is a classic example of oppression to follow on from above; Wilfrid Laurier was the site of controversy generated last fall by a graduate student’s decision to show the class she was tutoring. During the class a five-minute clip of Professor Jordan Peterson speaking in the context of a discussion on a local television newsmagazine shown about the use of gender pronouns.  

Lindsay Shepherd was brought into a meeting with the course director and two senior administrators and up-braided for her action, which was likened to the dissemination of Nazi propaganda. The course director decided that it was appropriate to lie that one or more students had complained.

Sadly for the three Social Warriors, we know the intimate details of this supposedly private conversation because Shepherd secretly taped and then subsequently disclosed it causing quite a stir.

An investigation revealed that there had, in fact, been no student complaints whatsoever.

Suppression of free speech is everywhere, our democracy is under threat, social cohesion is under threat and yes, our values are under threat as well, if people in authority think it is acceptable to appoint themselves as guardians of what you are allowed to say, we are heading to a black place.

Finally, George Orwell, the author of the book 1984 famously said:

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University