Free Speech Must Prevail
John Hurst
Goalkeeper Coach Retired England & GB Women's Manager (Rio GOLD!) Retired The Hockey Centre; Still offering GK Coaching.
I have been saddened recently by the verbal attacks that have occurred against politicians who are expressing their views in a polite and reasonable way about how they feel their Parties are being led. Chuka Umunna spoke eloquently today about his concerns, following on from Tony Blair the other day. In America, Barak Obama spoke similarly about the current U.S. Administration. Whatever we feel about their views, they have a right to be heard without those who disagree insulting them and attempting ridicule by way of reply. All these people do is draw attention to their own inadequacies and make those who enjoy polite and reasoned debate regard them with disdain.
As was once famously said: "I do not agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." Failure to adhere to this will drag the Western World further back into the horrors of the (recent) past.
IT Consultant
6 年Well put! I once went to a meeting in Oxford where Tony Benn was talking. At the time much of the media were suggesting he had mental health issues/was developing dementia/etc. Nothing was further from the truth - he argued eloquently and with a passion about things he cared about, had total recall of events in all the decades of his life... Even if you did not agree with him you had to respect him. When I listen to PMQ I feel concerned that it is more about sound bytes than reasoned argument and debate. Many MPs present themselves worse than a bunch of unruly school children. When I semi-retired I joined a pensioners forum for a short while. Anybody who expressed doubts about Brexit or agreed with anything a member of the opposition was treated like an idiot - in fact it was as close to abuse as you could get. There seemed to be a view that we could just go back to the sixties or Victorian times! After a month I put on my hat and left!
Temporarily Retired
6 年Greetings from 198
Director at AHB Consultancy Ltd
6 年Eloquent and entirely accurate John. We have reached a point where the vitriol, lack of respect and fear of being labelled as 'offensive' in some way stops people expressing their views. However much we might dislike some views being expressed unless individuals have the right to speak we lose the capacity to have debate in society and people become ever more isolated and entrenched in their positions.?