Tell totalitarian free-speech deniers what you really think
Allister Heath
30 August 2018
Never before has it been so easy to communicate, to express one’s views, to write, publish, talk or broadcast.
Yet instead of ushering in the golden age for free speech and rational enquiry that so many of us expected,
the very technologies that were meant to liberate us are being used to stifle expression and stamp out dissent.
“You can’t say that”, “you must say this”: on social media, in universities and increasingly in every other institution across the land, a hideous battle is raging, and liberty is losing.
The range of views that can be expressed without fear of reprisal has narrowed dramatically, partly because
we’ve lost the language and manners required to disagree constructively.
....You must prove you are not guilty of offending others’ feelings, which is impossible.
The strategy, for the tens of thousands of activists working in digital packs, is to bully, shame and destroy anybody who doesn’t agree with them, who dares to express a different opinion or who fails to signal their virtue appropriately.....If somebody believes that somebody.....meant something, then it must be true.
Nobody from the sensible Left or sensible Right is immune from this catastrophic outbreak of nihilism; everything and everyone is fair game.
......The aim is to encourage self-censorship, policed by an army of vigilantes.
It’s working:Nobody ever comes to the defence of those being trashed, and mainstream Britain is quietly withdrawing,
ensuring that the public discourse is ever more dominated by the angriest voices.
....The reality is that free speech isn’t just about a legal system that allows you, with some restrictions, to say, write or publish what you want.
No, free speech describes an entire ethical system that places the utmost value on people’s right to express their beliefs, to dissent, to think for themselves, to debate, to discuss and, yes, to err.
It is an integral element of the classical liberal character, and, for a short while, such an approach became the norm in many Western countries.
Real freedom of expression implies some measure of openness, of curiosity, the ability to listen, at least occasionally, to others and to learn to live with difference.
.....Free speech .....a society where most speech is technically allowed, but any deviations from arbitrary and highly controlled norms trigger instant action from outrage mobs isn’t free any longer.....Some people belong to powerful groups (such as white men), others are oppressed (most but not all minorities).
Any arguments made by the former are inherently biased and can be labelled at will as a form of “violence”, a way of inflicting “micro-aggressions” on the latter.It is a denial of reason, a massive leap back into the dark ages, but this framework rationalises the thuggish behaviour of the Twitter extremists.
It makes it easy to shut down viewpoints, and to dismiss critics as suffering from false consciousness.
It has empowered those, like British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who want the state to control newspapers.
The decline of free speech is now the greatest threat facing Britain and the West.
Without the freedom to think freely, to question, to disagree, we are nothing.