Today I join the world of blogging and I'm worried I may have waited too long.
I might not get to write too many of these before I'm bound, gagged and shipped off back to where I came from, Northern Ireland in my case. The days when a free Briton could stand up and say whatever he likes are under threat.
Where does this threat come from, the BNP? Terrorists? Margaret Thatcher? No it comes from do gooder, interfering, tree hugging, self-righteous, liberals.
Yesterday's guest on BBC's question time, Nick Griffin. The man they tried to silence. The man so many people wanted to keep out of the public eye is now centre stage and representing the rights of the oppressed.
He has become a symbol for the right of freedom of expression.
Perhaps I don't have much of a sense of irony but I think there may be a little bit lurking in this situation somewhere.
Ask the same people who are trying to silence Griffin if they believe in free speech and after some self-justification, spluttering and contradicting themselves they might admit that they are all for it.
So how do advocates of equality, diversity and freedom of thought justify the attempted censorship of a British citizen, an elected representative of the country?
Well, because he disagrees with them of course. I will not pretend to understand exactly what his beliefs are but I think it's fair to say they probably do not include a belief in the same free society that his potential censors are trying to protect.
If they had managed to stop Griffin appearing on Question Time then what next? Ban his party entirely? Move on to it's supporters? Have them rounded up and their tongues cut out?
Maybe we should extend our gagging powers to everyone who doesn't think the same way we do? Let's go tape up Prince Philip's mouth, no wait, that might not be such a bad idea.
If you have taken the time to read on this far you may have noticed that I can string a fairly coherent sentence together without mentioning Islam is evil or death to all non-whites. This might lead you to the conclusion that I am not a member of the BNP.
Good deduction on your part, well done.
So why have I written a blog not so subtly defending Nick Griffin's right to speak?
I think for the same, fairly obvious, reason that the BBC invited him on the controversial programme in the first place.
To deny anyone the right the speak is to deny the right of free speech.
The people who, so passionately, supported the Guardian when they were muzzled by the super-injunction are the very same people who now want to take away the BNP's rights.
If a BNP member incites a riot, harasses an immigrant shop owner or beats up a gay person we have laws that will deal with that.
If all they are doing is talking then they have a fundamental human right to do so. Just like the Guardian, the anti-fascists and the bloggers of the world including, as of today, me.
3 comments:
Good shout, if the BBC had refused to give Griffin a platform to speak from after he has been elected an MEP, it would have been an even bigger message about freedom of speech(or the lack of it.)
Exposure will be reason for the BNP's inevitable downfall, just like their previous incarnations, so perhaps BBC has begun assisting in their destruction as opposed to promoting them.
It's just a shame it was fuelled with reactionary liberal hecklers, and Dimbleby asking half-bait questions about Hitler and the holocaust, which he was bound to have pre-prepared answers for.
Surely the best wasy to reveal Griffin as the fascist he is would be simply to let him speak his mind, or ask him how he feels about representing the people of Europe, the very same people he wants Britain rid of.
Nice blog Glyn, keep them coming. As long as you can control yourself from becoming the stereotypical egomaniacal blogger anyway!
Sam Green
Got a thing a while back on Facebook saying: "Sign a petition against the fascist BNP", or similar.
My response: "You want to fight the BNP? Voting would be a start."
Freedom of speech can be a two edged sword. Have we forgotten that for many years we banned Sinn Fein from the airwaves. In my opinion it did do their cause harm. When they did get access we had to watch apologists for murderers and bombers on the TV, and even actual convicted bombers and terrorists. Now they sit in Government, because eventually we capitulated, and did a deal with them. So far, at least, the BNP's law breaking has been absolutely minor.
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