iDave is asked about the poppy burning protest in Prime Minister’s questions.
David Cameron has urged a “stronger” response to disrespectful public acts after a man was fined £50 for burning poppies at an Armistice Day ceremony.
During prime minister’s questions he condemned such actions as being “completely out of order”.
Well, quite so. I mean, if Choudhary wants to live in Britain, he should live by British values and that doesn’t include making an arse of oneself at a reverential occasion such as Armistice Day. For this lack of respect, he got off lightly, frankly. There are plenty of third-world shit holes that share his values. An Islamic theocracy would be right up his street. Send him there. After all, we are paying his benefits. A plane ticket – I’m sure RyanAir could do a standing room only deal for a quid or two – would make excellent value for money. That’s after we have locked him up at her majesty’s displeasure for a few months – just to drive the point home.
Freedom of speech is all very well, but burning poppies – and, more egregiously – heckling during the two minutes of silence was offensive to the people there and to the memory of the dead. It was deliberately insulting to the families of the fallen and the values we enjoy in these islands. Freedom of speech does not mean making nasty, vile and insulting remarks – it means we should engage without offending the people we seek to persuade. We should not feel that it is necessary to be gratuitously offensive. Indeed, there is a law that prohibits such behaviour, and quite right, too. Freedom of speech is about exchanging views in a civilised manner with due respect to one’s adversary and voicing our differences of opinion through moderate dialogue and actions. You don’t win converts by shouting at them or burning their holy books, flags, or symbols of remembrance. It really is about time people got to grips with what freedom of speech is all about.
“But I think to many of us, you look at something like that and feel that, as a country, we should be making a stronger statement that that sort of behaviour is completely out of order and has no place in a tolerant society.”
Indeed.
You had me going for a second…
Heh 👿
You’re trolling on your own blog? Nice. Totally had me, cheers Hollando, must learn to read tags more closely!
I prefer to call it satire – or a spoof if you like. Actually, it was prompted by this discussion. Specifically, this comment:
I suspect that AWM was jumping to a conclusion here. It is not always possible to determine an opinion on a larger issue, especially when that opinion is more nuanced than is being credited.
Re. your comment.
I have read your oeuvre for a year or two now, and I like your frankness, so that gives me more than enough information to determine your stance on many things – or are they all spoofs?
With that in mind, I hope your circumstances improve soonest, you certainly deserve a break and I am sure that those better times will shine through in your blogging.
AWM, your comment trigged the idea of a mind game, that’s all.
Thanks for the good wishes. I hope things improve soon too.
Flippin hell LR – came to this late and was about to let fly with a “what-on-earth-are-you-talking-about-man?????!eleven?!”
At least have the decency to finish with a “[/sarc]” or something. I mean, I am profoundly offended by your failure to do so and you really ought to moderate your behaviour in light of that.
;-P