Whenever a politician makes a populist speech promising to clamp down on liberty, the hard of thinking are right behind with their vacuous applause. Step forward Allison Pearson. Pearson never stops to think where this will end, who will be the subject of the draconian (and unworkable) proposals. Because it’s aimed at the Muzzies, that’s alright then. Today, the Jihadist who is an easy target, but what of tomorrow? Extremism hasn’t been defined, for we know what it is. Do we? Really, do we? The position I take on subjects were once thought to be mainstream and moderate. To the leftist dominated state and media, I am pretty extreme.
The one thing that can be guaranteed when liberty is eroded is that the measures will always find an unintended target. RiPA and the dog walkers for example. But Pearson – vacant airhead that she is – is happy to see other people’s liberty destroyed, because, being stupid, she cannot see that it is her liberty at stake and liberty once sacrificed doesn’t come back.
So, while I can sympathise with her comments à la Choudary, I am not prepared to sacrifice my freedom of speech in order to silence him. The issue isn’t as she assumes a consequence of liberalism and free speech, but of a deliberate attempt to undermine our culture by the Labour party and its multicultural dogma (she alludes to this but manages to miss the point). You don’t stop fundamentalists by trying to silence them, for they will merely go underground. The end result is that ordinary people find themselves criminalised for saying something the state doesn’t like.
I have to say I was appalled by Pearsons article, I have often read her pieces and think she on occasion makes a lot of sense.
However on this occasion she is so wide of the mark that she has missed the point completely.
This speech made by Theresa May is as worrying as it gets, it will basically mean she will enable the police to arrest anyone whose own views do not agree with current political thinking.
Her proposals mean organisations like the BNP and EDL will be well and truly in the firing line for being made illegal, love or loathe such organisations as these they express a point of view but do not promote terrorism, they just disagree effusively with the current political climate.
I would not mind betting however the politically funded, left wing extremist, Jihad flag, carrying UAF won’t be banned by Mrs May’s new powers.
How long before individual, anti government, freedom of speech and political bloggers are also in the firing line, one would suspect very soon indeed.
Quite.While there might be the odd “hate preacher” caught up in this initially, eventually it will be someone who is merely not in step with the current orthodoxy. I’d rather the hate preacher preached out in the open where we can see and hear them. For then we can deal with their bile.
I totally agree with you, once you drive it underground it can only get worse.