The Briefing Room

General Category => World News => Topic started by: rangerrebew on October 22, 2016, 01:19:46 pm

Title: 400 Neo-Nazis Had a Rally in Britain. Here’s Why Not To Ban Them
Post by: rangerrebew on October 22, 2016, 01:19:46 pm: 400 Neo-Nazis Had a Rally in Britain. Here’s Why Not To Ban Them

By Izzy Lyons | 3:38 am, October 20, 2016

A few weeks ago, leafy Haddenham in Cambridgeshire was the unwitting host to a rally by Blood and Honour, a neo-Nazi group banned in several countries across Europe.

Under the guise of a charity fundraiser for veterans, a roomful of 400 Neo-Nazi skinheads saluted the ceilings and chanted “We want our country back”.

http://heatst.com/world/400-neo-nazis-had-a-rally-in-britain-heres-why-not-to-ban-them/
Title: Re: 400 Neo-Nazis Had a Rally in Britain. Here’s Why Not To Ban Them
Post by: Oceander on October 22, 2016, 01:23:39 pm: The money quote:
Quote
Society has adopted the false pretence that banning ideas we don’t like solves the problem of them existing in the first place – unfortunately, that’s just not the case.

In order to ensure that the prejudice, and bigotry of the past have no place in our society of the present, Britain needs to carve out a dialogue far more progressive than the muddled European policy for policing hate.

Hate speech, for good or ill, is free speech. Banning people you don’t agree with will not catalyse their demise; that can only be done with better speech than theirs.

Public debate and rigorous questioning is the tool needed to rip prejudiced ideologies up from the root.
Title: Re: 400 Neo-Nazis Had a Rally in Britain. Here’s Why Not To Ban Them
Post by: EC on October 22, 2016, 01:57:05 pm: You know the UK has no legal right to free speech, don't you?
Title: Re: 400 Neo-Nazis Had a Rally in Britain. Here’s Why Not To Ban Them
Post by: The_Reader_David on October 22, 2016, 03:44:55 pm: Quote from: EC on October 22, 2016, 01:57:05 pm
You know the UK has no legal right to free speech, don't you?

I believe the author of the piece is arguing that that should be changed.
Title: Re: 400 Neo-Nazis Had a Rally in Britain. Here’s Why Not To Ban Them
Post by: Fishrrman on October 23, 2016, 01:07:59 am: EC wrote:
"You know the UK has no legal right to free speech, don't you?"

Migosh, you blokes have had 800 years since the Magna Carta to establish one there.

Why haven't you done so?
Title: Re: 400 Neo-Nazis Had a Rally in Britain. Here’s Why Not To Ban Them
Post by: EC on October 23, 2016, 04:23:49 am: In all honesty, it's come up a few times in the last century or so, but there's never really been the will, either on the side of the politicos or the public, to make it happen. :shrug:

We do effectively have free speech on a personal level - it's part of what we refer to as the unwritten constitution - but it never got formalized.