It's time to repeal our hate speech laws. This does not mean that it is time to reverse 250 years of change on the civil rights front, plunging the United Kingdom into the period which I refer to the Second Darkest Hour of British History (the Atlantic Slave Trade); the Darkest Hour being early World War II. Rather, it means guaranteeing fundamental political freedoms to all Brits, so that we may expand political discussions of all sorts.
The freedom of speech is essential if we want to decrease the amount of power that Westminster and its bureaucrats have. In any society that values individual liberty and personal freedom, it is essential we recognise and respect natural rights (those that are inherent to the human condition). John Locke, a noted 17th-century political philosopher, writes in The Two Treatises of Government (1689) that there are certain rights which that are not (and should not be) subject to the scrutiny of governments. These include life, liberty and property. Nearly a century later, Thomas Jefferson would write, in the US Declaration of Independence (1776), "... that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable (inalienable) Rights." Without these rights, the rights to speak and think freely, we cannot truly interact socially. By censoring certain ideas, however vile they may be, we run the risk of creating dishonest dialogue. A person's right to think freely supersedes someone's right to not be offended because in order to think freely, you must risk offence.
A large number of hate speech law advocates argue that hate speech laws protect certain groups, such as ethnic and religious minorities from being verbally abused, and shields them from bigoted views. However, it is important for us to recognise that when we give the Government the power to choose whose views are hateful or racist, we give the Government to censor views that they don't agree with: this is one of the hallmarks of authoritarian governments.
Earlier this year, Mark Meechan, who is known on YoutTube as Count Dankula was fined £800 for making Nazi jokes. In the original YouTube video, Meechan clearly tells us his motives, he states that he wanted to make his dog a Nazi, to annoy his girlfriend, as it was the "least cute thing he could think of." Despite this, Mark Meechan was subjected to two years of trials, before Sherriff Derek O'Caroll found him guilty under the Communications Act. The fact that the context of a joke was not able to be interpreted by the joke's intended audience, and rather by a judge, is a sad reflection of the free speech in the UK. Meechan's case is not the only of its kind. In March, conservative Canadian journalist Lauren Southern was denied entrance to the UK, on the grounds that she had distributed "racist" material (which said that Allah is gay).
It is imperative that we repeal Hate Speech Laws, not so that we empower the ideological extremists, but rather so that we can squash them. For example, in the Autumn of 2009, the leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, made an appearance on the popular political BBC show Question Time. At the time the BBC faced an abundance of criticism for giving the leader of such a racist party a platform to share his views. However, now, the BNP have almost no power at any level of Government, local, regional or national. Why? When the BNP was permitted to make their views clear, voters knew that they could never give such a party their vote.
However, the UK Government, in response to a petition calling for hate speech laws to be repealed, have made clear that their stance is not in support of absolute freedom of speech. They said, "The Government is committed to upholding free speech, and legislation is already in place to protect these fundamental rights. However, this freedom cannot be used to spread harm or hatred."
Day by day, in the United Kingdom, it is becoming clearer that the Government wants to seize every right possible from its citizens. It is time to take a rise against the bureaucracy of our Government and the immense power that Westminster exercises. It is time to take a rise for the common man and his fundamental rights.
The freedom of speech is essential if we want to decrease the amount of power that Westminster and its bureaucrats have. In any society that values individual liberty and personal freedom, it is essential we recognise and respect natural rights (those that are inherent to the human condition). John Locke, a noted 17th-century political philosopher, writes in The Two Treatises of Government (1689) that there are certain rights which that are not (and should not be) subject to the scrutiny of governments. These include life, liberty and property. Nearly a century later, Thomas Jefferson would write, in the US Declaration of Independence (1776), "... that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable (inalienable) Rights." Without these rights, the rights to speak and think freely, we cannot truly interact socially. By censoring certain ideas, however vile they may be, we run the risk of creating dishonest dialogue. A person's right to think freely supersedes someone's right to not be offended because in order to think freely, you must risk offence.
A large number of hate speech law advocates argue that hate speech laws protect certain groups, such as ethnic and religious minorities from being verbally abused, and shields them from bigoted views. However, it is important for us to recognise that when we give the Government the power to choose whose views are hateful or racist, we give the Government to censor views that they don't agree with: this is one of the hallmarks of authoritarian governments.
Earlier this year, Mark Meechan, who is known on YoutTube as Count Dankula was fined £800 for making Nazi jokes. In the original YouTube video, Meechan clearly tells us his motives, he states that he wanted to make his dog a Nazi, to annoy his girlfriend, as it was the "least cute thing he could think of." Despite this, Mark Meechan was subjected to two years of trials, before Sherriff Derek O'Caroll found him guilty under the Communications Act. The fact that the context of a joke was not able to be interpreted by the joke's intended audience, and rather by a judge, is a sad reflection of the free speech in the UK. Meechan's case is not the only of its kind. In March, conservative Canadian journalist Lauren Southern was denied entrance to the UK, on the grounds that she had distributed "racist" material (which said that Allah is gay).
It is imperative that we repeal Hate Speech Laws, not so that we empower the ideological extremists, but rather so that we can squash them. For example, in the Autumn of 2009, the leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, made an appearance on the popular political BBC show Question Time. At the time the BBC faced an abundance of criticism for giving the leader of such a racist party a platform to share his views. However, now, the BNP have almost no power at any level of Government, local, regional or national. Why? When the BNP was permitted to make their views clear, voters knew that they could never give such a party their vote.
However, the UK Government, in response to a petition calling for hate speech laws to be repealed, have made clear that their stance is not in support of absolute freedom of speech. They said, "The Government is committed to upholding free speech, and legislation is already in place to protect these fundamental rights. However, this freedom cannot be used to spread harm or hatred."
Day by day, in the United Kingdom, it is becoming clearer that the Government wants to seize every right possible from its citizens. It is time to take a rise against the bureaucracy of our Government and the immense power that Westminster exercises. It is time to take a rise for the common man and his fundamental rights.
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