« Jimmy Carter, Oxford Idol | Main | Cloture Vote »
June 26, 2007
British Acknowledge Loss of Freedom of Speech
Posted by Dave Blount at June 26, 2007 10:31 AM
In a survey of British adults, only one third believe free speech exists in their country. Only one in five believes they can safely voice opinions on sensitive issues. Yet 98% believe they should have the right to free speech.
The British fought off the Nazis, but they haven't fared so well against the more insidious threat of political correctness. As friction.tv Chief Marketing Officer Andy West notes:
We live in such a politically correct society that people don't know what they can and can't say anymore and there is a constant fear that if you go against the grain, you'll be vilified by your peers.
The risks don't stop at vilification. Nick Griffith of the British National Party was actually prosecuted for observing in a private setting that Islam is "a wicked and vicious faith."
According to Anthony Browne of the independent British think tank Civitas,
political correctness, which classifies certain groups of people as victims in need of protection from criticism and allows no dissent to be expressed, is poisoning the wells of debate in modern Britain.
He proposes establishing freedom of expression in British law, as our Founding Fathers wisely did in American law with the First Amendment — which our current crop of moonbat bureaucrats is in effect trying to repeal.
