Content Based

From The London Times:

(quote) “WE ARE not afraid” has become a popular slogan of the past week. But if there is one thing that the Government, the police and others do seem afraid of today, it is free speech.
How do they propose to sort out relations between communities in Britain’s cities? By banning any speech deemed as “incitement to religious hatred”, and telling us not to ridicule Islam or even to use the words “Islamic” and “terrorism” in the same sentence. And how do they plan to tackle the spread of alienation among British-born Muslim youth? By outlawing words deemed to be “glorifying or condoning ” terrorism and kicking a few crank Islamic preachers out of the country.

But banning words and burying the sentiments behind them is not the same as doing something about a problem. These panic measures can only make matters worse. We are left with a polite public discussion about the correct etiquette that police commanders should adopt towards Islam, or whether the BBC should use the word “terrorists”. Meanwhile, deeper problems are left unresolved, to smoulder in silence under the surface. Then we are shocked when they suddenly and violently erupt into view, as they did last week.

What we surely need now is more speech, not less — an honest no-holds-barred debate about the sort of society we want to live in, and about what can bind us together beyond opposition to mass murder. All the promises about defending freedom after the bombs will be empty unless people are free to say what they think, whether others like it or not." (end quote)

I agree.