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The Forum > Article Comments > The deviation from freedom of expression > Comments

The deviation from freedom of expression : Comments

By William Hill, published 5/5/2016

The extreme example of this was during Mao’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in which the party’s youth was cynically revved up to weed out imagined traitors and the politically ‘incorrect’.

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Education is not an end in itself and is supposed to prepare students for life in the real world. Their education is meant to make them productive and to engage with other people and their ideas so that the best outcomes for society are achieved when problems need to be solved.

Educational institutions like universities and schools are so pre-occupied with creating safe environments that they end up churning out people who are totally ill-equipped to function in the real world. They can only function where they cannot be challenged or criticised. They end up being useless in making a better society and all the taxpayer dollars that are poured into education are wasted on these students.

The world is not a ‘safe’ place and it never will be. It is a place where you have to argue and convince by logic and reason in order to achieve your outcomes. At university you may be able to bully and intimidate those who you do not agree with but that is not going to work in the real world. There is an artificial power that student bodies can appropriate and this power allows them to control what is said and heard but that is not how the rest of society operates.

These people need to grow up first and get an education second because they are way too immature to be of any value as citizens in the real world.
Posted by phanto, Thursday, 5 May 2016 11:17:59 AM
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Genuine freedom of expression must include an inherent right to unintentionally offend, but not a right to intentionally abuse, belittle, vilify or bully!

And there is a difference, i.e., labeling someone a fool as opposed to countering an argument with the the power of persuasive, logical,and at times passionate evocation, is just abuse!

Even then there are polite, civil and mildly humorous ways to include some of the above as evidenced by the expression, "it is better to have folks think you a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt"?
Alan B.
Posted by Alan B., Thursday, 5 May 2016 11:57:48 AM
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Hi Alan,

No, freedom of expression DOES include the right to offend: think of PISS CHRIST, for example. Did that deliberately offend anybody ? Of course, it was meant to. As an atheist, I thought it was in bad taste (no pun intended) and not particularly funny, but bound to offend any Christians. Too bad, I'm sure they can take it. It's just another cross for them to bear.

Perhaps us Boomers have been made of tougher stuff than the sooky Gen Ys of today, who think that any difference of opinion is thereby 'offensive'. Poor little dears. They can kiss my arse.

So where should the limits of freedom of expression lie ? I would suggest that offending, insulting and abusing might be quite okay, but vilifying, belittling, intimidating, and inciting violence are beyond the limits of free speech.

I don't think speech should have to be polite, or that the comments that a speaker/user makes should always avoid intentionally insulting or offending someone. After all, they are probably evidence that a speaker/user has run out of ideas and has proved your point, that " .... it is better to have folks think you a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt .... "

And the thrill of debate relies so much on turning an insult back on the insulter, doesn't it ? One recalls Whitlam's response to a member of the Country Party in earlier days, and Menzies' brilliant put-downs. Where would the interest in debate be without choice insults and abuse ?

[Extra comments deleted].

Cheers,

Joe
Posted by Loudmouth, Thursday, 5 May 2016 2:58:33 PM
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The dumbing down of the population is not accidental.

Shortly the public will be unable to reason or think for themselves. They’ll only be able to parrot the information they’ve been given on the previous nights news. Zbigniew Brzezinski - 1972
Posted by Referundemdrivensocienty, Thursday, 5 May 2016 3:02:38 PM
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I guess one very rough measure of what speech should be permitted or not, is - for all of us - what level of offense etc. do each of us think is quite appropriate to apply to someone that we don't like ? For example, what are the limits of free speech that you, dear reader, may wish to apply to comments about Tony Abbott ? Or Donald Trumpf ? Or whoever your pet hate might be ? [Oops, am I allowed to use the word 'hate' ? In association with Abbott or Trumpf ? Of course !]

Then, in all fairness, you must assume that comments about your current Living God should be allowed to go to the same limits. Isn't that so ?

As for ridiculous talk about 'safe rooms' and 'cultural safety' - i.e. that one must not be allowed to disagree with, let alone criticise, the opinions and prejudices of anybody else - unless of course they are male whites, preferably right-handers, such bastards - this is nothing more than a pretext to shut down discussion of any sort.

Sometimes I wish I were back on campus, getting stuck into such mindlessness with gusto. I would have to carry around a pocketful of dummies, though, for the littlies.

When I ran an Indigenous student support centre, twenty-odd years ago now, I don't recall any of the students ever going on about being victimised in any way. But later, at another university, I did disagree with the opinion of an Aboriginal student who promptly called me a racist. I think I politely suggested he was an idiot, an obviously objective opinion with which he declined to agree.

I wonder if any university campuses have holding cells these days, places of unsafety for free-thinkers. COMING SOON TO A CAMPUS NEAR YOU :) No, maybe just those dunces' caps like in the Chinese Cultural Revolution, as precedents to being beaten to death by a rent-a-mob.

Joe
Posted by Loudmouth, Friday, 6 May 2016 9:54:43 AM
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How the Left was Lost: Polite Society and the Death of Social Progress
BY RORY STOBO
http://triggerwarning.us/how-the-left-was-lost-polite-society-and-the-death-of-social-progress/
"We used to be a lot better at picking our friends. In a truly connected world, it’s just as easy to find new ways to blame white men for your problems as it is to blame immigrants. In this, the Left also corners the market on shocking hypocrisy when it comes to supporting actions taken by barbaric nations, just because they happen to be taking shots at mean ole whitey.

Are we perfect? No, no we are not, but we’re a long way from throwing gay folk off roofs. I point-blank refuse to let the alt-right be the only ones fighting for the soul of the West. Minor differences in doctrine, often unrelated to the task at hand, lead to a level of squabbling and paralysis that you’d never see on the other side. What’s the point in championing diversity when it all grinds to a halt at the first sniff of a diverse opinion?"
Posted by Jay Of Melbourne, Friday, 6 May 2016 10:18:37 AM
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