You Can't Control Free Speech

Forget knife crime the biggest threat to all of us in the UK is the scourge of political correctness and the language Nazis.
Sputnik

No one is safe, not even Cabinet Ministers as Amber Rudd found out yesterday. She was discussing the internet trolling of Diane Abbot and said "It's definitely worse if you're a woman, and it's worst of all if you're a coloured woman."

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Cue all hell breaking out on Twitter as she was accused of racism despite the fact that she was actually criticising racism?

The Labour MP for Midlothian, Danielle Rowley, (yes I've never heard of her either) tweeted: "Amber Rudd undermining an important point about online abuse by referring to Diane Abbott as a "coloured woman" on BBC Radio 2. She clearly gets her language from the same bygone era as her abhorrent welfare policies."

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I think that's what you call taking political advantage isn't it? The welfare line is just naff and ridiculous. I have no time for Rudd. I refer to her as Amber Dud and I have no time for her metropolitan view of the world but she was not being racist and although it is delightful to see an SJW hung by their own petard this confected race row is nonsense and dangerous.

Diane Abbot herself jumped in and tweeted "The term "coloured", is an outdated, offensive and revealing choice of words."

She's kind of half right but at the risk of being sexist and sounding like David Cameron, "calm down dear" it is only a word and it is not the N-word is it? What about context Diane?

Diane is clearly implying Rudd is a racist which is ridiculous.

Within a few hours there was a full race row erupting with calls for Rudd to resign or be sacked and she was forced to apologise, saying she was "mortified" at her clumsy language.

And that should be the end of it because it was clumsy but that is all it was.

I must admit though I can hardly see the difference between "coloured person" and "person of colour" but then again, I am white and a Gammon!

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However, she is not the first to be guilty of this "crime" and she won't be the last.

Chief luvvie and SJW snowflake movie icon Benedict Cumberbatch was caught by the language Nazis when he was making the case for more opportunities for black actors and he used the term coloured too. It was a linguistic and clumsy error just like Rudd's but that didn't matter to the PC zealots.

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Basically, our language has been weaponised and the Lefty PC zealots are just waiting for you to slip up so that they can crucify you for it.

This policing of language leads to a terrible form of self-censorship and a chilling effect on real debate.

Have you ever heard a normal person use PC terms like BAME, LBTQ or gender fluid? Of course, you haven't but that doesn't make them a racist a homophobe or god forbid transphobic does it?

But make no mistake that will be the accusation if you dare to slip up. This doesn't help fight prejudice. It actually reinforces it because people are then tempted to take their prejudices underground or behind their front door or in to their own echo chambers on social media. This is how we begin to lead separate lives and this is how hatred of others actually grows.

This PC Orwellian fascism is being taken further by Tom Watson who is desperately trying to get Tommy Robinson's YouTube channel banned after Facebook kicked him off their channel a few weeks ago, allegedly at the bequest of Mohammad Rafiq from the Ramadan foundation.

So far YouTube have resisted the "Witch Hunter General" Watson's demand and good on them for doing so. Politicians should not and should never be calling for bans on freedom of speech.

It is simple, if Tommy Robinson or anyone else breaks the law then the law should deal with it, not politicians, not social media bosses and certainly not the Twitter mob.

So, the question is why are so many on the left ceding this responsibility to the oligarchs of the New media? These modern-day Rupert Murdoch's have more power than even he could ever of dreamt of in the way they are controlling not just this nation's conversation but world debate.

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The setting up of these media moguls as virtual Lord Chamberlains dictating what political discourse or views are now acceptable and which are not acceptable in our country is extremely dangerous for our democracy, indeed all democracies.

Like him or loathe him Tommy is a public political figure with a massive following and attempting to ban him to suppress his views will simply not work and will if anything just increase his following.

If you believe in the right to free speech that also has to apply to people whose views you disagree with including Tommy Robinson and Mohammad Rafique. The way you silence or lessen the influence of these people is by debate and winning the argument not suppressing it.

I voted to leave the EU as I wanted our politicians and lawmakers to take back control so I certainly do not want Silicon Valley Smart Asses or politically correct fools to control my thoughts, free speech and political debate do you?

The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik

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