Is there such a thing as a neutral stance on free speech? In the midst of the ongoing debate, Kathleen Stock has written a perceptive piece in UnHerd, critiquing Amia Srinivasan’s recent essay on free speech in the London Review of Books. Srinivasan downplays cancel culture and portrays it as a fabrication of “Right-wing culture warriors” – evidence, Stock argues, that both sides have their blind spots. Here is an excerpt.
Is it ever possible to take a neutral position on the importance of free speech? The task certainly seems quite difficult. As Vogue’s favourite philosopher, Amia Srinivasan, notes this month in the London Review of Books, many Right-wingers seem to assert the value of free speech, mainly or even only to make room for political views the Left would prefer smothered at birth. Occasionally, someone on the Right will complain about the suppression of a position or person they don’t agree with, but usually more to avoid complaints of inconsistency than anything else.
The Left, however, also has its blind spots — many of which are apparent in Srinivasan’s essay. Scathing about the new Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act’s attempt to create a culture which promotes academic freedom in U.K. universities, she barely acknowledges the problems diagnosed by its authors and defenders. Instead, as many a defensive-sounding progressive has implied before her, real cancellation almost never happens in academia — except, of course, where it happens to exactly those people who deserve it (cough).
Despite the occasional admission that campus life these days is becoming censorious and risk-averse, Srinivasan mostly presents the idea of cancel culture as confected by “Right-wing culture warriors”. (Even when you’ve previously written a book on contemporary sexual politics and are now writing about freedom of speech, becoming a culture warrior is still something that only happens to other people, apparently.)
Her framing is depressingly one-dimensional in other ways, too. Nasty Right-wing men twirl their moustaches and prosecute dastardly secret plans under cover of darkness. A bit like a window display in Ann Summers, dog whistles and fig leaves are everywhere you look. The Good Left bites its lip and stares nobly into the middle distance, trying to hold the line on causes such as anti-racism, trans rights and preventing climate change. Meanwhile, lecturers like me, who have experienced strong hostility within universities for expressing controversial academic views, have mistaken our hurt feelings over personal critique for a general social problem.
Indeed, academics like me are presented as somewhat confused about whether our speech has been suppressed at all — for some of us still write for newspapers and talk on television. As is often the case, the putative problem is treated as, at most, one of self-expression. Critics insist: didn’t you get your thoughts out into the world anyway? Well, then, what are you complaining about?
This assumption — that the plausibility of a given narrative about the suppression of an academic’s work is inversely proportional to the total number of her media appearances — ignores the obvious point that a set of ideas can be anathema in one venue and celebrated in another. For instance, as I’ve written before, though welcomed in some media outlets, gender-critical feminists seem to give Guardian and BBC editors a fit of the vapours.
Worth reading in full.
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No Good Reason To Abolish Cash – latest leaflet to print at home and deliver to neighbours or forward to politicians, media, friends online.
Well said
Why is Lee Anderson foolish, Daily Telegraph? He said what most Britons know to be the truth about Islami, Labour and Khan. The dog whistling by Labour and Islamic allies is disgusting. Enemies of our people.
‘Khan and his Islamist mates’ seems fair comment:
‘The seeds were sown with Khan’s now-former in-laws. During London’s ’90s Islamist heyday, Khan’s brother-in-law Makbool Javaid was affiliated and listed as a spokesman to the now-banned terrorist group al-Muhajiroun, founded by the hate preacher Omar Bakri Muhammad, and then led by the infamous fanatic Anjem Choudary. I knew of Makbool back then, too. His brothers were colleagues of mine, affiliated to my former extremist organization, Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Through such connections Khan ingratiated himself in the London Islamist scene. In 2003, he appeared at a conference alongside Sajeel Abu Ibrahim, a member of that same banned al-Muhajiroun.
Sajeel ran a camp in Pakistan that trained the 7/7 bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan. Speaking there, too, was one Yasser al-Siri, who had been convicted in Egypt over a political assassination attempt that left a young girl dead.
In 2004, Khan gave evidence to the House of Commons in his capacity as the chair of the Muslim Council of Britain’s legal affairs committee. This is the same Muslim Council of Britain that chose to condole the recent Ahmedi murder victim in Glasgow, by declaring Ahmedis not Muslim.
In his MCB capacity, Khan argued in Parliament that the Muslim Brotherhood cleric Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi “is not the extremist that he is painted as being.”
This is Qaradawi who, among other things, authored a book called The Lawful and Prohibited in Islam, in which he justifies wife beating and discusses whether homosexuals should be killed.
Infamously, Qaradawi also issued a fatwa advocating suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, a view which has seen him join the likes of Omar Bakri Muhammad in being denied entry to the U.K.
Khan’s relationships with extremists ran so deep in fact, that he attended events for the jihadist rights group Cage, and wrote a foreword for one of their reports. Cage has since declared ISIS executioner ‘Jihadi-John’ to be a beautiful man live on the BBC.
Khan’s defence of such a prolific flirtation with Islamism is that he was a human-rights lawyer. However, most of these events were not attended in his capacity as a lawyer at all.
One suspects he was simply trying to gain votes.’
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-secret-life-of-sadiq-khan-londons-first-muslim-mayor
Biden in danger of losing White House over Gaza, say Left-wing Democrats
How amazingly spontaneous these pro-palestinian eruptions of anger are, simultaneously, across the world……not……
Despite being a socialist organization that prides itself on its supposed working class, anti-capitalist orientations, The People’s Forum has been the recipient of over $18 million through donor-advised fund provider Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund……not
A review of public disclosure forms shows that multimillionaire Singham and his wife Evans have donated over $20.4 million to The People’s Forum from 2017 to 2022 through a series of shell organizations and donor advisory groups (e.g. Goldman Sachs) — accounting for nearly all of the group’s funding.
The People’s Forum hosts classes like “Lenin and the Path to Revolution,” praising countries like China and Cuba that have “smash[ed] the shackles of Western imperialism,”
For now, the People’s Forum is focusing on its pro-Palestinian agenda, calling for “more marches, walk-outs, sit-ins, and other forms of direct action directed at the political offices, businesses, and workplaces that fund, invest, and collaborate with Israeli genocide and occupation.”
The next protest co-organized by the forum, called “Shut It Down for Palestine,” is taking place……in at least 18 locations across the world.
Singham is a China sympathizer who lives in Shanghai and has close ties to at least four propaganda news sites that boost the Chinese Communist Party’s image abroad. Singham’s wealth stems from Thoughtworks, a software consulting company that he launched in 1993 in Chicago and sold in August 2017 to private equity firm Apax Partners for $785 million.
Jodie Evans is a far left radical, former Democratic political activist and presidential campaign manager for Jerry Brown.
So the pro palestinian protests are being organised by ‘Democrats’……across the world……
Bit of an ‘own goal’, then………
It confirms that the Democratic Party, like Palestine, is merely someone else’s (willing) means to an end of their own.
Another addition to my ”WTF is this?” gallery. But I can’t even make jokes about this because it’s especially horrific. I’m just baffled as to how somebody as obviously unsafe and mentally ill managed to acquire a baby in the first place. Then I note the gender of the doctors who are actually facilitating and encouraging this. Just why?? Why on earth is it always women? Women normalizing this toxic and damaging fetish behaviour where the mentally ill adult is being helped to endanger a child they are using as a prop to facilitate his delusional psychosis. I need a psychologist to explain this to me because I cannot fathom how this is even legal. How is this not classed as child abuse?
”A trans-identified male residing in Canada who claims to be HIV positive and inserts progesterone rectally has been allegedly “breastfeeding” his child with the support of established medical clinics. Former men’s rights activist Murray Pearson, 52, who uses the name Margaret (Margie) Fancypants on social media, has been criticized after he shared an image of himself at a lactation clinic holding a young infant.
“I have a baby almost 9 months old… I cannot wait to connect through feeding. And yes, I will stop drinking before it negatively affects anything they drink!” said Pearson.
Pearson continues on to claim to have the assistance of “medical expertise,” including “five physicians in three clinics in two world class hospitals,” with one of the clinics named as the Goldfarb Clinic in Montreal.
Disturbingly, Pearson has also revealed that he is HIV positive and is aware that the deadly virus can be transmitted through breastfeeding.
“I am HIV+, continuously controlled for 18.5 years now,” said Pearson in a Reddit post six months ago. “The viral suppression into undetectability [sic] makes sexual transmission impossible. But transmission through milk IS possible if viral load becomes detectable so I will test viral load monthly (opposed to semiannually) to keep a VERY close eye on that.”
https://reduxx.info/canada-hiv-positive-trans-identified-male-boasts-of-breastfeeding-infant-with-professional-support/
To leave a baby with this man is absolutely horrific.
This is child abuse at its most evil. Unbelievable.
Well presumably he acquired the baby through surrogacy, but it’s a shame the article doesn’t cover this aspect. Reason being, I was under the impression that even adopting a child is exceedingly difficult, going by the UK situation, and couples need to fulfill an awful lot of criteria. But surely the bar and standards should be equally as high for having a baby via surrogacy, but it is Canada, where euthanasia is now normalised, so I’m probably expecting a bit too much for the likes of that country. Probably social services are more likely to remove a child from parents if they refuse to allow the child a sex change or misgender them FFS.
Sick, sick, sick in all ways. That poor child.
“Former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada claims males who identify as ‘women’ do not have male anatomy”
Somehow, that utter, utter, pig stupid ignorance seems to sum up the state of Western politics. There comes a point where “post-truth” becomes certifiable.
Wot, no mention of Aaron Bushnell? How unsurprising for the DS /sarc. Here’s Caitlin Johnstone’s take – there are many, many others.
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/aaron-bushnell-burned-himself-alive?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Lee Anderson says it like it is.
I hope he stands as an independent in the general election.
If his constituency is too stupid to re elect him they will deserve all that ensues.
As will we all.
Yep, big respect for that man. He said the quiet part out loud, did our Lee. If anyone needs to be told to sling their hook it’s that Speaker. Actually, I’m rather digging those “Just Stop Hoyle” T-shirts that are doing the rounds atm. They’re even orange.
Robert Malone’s presentation to the International Crisis Summit 5 on the use of psychological and cognitive warfare on citizens. Grim reading/listening.
https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/psychological-and-cognitive-warfare?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#media-0ecc83e8-51f0-48db-8bbd-0dfd93a4bc15
‘…when a government is willing to deploy this technology with its power against its own citizenry, then the concept of sovereignty and personal autonomy becomes completely obsolete. You think you’re able to resist this, but the data show that actually it’s often the most educated, that are the most susceptible. We are all susceptible to the power of the modern psychological warfare and cognitive warfare technologies. Cognitive warfare being those suites of capabilities that are designed to get into your subconscious.’
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/first-do-harm/
How the Rockefellers destroyed homeopathy and the consequences.
https://time.com/6835441/jacob-rothschild-death-obituary-family-wealth-jewish-philanthropist/
I was sure I posted this story last night but I cannot find it. I think philanthropist can be taken with a pinch of salt.
Philanthropath – to nick Margaret Anna Alice’s word.
“How councils have let staff ‘work from beach’ in overseas countries”
I hope the kids kick sand in their shift button!
I can’t find the sources of either of the quotes in this article so read with caution. However, it’s certainly not a new idea and the potential is alarming. France’s economy and finance minister suggests taking citizen’s savings to plug fiscal holes and pay for the Uke war.
https://skwawkbox.org/2024/02/25/french-economy-minister-tells-eu-to-raid-e35-trillion-from-private-savings-to-fund-war/
Article from 10 years ago noting similar ideas.
https://www.equities.com/news/can-the-government-really-just-confiscate-your-savings/
“Navalny was close to being freed in prisoner swap between Russia and West – ally”
Thanks to Richard Eldred for mentioning the latest news on the Navalny murder. People can also see Maria Pevchikh’s English-subtitled video
and other videos from Navalny’s wife and mother on his Anti-Corruption Foundation Youtube channel here:
Why did Putin kill Navalny now? (youtube.com)
and Navalny’s last interview before his imprisonment and murder:
Unseen Alexei Navalny interview sees Putin critic slam Britain and the West | World News | Sky News
Spanish government forced to admit that mask mandates were implemented without any evidence, documentation or discussion and entirely arbitrary:
https://apollo-news.net/spanische-regierung-gesteht-maskenpflicht-war-reine-willkuer