Free speech needs saving from the tyranny of woke minorities, Jonathan Sumption has said. Speaking to the New Zealand Free Speech Union, the former Supreme Court Justice said that no one is entitled to intellectual safety as he warned of the devastating impact of “online lynch mobs”. Here’s an excerpt of his talk, as published by UnHerd.
John Stuart Mill anticipated many things, but he did not anticipate the internet. Social media can conjure up instant online lynch mobs. They make a powerful amplifier available to the most intolerant strands of opinion. The algorithms which determine what material is placed under people’s noses expose them only to sentiments which they already agree with, thus intensifying their opinions and eliminating not only dissent but even nuance and moderation. Mill assumed that the pressure to conform would come from self-righteous majorities. But social media has conferred immense power on self-righteous minorities, often quite small minorities.
The most remarkable illustration of this is the vicious campaign currently being conducted to silence those who believe that gender is based on an immutable biological fact. Polling evidence suggests that the overwhelming majority of people believe that gender is determined at birth and cannot be altered by medical or surgical intervention, let alone by simple choice. That view is consistent with the current scientific orthodoxy, which regards gender as binary. Yet pressure from a noisy minority has created a situation in which the public expression of the prevailing and probably correct view about gender can lead to dismissal from employment, the cancellation of speaking engagements and publication contracts, and an avalanche of public shaming and abuse.
John Stuart Mill taught that the only purpose for which power might properly be exercised against individuals against their will was to prevent harm to others. But what we are presently witnessing is a subtle redefinition of the whole concept of harm to include the harm said to be caused by having to endure contradiction. The argument is that words wound, especially when they relate to another person’s identity or status; a university or a workplace where a person is exposed to disagreement must therefore be regarded, in the standard catchphrase, as ‘unsafe’.
The difference between violence and words is obvious. Violence is coercive. Words, even if offensive, are not coercive except in those cases where they are calculated to provoke violence. Yet in North America, Britain and much of the Anglosphere, this notion of harm has captured institutions. Recent research in the United States suggests that 29% of university professors have been pressured by university authorities into avoiding controversial subjects; 16% have either been disciplined or threatened with discipline for their words, their teaching or their academic research, while another 7% say that they have been investigated. Those working on any subject involving ethnic or religious sensitivities are particularly vulnerable. More than 80% of students report that they self-censor their work for fear of stepping out of line.
Underlying much of this debate is a fundamental challenge to the objective notion of harm. When interest groups object to someone’s opinion, harm is whatever they perceive as harm. It depends on ‘lived experience’, as the phrase goes, particularly when the offended group is an ethnic, religious or sexual minority. The desire to accommodate minorities who feel themselves oppressed is understandable. It assists social inclusion. But carried to its logical extreme it gives them a right of veto, an entitlement to silence opinions. And it is being carried to its logical extreme. In many countries, including Britain, hate speech is in some circumstances a criminal offence or an aggravating factor when accompanied by some other criminal conduct. The British police and prosecution authorities have agreed upon a definition of their own devising, according to which a hate crime means any action which is perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by hostility or prejudice. In other words, they have adopted a subjective definition dependent on the feelings of the victim rather than an objective assessment of the words used.
Worth reading in full.
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As well they should be.
The young living life putting those at the end of life in danger
Ok -please explain how.
the danger to people at the end of their lives is that they are at the end of their lives
END –
The point in time when an action, event, or phenomenon ceases or is completed; the conclusion.
nobody can put somebody at the end of life in danger cos they are at the end
Why the conundrum of vaccinating children is so hard to crack
Paul Nuki GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY EDITOR, LONDON, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/vaccinating-children-poses-benefits-pitfalls-battle-against/
NO PAUL NUKI OF THE DAILY TELEGRAPH – THERE IS NO CONUNDRUM
Stand in South Hill Park Bracknell every Sunday from 10am meet fellow anti lockdown freedom lovers, keep yourself sane, make new friends and have a laugh.
Join our Stand in the Park – Bracknell – Telegram Group
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https://www.hopesussex.co.uk/our-mission
I presume that it is sarcasm, but it is also the opposite of the truth: The young getting out and about builds herd immunity in the community at little cost, which makes the community safer for older people. Locking down young people makes it more dangerous for the old. This is immunology 101 and used to be well known.
yes – but i was referring to the end, not somewhere near the end – herd immunity does not ‘save’ anyone who is at the natural end of their life – part of the problem we have is that people simply do not understand or accept mortality – vaccinating someone who is about to die because they are at the end of their lives is pointless
You’re right. Ought to have said that to begin with, though!
They vaccinated my 89 year old father. He didn’t live to 90. His death certificate said he died of old age.
My nephew was down from glasgow last night to do a motorbike test in manchester – he’s just headed of to newcastle-u-T to meet up with some mates to head out into for a big night out where he will not be putting anyone in danger
just thought i would clarify for the half-wits
Unfortunately, your conceited and condescending attempt at irony has undermined your, err, “irony,” so back to night school for a refresher course for you.
What a thoroughly unpleasant character you are. Apart from the odd troll not what is usually found here.
a bit of irrelevant bluster usually does the trick
That sums you up nicely.
Easy fellah…..
You’re the fucking half-wit.
We at the arse end of life should not wish to curtail the freedoms of our young people. Many of them are facing a lifetime of misery – we have mostly enjoyed our lives. Let them enjoy life while they can.
PS. You rotten Sod.
you cant fix stupid
You can fix it, isn’t that what the Covid injections are all about?
.
You’re the living proof of that.
Nonsensical comment, so they stay in their bedrooms to protect the elderly who never asked them to do that and wouldn’t have done it themselves
blimey, another one
The lesson is not to make ambiguous remarks. There are some around here who would not be being ironic – and some others who make arsehole comments, ironic or not.
I thought my comment was simply complex but thanks Rick, helpful as ever
Yes.
Well, I enjoyed it.
Sarcasm is hard to spot in plain text format. One sees a comment which looks like a lockdownist has come here to troll us and we feel a moral duty to try to educate them in the error of their ways. Sorry for my own little lecture comment, but I couldn’tsee at the time that the first one was sarcasm.
people are way too quick to attack others on this site
Sarcastic comments never work well on social media, unless you qualify it was typing sarc/ after it, then it becomes apparent.
Quite.
I knew what you were saying (yes I understand sarcasm). It does appear that others have been reading the Daily Mail comments too much of late and have lost thiur sense of irony.
I’m pretty sure that the negative comments and thumbs down have misconstrued your comment! Have a great weekend.
If there is an argument that makes my blood boil for it’s sheer malice and outright horror, it is the ‘your behaviour is putting me at risk” argument.
Go f**k yourself.
Again. Go f**k yourself.
(Not aimed at you Jabby Jabby, obviously, but the keep others safe argument is probably the most insidious, malicious argument on which all this manipulation is based.
I am overcome with rage when I see someone who wears a mask but then slips it off to smoke. Yes, people should have the right to do silly disgusting things like smoking, but they shouldn’t then try and preach to me about how a mild cough is something they’re scared of.
saw someone do that yesterday sitting outside a wine bar. The mask was on except to take a drag from a cigarette
I am with you Stewart.
Precisely what danger? At this point in time either you’ve had the vaccine in which case you are safe from serious symptoms if you do meet someone infected and do contract the virus. Or you aren’t vaccinated, because you don’t consider the virus particularly concerning according to your risk calculations, so aren’t scared. Either way you’ve nothing to fear from covid. And just remember, we have herd immunity now, the mixing of the young has finally topped up the reserve enough in the more mobile parts of the population (by natural infection to immunise those who didn’t take the vax) and the vulnerable parts are already fully vaccinated. Covid is in decline now, and even if it spikes again (unlikely) it won’t ever spike agan among the vulnerable.
Unfortunately the first three lines are not accurate.
What danger? The young don’t care about the elderly, they have had their life and let the young get on with it. The young don’t want to associate with the elderly so where’s the danger?
I remember being forced to go and see my grandmother in her nursing home, I didn’t want to see her and smell the smell of piss throughout the home. She didn’t have the money to bribe me to go and see her, so why give up my valuable enjoyment time with my mates.
The young are self centred, foolish and selfish thats what being young is about.
All those selfish old git clubbers putting everyone in their care home at risk, just too shocking.
silly boy
Yawns
You are right, the young should be prepared to lay down their lives for granny by stepping up to the vaccine plate, and I would tell them face to face if ever I met a young person, but they rarely get close enough to infect me with anything. It is just like in the last war when they selfishly manned planes and boats, or selfishly helped liberate Europe – they got all that excitement when the rest of the country was left at home eating snoek and Woolton pie.
I am old now. I enjoyed my youth without restrictions and now it’s the turn of the young to enjoy theirs. It’s up to the old and vulnerable to take care of themselves – it’s no great loss for us to avoid nightclubs and similar crowded venues, after all!
I am sick of being made a scapegoat for those whose aim is to break the country in pursuit of dubious political agendas, and can’t believe the utter selfishness of many old people who want everybody to be locked-down just to protect them. They must protect themselves and let the country get on with recovery. Who will pay their pensions if society is bankrupt?
I will continue to live as I want because I refuse to spend the remaining years of my life in fear and isolation. Also I will not get jabbed with a poison I don’t trust or need, and God speed those brave souls who are tryng hard to expose the truth.
We must be related
Living life is what the young should do. I’m sixty five with various health problems, including chest and throat and I am not terrified of dying, it’s what the old should do to make way for the young. I’m not ‘vaccinated’ either, and I won’t be willingly.
Leave the young alone; we were all young once and we did what they’re doing now.
Great to see!
One of the few cheerful sights for a long time.
I was delighted to attend a wedding reception, just as it would have been before the lockdown. About 300 people, plenty of socialising and not one mask.
Enjoy it kids because the bogey man will be stopping you come the start of the flu season.
Don’t just enjoy it, plan for how you’ll permanently keep your temporarily regained freedoms, by any means necessary.
Good to see this many people clear don’t care for the whole “apocalypse disease, fear everyone” narrative. But a shame that as soon as they finish partying most of them revert to virture signalling rather than protest. Simply taking your rights back in the limited places and ways the tate says you can doesn’t do anything to redress the power imbalance and ensure they never try a lockdown again. People need to make their opposition to lockdowns and vaccine passes very plain and visible, not just play along but hope their own freedoms will survive. The covi-panicked have been saying “nobody is truly safe from covid until everyone is safe from covid”, we need to say “nobody is truly free from tyranny until we’re all free from the threat of tyranny”.
So, so true. If the go-along- to-get-along crowd just stopped, this would be over in a minute.
Spot on. However, many people simply won’t know how they can make their opposition plain and visible – they will need to be shown or told what to do. They also need to feel they are not alone.
The young especially (in the UK) will probably have spent most of their early lives in settings where they are one of a group, have to do as they’re told, and accept their own needs as being secondary to those of others (nurseries, childcare, before/after school clubs etc), and will have carried that mindset forward into their adult lives. Hard to break through all that psychological conditioning.
Report from the ground. c 5 parents of children at my daughter’s school have come down with Covid, early 40s most of them. With symptoms – some ‘tough’ apparently. One guy (I suspect a bit of a chubby if his daughter is anything to go by) had to to hospital for a few days. ALL vaccinated (possibly not all had second dose).
Separately, went to my daughter’s theatre performance this morning. Windows to the auditorium fully open – just me and some old guy without masks. Wife giving me the eyes.
Yup, this is definitely happening. Near neighbour, double vaxxed, got it probably from child – symptoms just what I would have predicted given his age. Wife fine, clearly immune.
Someone else who had Covid last November, no vaccines, went to Wembley, many of his double mates got Covid, usual very nasty flu symptoms, he didn’t.
Gold miners, anyone?
The behaviours that have become second nature to me over the last 18 months, that I’m sticking with are a complete and utter distrust of public health officials, total hatred of all politicians and a refusal to comply with demeaning and unscientific demands.
Yes, those lowlifes can never be trusted. Resistance is vital.
Good God, too many people are enjoying themselves. This MUST be stopped!
Make fun illegal Boris before we all die of happiness !!!
From the slog:
“In Scotland, between the 8th December 2020 and the 11th June 2021, a total number of 5,522 people died within 28 days of having a dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
The average number of people dying of Covid-19 in Scotland per month over the same period was 54. That compares to 922 dead shortly after taking the vaccine.
Scottish people are, ergo, 18 times more likely to be killed by vaccine than they are by Covid. (And bear in mind, in the UK as a whole, the “adverse symptoms” reporting system suffers from unexplained discouragement syndrome)
[Goblins from Reuters, the NYT and Guardian shouldn’t waste their fat-chequing time: those numbers are official and the result of an FOI request made to Public Health for Scotland]”
https://therealslog.com/2021/07/24/the-saturday-essay-coming-out-of-the-shadows-dead-scots-complete-finks/
While I’m really glad to see people getting out there and enjoying themselves, I can’t help thinking that this is just part of the plan – I expect that in September (just before new Uni terms begin) the govt cretins will ask clubbers to think about all the fun they had in summer and they can continue to do that if only they accept their meds without question and download this insidious little app. Evil.
Paul Nuki GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY EDITOR, LONDON, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/vaccinating-children-poses-benefits-pitfalls-battle-against/
NO PAUL NUKI OF THE DAILY TELEGRAPH – THERE IS NO CONUNDRUM
Stand in South Hill Park Bracknell every Sunday from 10am meet fellow anti lockdown freedom lovers, keep yourself sane, make new friends and have a laugh.
Join our Stand in the Park – Bracknell – Telegram Group
http://t.me/astandintheparkbracknell
HOME EDUCATION – Ex-Primary School Teacher on Resistance GB YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ5oS2ejye0
https://www.hopesussex.co.uk/our-mission
So good to see people getting on with their lives. It must piss off the miserable puritans no end.
People just wanna have fun
I recommend that all these people enjoying life again take a good long moment to look around take it all in. How fun it is to be a bare faced human and intimately socializing with your fellow humans with not a mask in sight. Take it in deep down to your very soul.
The A-holes will be back this fall ushering you all back in lockdown and you’ll be peeking over your face
diapers for all life functions outside ur home once again.
Or will some of you finally say F it all enough of this shyte?!!
Enjoy the summer while you can whoever you are!
Thank you. I have, shamelessly, “borrowed” your comment for FB as it sums up my feelings so well! Everyone who has attended an event, and given their Vax Status in order to participate, has tacitly shown the Gov a green light.
Not all restrictions have gone my Partner and I are becoming Civil Partners in a couple of weeks. The number of people “allowed” at the ceremony in the local Town Hall? Eight! And that includes the two witnesses from the council. So effectively we are “allowed” four guests. Not “Back to Normal” then.
People should ignore all Boris crap and do their own thing as there are not enough police to push the nonsense
I do Mike but you can’t ignore what the council say especially when it’s their building. Though of course it’s our building as we pay for it but you know what I mean. I suppose we could get the whole family and friends together and smash our way in but they’d probably refuse to carry out the ceremony!
I love the mind’s image of you smashing your say in en masse and demanding to be married before a crowd. Sounds like a good premise for a Richard Curtis film.
*way, not say.
Thought I’d proof-read it before pressing ‘post’
And why not…life is for living, not just existing
Slightly off topic but affecting the young. My nephew (a airline captain who had a good income) had to renegotiate his mortgage because of reduced earnings. He has two young children.
The broker told him that anyone who had been on furlough wouldn’t get a mortgage. I wonder do the numpties supporting and enjoying furlough get that.
National debt is exceeding war time levels and there is a price to be paid for all the covid nonsense.
Personally, I hope to be sneaking out of my care home to go clubbing. Good luck kids. I sincerely hope you are enjoying yourselves because the covid fanatics are leaving you with a huge debt to pay.
“Personally, I hope to be sneaking out of my care home to go clubbing.” That sounds great instead of the girls dancing around their handbags they’ll be be dancing around their sticks and zimmers.
The idea that the young living their lives to the full is somehow a danger to very old people who have reached the natural end of their lives – is absurd.
(re-worded for maximum simplicity)
All businesses should start banning all government ministers and MPs from their establishments.
They know they only have a few weeks before the doors slam shut again, so they are making the most of it.
Good luck to them.
There’s bugger-all we can do to stop this march into tyranny without resort to *whisper it* -anarchy.
But what business is going to defy the law over checking VPs if it invalidates their lease or their insurance? You can’t force entry into a country without the paperwork – yes I know you can do it in a dinghy, but we’d quite like a nice holiday at the other end.
Scuffles with rozzers on a demo is one thing but if it goes unreported what’s the point?
Just watched Neil Oliver saying that the only way out of an abusive relationship is to take the kids and leave.
Trouble is, you need somewhere to go.
Let it rip, virtually immune, marvellous for herd immunity, leading us back to normal.
The only behaviour that’s become ‘second nature’ to me over the last 16 months, is hatred of the government and trying to live my life as normally as possible while ignoring their ridiculous draconian curbs on our God given freedoms.