Nick Cohen on Free Speech and the Virgin Trains ban on the Daily Mail.

"For all their bombast, censors give every appearance of being dictatorial neurotics, who are so frightened of their opponents that they cannot find the strength to take them on in the open.

I can’t imagine many saying, “I’ll side with the people who tell me what I can and can’t think.”

I find it equally hard to picture readers turning away from the Mail because Sir Richard Branson and “alternative” comedians who haven’t had an alternative thought since Blair’s second term tell them to.

On the one hand, “liberals” rightly say that sexists, racists and homophobes are preposterous bigots. On the other, they run away from the chance to confront them. If you can’t beat a bigot in argument, you shouldn’t ban them but step aside and make way for people who can. It’s not as if they have impressive cases that stand up to scrutiny."


(Nick Cohen, extracts from an excellent article criticising censorship, "no platform" and banning newspapers, which you can read here.)

Comments

Anonymous said…
i think thou protest too much
3:22 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
Your prerogative to think that. I disagree.

Nick Cohen, whose article in the Guardian I quoted, does not share my political opinions.

He makes a convincing case against banning views he disagree with.

I agree with him about the problem of censorship whether the views concerned are right or left.
6:41 pm
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