The ‘freedom’ card

Should someone on a no-fly terrorist list, or banned from a country, be officially condoned by allowing them to speak in a public venue? There are plenty of similar questions, and a multitude of responses based on personal perspectives and shallow philosophy, yet sounding principled.

Sometimes the claimants to the right of free speech are the ones suppressing freedoms of others. Hate-speakers asking their audience to attack objectors in the room who interrupt them . . . who successfully plays the ‘‘freedom of speech’’ card? Probably whoever is the greater manipulator of public opinion.

We complacently think, in a country that fought for the ‘‘good guys’’ in the last war, a bastion of freedoms and reason, that those with truth on their side will ultimately win.

Just how wrong this assumption is today can only be described as frightening.

The best supporters of any freedom have their eyes wide open.

Mark Aitchison, Sydenham