QUOTE(Web Fred @ Tue 8th May 2012, 8:41pm)
QUOTE(dtobias @ Tue 8th May 2012, 6:14pm)
Racism being bad doesn't mean that expressing racist ideas isn't free speech.
There are expressions of racism that aren't free speech: silently beating up a neighbor because of what race he is would be one such thing. There are expressions of free speech that can be debated about whether they constitute racism; expressing a critical view of affirmative action policies is one such thing (which some will consider racist to even bring up, while others may find it to be an area of legitimate philosophical disagreement). But some things fall in both the category of "racism" and the category of "free speech".
I agree totally.
Racism is a disgusting thing, but not being able to express your thoughts is far worse.
It depends on who's preventing the expression of your thoughts. If it's Tony Blair, the cops, the CPS, and some hypocritical magistrate locking up some fuckwit student from Swansea who tweeted a load of nonsense when drunk then that is bad. The State cannot be trusted when it resticts free speech and the Blairite race laws are just window dressing while the afore mentioned cops, CPS and magistrate continue to be part of the system that locks up a disproportionate number of black people.
On the other hand, when Vidal Sassoon and his mates in the 43 Group beat up Jeffrey Hamm and the other preachers of race hate, that was good suppression of free speech. Hamm, Mosley and co would have set up death camps in the UK if they were given the chance and a quick demonstration that they were no physical specimens of a master race helped prevent far worse nastiness.