AOG has posted a perfectly valid link to an important and, in our intellectually repressive society, possibly ground-breaking analysis – high time someone said it - so I don’t understand the mentality of those who have jumped on this seemingly perpetually rolling bandwagon of criticising everything he says. He does appear to be a bit of a whipping boy around here at times. Lucky for his critics he’s not from an ethnic minority. Your unfairly disparaging posts would be instantly zapped!
Trevor Phillips is absolutely correct. It is wrong to try to ban racism out of existence. Legislation can be and is used to restrict freedom of speech, but it can never control freedom of thought. We have created a society in which any criticism including rationally valid criticism of ethnic minorities is instantly labelled ‘racist’, implying deliberate victimisation, but people should be free to acknowledge reality and to express genuine concerns without fear of legal reprisal. Anything less is simply biased and discriminatory – exactly that which these ill-considered laws are designed to combat.
Jim, //…which is where the main problem lies -- people drawing false racial conclusions from correct data without appreciating the underlying cause, and then going on to use this dodgy reasoning as the basis for prejudicial views.//
How can people be expected to appreciate the underlying cause when honest discussion is legally suppressed? That doesn’t educate – it creates resentment and hence exacerbates prejudice.
sp, //AOG Why are you glad he said that? //
I’m glad he said it too because it’s true. Pretending it isn’t doesn’t make it less so. No problem was ever resolved by ignoring it.
Gromit, //Journalism is about finding your own stories, not stealing someone elses work.//
You’re mistaken. Journalism is not solely about finding your own stories. It’s about writing and editing news stories for publication or broadcast. AOG’s link is one such example of that.