Freedom of speech - only when you agree with the left

[Wokko]

The problem wasn't the counter rally, I've looked into this and in Melbourne the 'counter' protestors hemmed the Reclaim Australia protest in, preventing late comers from joining in and preventing reclaim protestors from leaving. This isn't a 'counter' protest but a blatant act of thuggery against people trying to express their views using their right to protest.

The modern left isn't about discourse, it's about intimidation of opponents, "No tolerance for intolerance" being one of the horrendous Orwellian doublespeak phrases I've heard. No point having a direct debate on points of disagreement, just shout and abuse and assault until anyone "intolerant" is silent and compliant.

[HAL]

I assume you mean our current problem.

[Pies4shaw]

Me and me mates have borrowed some of me Mum's white sheets and cut eye-holes in them. We're going to go over to Lake Tyers to express our deeply-held conviction that indigenous Australians should all be non-citizens under the Constitution. We don't have any reasoned basis for this; we just don't like people with funny skin. But we'll be very annoyed if there's any interference with our right to express our opinions freely while we're there. No jostling, no heckling, no counter-demonstrations, please. We just want to express freely in public in places that "Wedontlikedarkies" and burn a few crosses.

Is there some problem with that?

As John McEnroe might have said, "You cannot be serious!"

[3.14159]

One step beyond...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yaChekWmuY

[watt price tully]

There are elements in both left & right that try to suppress & intimidate free speech. Intimidation & causing fear is not determined by believing one is in imminent threat of being physically harmed, that is too a narrow definition.

Socialist alliance & their buddies have zero tolerance for pluralistic views as do many on the right.

& if you don't believe me I'm gunna f*cken punch your head in.

The Halal funds terror groups & ban sharia groups (the same actually) is also part of the neo nazi spiel. Not all & probably not the majority support neo nazi views but the white power supremacists have joined this lot.

Personally, I think that people who believe that Halal leads to sharia leads to funding terrorists should be jailed; not for their views but for their ignorance in holding those views in the first place!!(alarmist nonsense) We need to expose such stupidity

At the same time, religious extremism & killers, that is conspicuous in the form of fundamentalist Islam needs to be monitored & surveilled. That is quite a right & proper thing to do.

There has been a huge influx of mid eastern immigration & asian immigration over the last 10-20 years. People do need need time to adapt & accommodate to this change.

[stui magpie]

[Wokko]

[3.14159]

[David]

[stui magpie]

[Wokko]

I would also like to add that claiming that certain members of the right wing are also against free speech doesn't invalidate the argument that the left is against it too. The difference between the two is that the leftist claim to free speech inevitably excludes whatever they consider 'hate speech' which can then be used to silence any opposition.

Those on the right who are for free speech (Libertarians/Anarcho-Capitalists) are for free speech without reservation and those against it (Nationalists/Neo-Conservatives) are not against 'free speech' per se but have hang ups about patriotism/security in much the same way as the liberal left and their 'hate speech'. Both of those totalitarian groups are equally repugnant in my eyes but ultimately have little to nothing to do with this discussion.

[Gerry Cooper]

Oh cry me a river. History shows us time and time again that Nazis, Fascists and their like cannot be reasoned with or tolerated. History also teaches that ultimately there is only one way to deal with them. I don't give a rats about their free speech.

Reclaim Australia was set up by Neo-Nazis in order to exploit the bogan groundswell of anti-Islamic feeling in this country. It was never a genuine expression of anything. They set out to organise rallies in order to raise their profile and to take advantage through social media of a ground-swell of contacts that they can exploit and grow. The rallies themselves were failures but I doubt they are too concerned about that. They have made thousands of contacts they can now work with. if they are successful with that only time will tell.

[Wokko]

Sounds like the exact same thing that the Marxists have been doing with their professional protestors for years, no surprise the other side of the totalitarian horseshoe would do the exact same thing.

How is a rally a 'failure'? Why is the groundswell of anti-Islamic sentiment 'bogan'? On what grounds do you claim the organizers are 'Neo-Nazi'? Lots of emotive, prejudicial and pejorative language without much logic or evidence to back it up.

[Pies4shaw]

Are you familiar with the expression "res ipsa loquitur"?

[Wokko]

But those things don't speak for themselves. Those statements are sweeping, insulting generalisations based on feelings of the author and innate prejudice towards political opposition.