Conor Kenny
Staff Writer
The celebrated French philosopher Voltaire is often, erroneously, quoted as having said, “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” A noble sentiment no doubt, but one has to wonder if such a maxim applies to an age where these kind of eloquently expressed ideas have been hijacked by the far right lunatics of this world to preach hatred and intolerance. In attempting to justify the BNP’s recent invitation to speak at UCC’s Politics and Government society, the auditor, Ben English, paraphrased the quote, stating that, “Our invitation to Mr. Griffin is by no means a defence of what he has to say, rather it is a defence of his right to say it. I do hope that University College Cork – a college with strong liberal roots, will not succumb to any outside pressure and prevent this event going ahead.” Well not everyone’s a liberal, Ben, and it’s hard to be open minded about narrow minded ideas.
Donald Clarke, a writer in the Irish Times, wrote on Saturday regarding the decision to prevent Griffin from appearing in TCD in October, that, “If you don’t believe in free speech, then you are probably a fascist”. What a beautifully conveyed, spurious, nonsensical statement. People seem to be becoming increasingly drawn to the idea of unlimited freedom of speech as a human right. It isn’t. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that the right to speak freely may be restricted “for respect of the rights or reputation of others”. Bearing this in mind, it was absurd for Nick Griffin, a holocaust denier and Islamophobe, to be invited to Trinity College Dublin, a wonderful smelting pot of multiculturalism, to preach against multiculturalism as a concept. I wonder if Griffin would have the guts to walk through Harlem, New York, and tell the sizeable population of black Muslims that their presence there is damaging society?
Quite rightly, the visit to Trinity was eventually cancelled due to protests from students, but this didn’t prevent the soldiers of free speech from crying foul play. The whole argument that Griffin was somehow being stifled by an Orwellian police state is flawed. If we lived in a Stalinist dictatorship where everything we read was censored and we were constantly being arrested for speaking out, then these rightists might have a point. But Enda Kenny isn’t Joseph Stalin, unfortunately for our economy, and it was the people, rather than the establishment, who objected to this vile brand of drivel.
There has been some debate recently in America over whether freedom of speech, to borrow from a rather unfortunate phrase, has “gone mad”. Last week, the Westboro Baptist Church, an anti-gay hate cult, announced plans to picket the funeral of yet another dead American soldier. They believe that the death of soldiers in Iraq is an act of revenge from God, as they selectively nitpick bits of the Bible to amplify a homophobic message. On their various pickets throughout the States, they carry placards and signs such as “God Hates Fags”, and “Thank God for 9/11”. In March of this year, the US Supreme Court ruled that due to the First Amendment of the US Constitution, the Westboro Baptist Church were perfectly entitled to jeer at the funeral of the deceased Matthew Snyder, a former Marine, inflicting further pain on the boy’s father. Wonderful isn’t it? Hurrah for free speech!
The Danish theologian, Søren Aabye Kierkegaard, coined a marvelous quote that rarely makes an appearance in these debates. He once said that “People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid.” Those useful idiots at UCC preaching tolerance for intolerance would do well to think about that.
