I was reading a news article today regarding the outrage that has been sparked by the BBC's decision to interview members of the British National Party (BNP): an openly racist political party who gained seats in the last set of local elections.
The complaints were because during this interview the BNP activists said that Ashley Cole (an England footballer who just happens to be black) was not "ethnically British" despite the small matter of being born in the UK.
I completely support the BBC in their decision to interview these people. Don't get me wrong, they are hideous bigots and I disagree with everything they stand for. My point is that their mass stupidity and hatred should not infringe their right to be heard and expose themselves for the morons that they are.
Freedom of speech is something that I really believe is important. That freedom should extend to everyone, no matter how wrong they are. I would support the rights of someone who said that the Earth was flat or that evolution was a lie. It would not make them correct, but they should be allowed to say it.
People should really have expected a racist party to say racist things when interviewed. Are those thoughts deplorable? Yes, but allowing them to say it will hopefully wake people up to the fact that some British voters have put members of this crackpot group of racists in positions of political power. That is something to get outraged over.
The fact is that biology has advanced to the point that racism is not only uncouth and ignorant, but it is simply wrong. We, as humans, share 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees and 50% with bananas. Creatures of this earth are more closely related than most people realize. With that in mind if you compared the DNA of two people with different skin color, the differences would be so insignificant that any claims made by racists about being different biologically would be proved to be as stupid as it sounds.
I would hope that the British people focus their outrage productively: by ensuring that any BNP member holding political office be voted out at the next chance and that no others are ever voted in. Their freedom to expose themselves as idiots should not be infringed, but when people with those ideas get any kind of power is when the outrage is necessary.
The complaints were because during this interview the BNP activists said that Ashley Cole (an England footballer who just happens to be black) was not "ethnically British" despite the small matter of being born in the UK.
I completely support the BBC in their decision to interview these people. Don't get me wrong, they are hideous bigots and I disagree with everything they stand for. My point is that their mass stupidity and hatred should not infringe their right to be heard and expose themselves for the morons that they are.
Freedom of speech is something that I really believe is important. That freedom should extend to everyone, no matter how wrong they are. I would support the rights of someone who said that the Earth was flat or that evolution was a lie. It would not make them correct, but they should be allowed to say it.
People should really have expected a racist party to say racist things when interviewed. Are those thoughts deplorable? Yes, but allowing them to say it will hopefully wake people up to the fact that some British voters have put members of this crackpot group of racists in positions of political power. That is something to get outraged over.
The fact is that biology has advanced to the point that racism is not only uncouth and ignorant, but it is simply wrong. We, as humans, share 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees and 50% with bananas. Creatures of this earth are more closely related than most people realize. With that in mind if you compared the DNA of two people with different skin color, the differences would be so insignificant that any claims made by racists about being different biologically would be proved to be as stupid as it sounds.
I would hope that the British people focus their outrage productively: by ensuring that any BNP member holding political office be voted out at the next chance and that no others are ever voted in. Their freedom to expose themselves as idiots should not be infringed, but when people with those ideas get any kind of power is when the outrage is necessary.
No comments:
Post a Comment