Freedom: a word laden with meaning, that turns the heads of billions, moves the world, holds more power than tanks and guns, is imbued with poetic resonance and romantic spirit, a spark that fires up the human soul. The course of history is changed by its restless demands and always for the better.Really? I suspect you are about to repudiate that in your own column.
And I’m right:
But freedom has never been as free and simple as the songs of freedom that serenade it. Nor is it always the small, good guy, taking on the dark forces. The WikiLeaks drama supposedly embodies that struggle. It doesn't. True, Assange and his web warriors have opened up the labyrinthine crypts and vaults holding official US secrets and conspiracies, and thereby have exposed the lies governments tell and harm they wilfully cause. Diplomatic niceties sound even more fraudulent than once they did; the communiqués about and between various states reveal such dirty politicking their leaders will never again be believed. They deserve no better.There’s a ‘but’ coming, isn’t there?
However, the widespread cynicism will now burn all before it. Without trust between rulers and the ruled, governance is impossible. (That is what Mr Clegg and co need to understand.) Assange's freedom to publish, while vital, cannot be the only consideration. What happens next? Who deals with the ensuing disarray?Ummm, perhaps the people who created it? And I’m not referring to Assange…
We journalists must interrogate our own motives too as we relish the endless revelations. We have no means of validating what is going out – and some of the material must be inaccurate or incomplete. The freeing up of so much untested information makes folk swallow and gorge on it, surely very unhealthy.Well, it never bothers you journalists when you are happily regurgitating the latest statement of ‘research’ from some fakecharity or government quango, so why worry here?
A harder, though equally incontrovertible, truth is that even in the most developed of democracies, where freedoms are guaranteed by constitutions and cumulative wisdom, there are legal and also unspoken, generally understood limits to what is acceptable in the public space. These are indeed frequently and necessarily contested. However, in the last decade, an unprecedented resistance has being mounted by those who cannot compromise, who truly believe anything goes and that restraint is a form of censorship. These freedom fighters have brought down political correctness and delivered the dubious benefits of loose tongues and careless thoughts.Political correctness has been ‘brought down’..?!?
Truly, proof that Yasmin inhabits her own little world…
And so now we have the abominable Frankie Boyle making filthy jokes on TV about disabled children while people roll about laughing I presume.You ‘presume’? Shouldn’t you find out, you being one of those fearless, fact-seeking journalists?
But wait, Yaz is in full-on ‘It’s all about meeeeeeee!’ mode:
The hitherto lawless and feral internet world is having to becoming more self- aware and conscious of the effects of words and images on real lives. Legal constraints are creeping in too. Good. It's time the space was civilised. Freedom has given licence to cowards to abuse, threaten, intimidate, cruelly demean, give vent to racism, sexism, paedophilia and the most wicked emotions of which humans are capable. Even more nauseating are their claims of high virtue and democratic valour. (This will set them off, the demented bloggers, the bulldogs who go after me week after week.)Heh!
Her conclusion, however, isn’t quite so amusing:
Some information can provoke such devastating consequences, it does need to be kept from the wider public.Who’s going to decide that, Yaz? You?
Somebody ought to turn her upside down & use her as a money-box .. its all she's fit for ..
ReplyDeleteShe's a riot. I hope she reads your blog.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the Wikileaks are concerned, the American Govt only have themselves to blame. How secure was that information? Not very, it seems. There are people who are passionate about freedom of speech and will go to any lengths. Some of those people have become heroes to us.
Nothing should be censored on the internet except child porn/snuff stuff etc..
It is the last bastion of freedom of speech.
Thirty years or so ago, many comedians made jokes about the unfortunate. Remember biafran jokes? What about thalidomide jokes?
They are JOKES, nevertheless they are in bad taste but should not be banned for any reason/
After 20 years of "growing" political correctness (in our world, not Alibumbums) the masses have turned into thin skinned wimps looking for quick buck in compensation or "fame".
The old adage "Sticks and stones..." still holds true. There are far greater dangers in the world than free speech.
Not having free speech is one of them.
Very slippery of her to use Boyle's atrocious 'joke' as an example of opposing PC. She could just have easily mentioned criticism of immigration or Islam being taboo, but mysteriously went for the big painted tiger option instead.
ReplyDeleteI don't want Boyle to be banned, I prefer the old-fashioned option of someone beating the shit out of the sneering cowardly wanker.
Was that in any way coherent or one of those infinite number of monkeys with typewriters drivel? I know editors demand copy at given deadlines but ffs, at least try and earn a wage. Good grief.
ReplyDeleteIs she paid by the number of words she types? Or by the number of column inches that she (personally) fills each week?
ReplyDeleteThe best bit?
To long to be free is a basic human desire which must be satisfied. Artists, writers, commentators, leaders, all citizens must be able to express themselves without fearing reprisals.
It amuses me that Brown singles out three (or four?) categories that she may identify with for explicit freedom of speech - the rest of us mere mortals will just have to rely on the freedoms that her selected groups allow us...
"True, Assange and his web warriors have opened up the labyrinthine crypts and vaults holding official US secrets and conspiracies"
ReplyDeleteBut not, we note, the secrets and conspiracies from those other communist, socialist and devious governments that are so openly admired.
Apparently the Saudis wanted the Americans to bomb Iran. Two different branches of Islam. A bit like catholic and protestant but with bigger bangs.
ReplyDeleteAnd on the same subject, Gerry Adams is a member of the IRA. Didn't see that one coming.
"She's a riot. I hope she reads your blog."
ReplyDeleteI doubt she even reads the comments to her own columns!
"How secure was that information? Not very, it seems. "
Indeed. Best way to keep a secret is to tell as few people as need to know.
"Was that in any way coherent or one of those infinite number of monkeys with typewriters drivel? "
How long before she starts recycling old articles? And would anyone notice?
"It amuses me that Brown singles out three (or four?) categories that she may identify with for explicit freedom of speech - the rest of us mere mortals will just have to rely on the freedoms that her selected groups allow us..."
We should certainly thank our lucky stars she'll never get her hands on any real power...
"But not, we note, the secrets and conspiracies from those other communist, socialist and devious governments that are so openly admired."
ReplyDeleteSomehow, even if he had done, I think she'd have found a way to rationalise them away.
Yazzer is too easy a target, though open season on her is fine by me.
ReplyDeleteShe says "We journalists" but I would say that she isn't. She's a commentator.
ReplyDeleteThe same as any other blogger only that her drivel appears in a newspaper which makes her think that she is above all other commentators.