At 10:00 09/10/03 +0100, Macfarlane, Alison wrote (in part):
>In response to comments to the list and to me as elected listowner, it is
>time to declare this re-opened discussion closed, as far as the radstats
>list is concerned.
I am perfectly happy with that decision, and personally (like many others)
do not want to see that discussion happening here - even though I might
participate in it in an appropriate place. However, I find it hard not to
comment on the defensive/pre-emptive statement that Alison then goes on to
make (on behalf of the list), namely:
>This is not curtailment of freedom of speech as there are a number of
>alternatives open to people who wish to continue their discussion on race.
Such an argument could be used by anyone who wished to 'censor' or restrict
freedom of speech in almost any situation, and therefore seems to me to be
a very unfortunate precedent/'slippery slope'. Sure, it doesn't represent
a universal 'curtailment' of freedom of speech, but it represents a local
restriction, and if many others followed suit, the net result would be 'a
curtailment'. It has been said that a single snowflake in an avalanche
never feels responsible.
If, say, ITV decided never to present the viewpoint of one major political
party, arguing that there were other TV channels available that could do
that, would we be happy with that argument?
I do not believe that Radstats, or Alison on their behalf, should be (or
should feel the need to be) defensive, or to hide behind such questionable
(and unecessary) 'justifications'. If the desire of Radstats is, as it
seems to be, to censor certain discussions and restrict the freedom of
speech within the Radstats List then, in my opinion, they should
unashamedly say so, and be proud, not defensive.
That's how I see it, anyway!
Kind Regards,
John
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