The Right to Be Wrong

I have always held freedom of speech to be sancrosanct. Just because someone holds views I think are repellent doesn't mean I have the right to censor them. The bad guys censor. We are the good guys. Victory comes by winning the arguement, not by censorship. It is a idealistic view but it is one I have stuck to.

Two things have made me question this belief: Nick Griffin's impending appearance on 'Question Time' and Jan Moir's article in the Daily Mail. I am going to concentrate on Nick Griffin for the purposes of this blog.

I have considered my idealistic belief but not abandoned it. In my view Nick Griffin should be allowed to appear on 'Question Time'.

Why? Well, firstly because gagging him - however unpleasent the potato faced twat might be - allows the BNP to play the free-speech martyrs silenced by a metropolitan establishment conspiracy. Whatever we think of the BNP they are a legal political party. People vote for them.

Secondly bringing the BNP out into the open means they have to face the same kind of questions that the mainstream parties get. They have to make themselves accountable. By keeping the BNP in the half-light we allow them the privalege of escaping that focus. So yes, whilst our media have agendas of their own and sometimes seem more than willing to roll over for the more media savvy they can force issues out into the open.

It would be better if the 'Question Time' panel was not filled with bog-standard party aparatchiks who could have a real go at Griffin. Unfortunately it looks like it is the Jack Straw type, although I'll be interested to see how Griffin responds to Bonnie Greer.

Jack Straw might find going for Griffin tough as both Labour and Conservative have been falling over themselves to show their anti-immigration credentials, which plays into Griffin's hands somewhat as does the Conservative Party's friendship with some nasty right-wing parties in Europe.

But fundamentally I believe we will beat the BNP by arguement rather than pushing them under a stone. Let's face it with the exception of a hardcore support the BNP are doing well because there is a void which they have rushed to fill created by the mainstream parties rushing to hold up the middle-classes. So we have to show them for what they are and to show people that they are not the solution to the problems people are facing.

The left should be asking itself why the BNP can win seats but they can't.

I'm not saying we shouldn't attack the BNP or Jan Moir. They should not be allowed to spout their views unchallenged but we will not win by making them right-wing free speech martyrs. In the new online world we have many ways of tackling them but it should always be on the basis of winning the arguement. Censorship can never be the answer. People will always find somewhere to publish their views.

The key is to hammer their views and win the arguement.

Am I too idealistic?