Laugh at the racists

November 26th, 2007 - 22:55 | 3 comments

I can see both sides of the Griffin/Irving freedom-of-speech debate, but I’m leaning towards the Oxford ~~Student~~ Union’s view. Giving cretins a platform doesn’t inherently grant them legitimacy, and the only people who’ll think it does are those who were fans in the first place. The media hyperbole seems to be badly thought through, too - isn’t getting all hot under the collar about it playing into their hands even more? The appropriate reaction is not bluster and disgust, but ridicule. It’s great that these two tossers are being given a stage where we can laugh at them so easily. Just say ‘these two have the critical reasoning skills of a dead sheep, and let’s all enjoy watching the ~~Student~~ Union rip them to shreds’. Assuming they do, of course - I don’t see any problem with inviting mental people to speak, but there’s no excuse for not calling them out on their pathetic arguments while you’ve got them.

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3 Responses to “Laugh at the racists”

1 PooterGeek Nov 26th, 2007 at 11:20 pm

Important distinction: Oxford University Student Union is completely different from the Oxford Union. If you want access to a number of basic student welfare services you have to hand money over to the Student Union and watch a proportion of it go to subsidize pseudo-Left-wing ideological nonsense. If you want to become a Conservative MP when you’re older then you probably ought to join the Oxford Union, which is a private club.
2 Andrew Nov 26th, 2007 at 11:26 pm

Damn it, I wasn’t aware of that at all. Probably should have been - thanks for letting me know. Post updated.
3 ED Nov 27th, 2007 at 12:47 am

The oxford union is the debating society. Not all students of oxford actually pay membership to the student union either btw.

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