Dear Chris,
Thanks for forwarding your posts. I’m glad they liked my speech - I tried to carry on in the face of all the heckling. it is terrible that the mob of thugs outside closed down an election hustings - we are in new territory not seen since the 1930s I fear - and Labour is heavily involved…
Best wishes,
David
I agree, everyone has the right to be heard and the scenes on the video are unpleasant and over the top. Though freedom of speech does not give freedom from the consequence of what you say.
In this case I may have been in a more peaceful crowd that day:
“The latest scientific studies show that incidence of homosexuality in adults decreases with age, so it is unlikely to be fixed at birth.Study after study also shows that the incidence of homosexuality is much higher among people who have been sexually abused as children”.
This is bonkers. It almost doesn’t warrant a response - it’s the stuff of the dark ages and yet he is given a platform and fine British voters back him.
Finally and more on topic, despite his questionable outlook on life, he spoke reasonably well - but as ever for UKIP, much rhetoric about needing to leave and regain control of laws, there’s no indication of what our destination is and what laws we will overturn.
Hi David. I thought you did very well to keep your cool in such a threatening (and distracting) environment.
Whilst I find it heartening that a lot of leftists agree that the mob was wrong - I am still concerned that people aren’t clocking the SWP connections here.
As I’m sure you know, the moderate Labour Party (which is dying a sad death under Corbyn) once proscribed the SWP, which has an awful history and reputation.
Under Corbyn and his goons in Momentum we’re seeing tacit approval of the hard-left and their ugly tactics (although at least they seem to be working in favour of Brexit, for some small consolation!)
For “Stand Up To Racism” to claim that they are “anti-fascist” is laughable. Storming a peaceful hustings event to shout down any party they disagree with - that’s textbook fascism.
Stay safe David.
There are plenty of people with much harder and more unpleasant views on homosexuality. For example:
Would you “no-platform” half of all British Muslims, @Nylon?
I’m concerned at this idea of “consequences of what you say “ as a natural limiter to free speech.
It means free speech for some , up to a point , which I’m sure Anne-Marie Waters would have alluded to had she spoken.
Trying to disrupt the process of local democracy by threatening and intimidating behaviour is no better than what we see in some of the worst human rights abusing countries and it highlights the mess that the left is in . I doubt anyone at those hustings were actual “ racist scum “ and in need of being “ off our streets “ though I suspect some of the demonstrators fit that profile did they but know it .
A few thoughts on this thread.
These styles of threads are very depressing to read and completely detract from sense of community that SE23.Life initially set out to create.
There are several different viewpoints being expressed by different people on this topic. A viewpoint is not the same as an agenda.
Parliament is a lively debate. That is not the same as mob intimidation, and certainly does not justify it. I find it worrying that people can be so blasé about what happened at these hustings. Democracy depends on freedom from intimidation.
That’s not what I said, or what I believe.
Yet you skirt around the fact that half the population of one of our fastest growing demographics in this country (and no, I’m not talking about a race) hold far more extreme views than David? Why?
SE23.life set out to create a platform for respectful debate.
It is not “anti-community” to write in support of free speech, and peaceful hustings for the benefit of local people.
On the other hand, getting offended on behalf of other people is not conducive to a healthy debate. Everyone is free to participate here and to correct any factual innacuracies in my posts or others, if they find any.
When you’ve twisted what I actually said about Karen into that shape it certainly does sound worrying, I agree.
I’m not sure in what way I’ve twisted anything? Unless I dreamt the whole thing you made many posts supporting her right to make the comment?
I would quote/screenshot but the posts have all been moved now to a thread I can’t access.
Here’s what I said:
And as if my comments on Godwin’s law needed reinforcement, the article posted in support of the protesters by @ThorNogson compared the hustings attendees with Hitler.
As with Karen’s tweet, I don’t think they should lose their jobs for saying that.
But anyway, this topic should not be turned into a discussion about me and my views - let’s get back to discussing the events of the hustings, and the people involved in that.
Evidence that labour in any way supports this behavior please?
I didn’t and was in fact in the process of checking if that picture in fact relates to the events in question. The hysterical implications he used have already rendered sensible rebuttal difficult.
Yes you did say that… amongst many, many other things. But as I’m not in a position to pick and choose quotes there’s no discussion to be had.
Anyway to conclude, I think you need to practise inclusion and community on the forum not just preach it. I worry about the impression people must get about the community in SE23 when they read these posts when researching the area.
They’ll see a healthy forum that practises inclusion of all viewpoints from the community, and does not bully out other people due to intellectual disagreement.
Forums are for sharing and debate. I post my views, you post yours. We discuss the views themselves, not the people making them.
Agreed, but when one voice instigates a large number of discussion points from the same viewpoint and always vociferously argues that position it can certainly appear that the debate can be less than balanced.
It’s a pity that to some people, the forum appears that way. But it’s simply that I spend a lot of time on this website, due to my interest in building it, and my interest in the local community.
I have started lots of topics on all sorts of apolitical and political things, and obviously I will represent my own viewpoints rather than pretending to represent other people’s.
I will support anyone who wants to post here, provided they follow our simple guidelines, which include:
Not all forums support the posting of views across the whole political spectrum - so if you’d prefer a forum that restricted posting by right-of-centre members then you’re in luck, as there are other local options.
Your response to this is hysterical. I do not agree that you were shouted over but the right to peaceful protest is a bedrock of democracy- as others as said, freedom of speech is not freedom from consequence and to draw the implicit comparison that you do is the laziest form of response and suggests you have no sense of proportion.
A couple of things about the video at the top of the thread: (1) I applaud the non-violent civilized process of removing the person interrupting the meeting; (2) It’s disappointing that the police apparently allow a small demonstration outside the venue to be a determining factor in their decision to close an important public meeting - a hustings of official candidates for an election to parliament. What this signifies to me is that the police attribute insufficient priority to these scarce but vital events. If the demonstration was a threat to public order, why not deal with that problem, rather than suspend democracy?
I for one am thrilled to see @DavidKurtenAM re-engage with the Forum. I had high hopes when he joined over a year ago and quickly made his first, though until this morning last post the following day. Perhaps he’ll choose to engage more regularly without the need for prompts from admins. I’d relish a robust debate with him on a matter of issues, notwithstanding his position on the LGBTQ community.
Perhaps other politicians, or political candidates for future elections can follow suit.