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Wednesday 13 March 2024

Matt Le Tissier on Free Speech

 

2 comments:

Sam Vega said...

Many thanks for that. I'd heard Le Tissier's name, but had little idea about him other than his being a retired footballer. I found it extremely heartening because he appears to be an average sort of bloke who is articulating ideas that lots of other average people are thinking. He's not an intellectual, or a demagogue, or someone with a compelling line that turns out to be an obsession. He's just done some thinking and happens to have a ready-made platform due to his fame.

In particular, it rings true that we are cancelled and controlled by cowards who are themselves fearful of others who would cancel them if they dissented. There's nobody really in charge; everyone is jumping at shadows. And there's also the idea (I think Rob Henderson touches on it) that the way people are cancelled or dismissed is not through argument, but merely by associating them with low-status ideas. "That's racist"; "You're a climate denier"; "Are you saying I'm not a real woman?"

A K Haart said...

Sam - the general attitude seems to be fairly common among people who worked for big media outfits and have now retired or were effectively pushed out because they couldn't fit in with the culture. They paint similar pictures of everyone jumping at political shadows. Scepticism could be much more widespread than we know.