Freedom of Speech

Posted on by Opher

With Musk, Trump and Farage all thundering on about FREEDOM OF SPEECH I thought I’d like to wade in.

I’m all in favour of freedom of speech.

I am against censorship.

I don’t want to see anybody shut up or deprived of a platform.

I want to be free to comment on politics and religion without limit.

Freedom of speech is essential in a civilised country.

Freedom of speech is necessary in a democracy.

No religion or politician should be above being given a good dollop of criticism or even abuse.

I am in favour of causing offence! Indeed, I enjoy causing offence to all those I despise – religious bigots, right-wing zealots, political nutcases, despots, misogynists, racists and their ignorant supporters should all be fair game.

However – the likes of Trump, Farage, Banion and Musk are not really talking about FREEDOM OF SPEECH. They want the right to spread outright lies as fact, to spread propaganda as news and to brainwash the gullible with misinformation. They want the right to distort and spread conspiracy. They was to discredit science and rational thought, fact and figures and replace it with their own deliberately untruthful fake news. Ironically, if they receive criticism they are the first to shriek ‘FAKE NEWS!!’ That is real irony.

Now I don’t mind opinion. I express enough of that. I don’t mind evidence being put forward to debate. But I do think that all information put forward as ‘Fact’ show be truth tested! I do believe that the blatant lies put out by Trump, Banion, Farage, Musk and the like (with clear political intent) should be fact tested and called out. I believe that Twitter, GB News and Fox News (along with the likes of the Express, Mail and Sun) are nothing more than lying propaganda machines pumping out a stream of lies and propaganda. That’s my opinion.

Musk is now wading in to British politics with his war on Labour. That’s not freedom of speech – that’s political interference from a snotty spoilt brat of a billionaire! The profiteering, self-promoting bastard should keep his nose out and stop trying to cause division and hate!!

Fuck Musk!! Fuck Trump!! And Fuck Farage!!

Women – Vote out the Trump Taliban!

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Vote for your freedom!

Vote against misogyny!

Vote for your rights!

Freedom

Posted on by Opher

Freedom

We burn books,

                Censor minds,

And call it freedom.

We burn cities,

                Shoot civilians

And call it justified.

We believe one source,

                Deny all else,

And call it truth.

We have white skin

                Are all male

And call that superior.

We suppress all evidence,

                Stifle and control,

And call that righteous.

Opher – 7.10.2024

Imposition. Under the banner of liberty there is a need to impose views on to other people – whether that is religion or politics, appearance or lifestyle, sexuality or morality. It is no longer OK to allow others to live how they want; they have to obey the rules.

Strict conformity is the name of the game.

Is Elon Musk a Far-right Agitator??

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He must have been extremely angry to see the British people rise up to protect the mosques and the rights of minorities, giving the Muslims hugs. Not the result he and his far-right chums were looking for.

Inevitable civil war?? Far from it! Instead of reasserting of good old British values of tolerance, fairness and justice!!

We don’t like fascists in Britain! We don’t like racists in Britain! We’ve got a long history of fighting for social justice!

Far-right manchild Musk should keep his nose out of Britain!

I stand for Freedom!!

Posted on by Opher

Not the kind of freedom that the right-wing stand for. I don’t want to be superior to other races, religions, creeds, nationalities or genders.

Freedom means being tolerant of others.

Freedom means caring for others.

Freedom means living in a society which does not oppress or suppress anybody.

I want the choice.

I want the chance to be whoever I am – whether that’s black, white, brown, gay, straight, male, female, trans, atheist, Christian, Muslim, Hindu of whatever.

Freedom is being able to read whatever I like.

Freedom is being able to wear whatever I like.

Freedom is being able to be different without being bullied.

Freedom is being able to be offensive without being aggressive.

Freedom is being able to say whatever you like.

Freedom is being able to live however I choose.

Freedom is being able to worship whatever I want.

Freedom is being able to go where-ever I choose.

Freedom is not infringing on the freedom’s of others.

I’m all for freedom!

But I believe a society should be caring and compassionate and judged on how well it treats its poorest and weakest. Freedom is providing a safe space for everyone.

The right-wing is inherently opposed to freedom. They prefer control, division, superiority, hierarchy and power (just as long as they are at the top and the ones in control).

Before and After – Misogyny in action!!

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Misogyny straight out of the Dark Ages!!

Women in Iran – before the 1979 revolution – studying for a future as equals.

After the 1979 revolution – second-class citizens with no education, no rights and a greatly reduced life.

This is religion in action – misogyny and severe control.

Iran: Woman whipped 74 times for not covering her head | Latest News | WION – YouTube

Brave women protest this primitive draconian misogyny from the Dark Ages. Not all women want to be shackled and coerced!! The religious thugs in Iran, Afghanistan and other Islamic countries who enforce this vile restriction on women have blood on their hands!!

Today’s Music to Blow My Mind – Tom Robinson Band – Power In The Darkness

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We need a bit of light. The Tories have taken all the bulbs!

tom robinson band power in the darkness – YouTube

Freedom

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Freedom

One man’s freedom

                Another man’s prison

Generating hate

                Benefit from division.

Populists promise the earth

                But deliver next to nothing,

Pretend to tell the truth

                But are really only bluffing.

Destroying all they touch,

                Tainting the air they breathe

Challenging the very tenets

                Of everything we believe.

Telling us the earth is flat

                Alien lizards run the world

Making fortunes out of logging

                Til every lst tree is felled.

Opher – 8.6.2023

I am absolutely appalled by the world-wide rise of extreme right-wing fascist populism. It is bad enough that greedy, self-serving liars like Trump, Bolsonaro, Oban, Modi, Meloni and Erdogan exist and are using their position to spread fear, division and hate so that they can personally profit by gaining power and raking in millions. But what is even worse is that they have conned the gullible public into believing their nonsense and voting for them.

That is far worse!

How can anyone be taken in by such shallow soundbites as Make America Great Again, Oven-Ready Deals or Sunlit Uplands? They are lies.

They drum up fears of immigrants, terrorists and Muslims in order to gain votes. They paint the opposition as crooks.

It all deflects from the way they use their position to pull in vast personal wealth. Between them they have made the world a far worse place and played into the hands of dictators and tyrants like Putin, Xi and Un.

Freedom

Posted on by Opher

Freedom

Freedom of speech;

                Controlled or a right?

Impartiality

                Darkness in the light.

Expressing one’s views,

                Or muzzled and chained?

Free to speak out,

                Or heavily constrained?

Mustn’t show bias

                While delivering a show,

But in your own time

                Can you let it all go?

Opher 11.3.2023

The Gary Lineker outrage has really opened up a can of worms, hasn’t it?

I can see that it might be considered wrong for political broadcasters to display bias (like Fiona Bruce’s pro-Tory hosting of Question Time) but surely bias from others is questionable. Where would satire be? Monty Python, Spitting Image, The News Quiz?

It seems that is OK to express right-wing views but if you say anything anti-government then you are jumped on.

There must also be a difference between what is expressed in a programme or what is expressed outside of work.

Can presenters of any type be expected not to express their feelings on all manner of political subjects in their own time? Or should they be permanently muzzled?

We have had numerous ex-Tory Ministers going through that revolving door into broadcasting. We know what their views are and what they stand for. As long as they don’t express them on air then surely it’s alright?

Then we have the case of Emily Maitlass. She was ousted for expressing a view on Dominic Cummings that was shared by all but the most rabid Tories.

The BBC has been stuffed with Tories. Is it now moving overtly to be nothing more than a propaganda wing of the Tory Party?

Democracy – The long and often bloody fight for freedom – The Peterloo Massacre.

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Struggle


You can only have real democracy when you have transparency, fair representation and a vote for every man and woman. That was far from the case two hundred years ago.
Women were denied the vote. Only landowners could vote. Some towns with only a handful of voters were electing two MPs. Two towns electing two MPs each had only 1 eligible voter. Half of the MPs in the House were elected by a mere 154 votes. Cities with hundreds of thousands were grossly underrepresented.
The economic and employment situation in the North was dire and people felt they had no recourse to justice. They had no vote and no representation.
At St. Peter’s field near Manchester between 60,000 and 80,000 gathered to hold a peaceful public meeting and protest. The establishment was rattled. They thought it might develop into a riot, ferment general unrest and lead to a revolution. They banned it. But the protesters still met.
The cavalry were called to charge. People were trampled and slashed with sabres. The crowd was eventually dispersed. They left 11 to 15 dead and over 600 to 700 badly injured – 168 of which were women. The first to be killed was a baby knocked out of his mother’s arms by a charging cavalryman. Witnesses claimed the cavalrymen slashed out indiscriminately at anyone they could. The area was sodden with blood.
It became known as the Peterloo massacre in ironic contrast to the recent battle of Waterloo.

It led to renewed impetus for justice and the Chartist Movement who fought for the right to vote.

Freedoms and rights are not freely given. They are paid for with lives and blood and can so easily be stripped away again.