Free Speech vs Hate Speech

Alicia's hateful speech with no right of reply

I've been re-examining my attitude to free-speech in the light of recent court rulings regarding very offensive statements in the public eye.

Whilst fighting a battle to get the recognition of discrimination in the expulsion of my kids from a dratted Steiner School, the opposite critics have turned on us and mauled us savagely on several occasions.  This arose simply from one person, Melanie Byng proposing initiatives that she was unable to take responsibility for and she has then allowed those personal things to bleed into the area of "Steiner criticism", using the social confirmation bias of her friends, to our detriment and also noticably to the detriment of the British campaign to halt State-funding.

A Skeptic's Guide to Bystanding

by·stand·er noun \ˈbī-ˌstan-dər\ Definition of BYSTANDER : one present but not taking part in a situation or event : a chance spectator

Intimidation

When I'd published my post on Tuesday, I read it again, and although it was a relief to laugh at some of those things, about how Charlie Kingston went to the police about a six year old's play date, I realised that I had been less than honest in one important respect.

It's all very well being funny and all that, and making light of a bad situation. Finding the humour in things can literally keep you alive I've discovered, as someone living with chronic pain, and it's a habit that I've developed on and off-stage. Humour is quite simply the antidote to all life's ills.

A Skeptical Witch-Hunt

This post title should be a contradiction in terms, because skepticism claims to require proper evidence, and witch-hunts are obviously built on hearsay. But you know what folks? It isn't a contradiction at all because quite a few people who wrongly call themselves skeptics are quite prepared to indulge in witch-hunts forsaking any pretence at critical thinking when there's a chance to get at someone they 'despise', indulge their vitriol and feel part of a groovy gang all at the same time.

Does it hurt to be attacked like that on the inter-web?  Well what do you think?

PTSD and Bullying

When I left University I joined local Theatre in Education company Theatre Alibi, and toured around Devon with a show called "No Heroes No Cowards", about a soldier in the First World War, shot for desertion.  That was in the 80s but it took until 2008 for soldiers shot for "desertion" in WW1 were given a full pardon in recognition of the fact that they were, in fact, suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Even once there was an understanding that traumatic events can effect people in this way, the term PTSD was still used exclusively to refer to a single traumatising event evoking “intense fear, helplessness, or horror”, and which continues to cause distress, flashbacks and other symptoms.