Heart and Hand: Importance of Freedom of Speech

Recently, after the old firm derby between Rangers and Celtic, there has been controversy flung around with 3 supporters who were given indefinite bans from attending games at Ibrox, as well as two said, from the Heart and Hand Podcast, to have been arrested.

This fine example illustrates beautifully of how easy it is to take someone out of context and for someone to get arrested for things which aren't even remotely close to being anything racist, etc. A lot of people, unfortunately, do not understand the consequences that follow the actions of giving the state such power over regulating 'hate speech' and it seems with more and more authoritarian laws put into place like the hate crime bill, more people seem to be becoming more and more compliant about such important issues.

Much like economic policy decision making, there are consequences for your actions, like the minimum wage, or the good intentions of this climate alarmism to reach net zero emissions. Unfortunately, with the loss of freedom of speech, one cannot challenge wrong ideas and it's liberty that enables a country to prosper, you most certainly will not find that from countries that lead in the opposite direction, which I argue, there aren't just the consequences of losing your individual rights, but it will reflect on the economy overall as well.

I must note that racism and sectarianism is horrible, I'm sure many people have said wrong things we do not mean in the heat of the moment. By no means do I support any wrongdoing for what people say, but I reiterate the point of the importance of freedom of speech that just because I support freedom of speech, does not mean to say I support or agree with what someone may say.

I do feel we are living in dangerous times which is why I speak out against this. As I've stated, it should be down to Rangers Football Club to make such decisions which one must respect. However, I would not be surprised if the actions Rangers are taking is partly to do with the pressure being imposed upon them from the authoritarian governance we're seeing today. As I've argued, move towards a free market, leave the market be and let companies regulate by their own decisions, never get the state involved.

People don't bother to ask the questions of WHO gets to define what hate speech is, or HOW one defines hate speech. As I've noted, words mean different things to different people and how one may say something in specific given context, may be misinterpreted in different context to another person's perception of what is said.

The consequences of giving the state such power over regulating 'hate speech' is that many innocent people end up being arrested, wasting police valuable time, resources and energy and time is scarce, it is vitally important, especially when they have to deal with more pressing issues. Is it any wonder that state-run police today are so incompetent?

The example of Heart and Hand Podcast facing a full-scale onslaught from specific media and being investigated is wrong on so many levels and illustrates my point perfectly that it is so easy to offend people, all you need to do is say something that can be taken out of context, or even simply disagree with someone.

We've been living under the economic element of fascism for decades, but more and more we are seeing the political elements of fascism creeping in by the year. It is greatly concerning and even if someone says something wrongly, I still stand by the position that it is their right to speak freely. How you deal with wrong speech is by challenging it with more speech, not less. It sets a dangerous precedent and, unfortunately, many people seem to be buying straight into that.

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