Last edited by formby (2013-08-12 14:14:12)
The article is easier to read on the BBC website where it was first published.
This is the key section
"Orthodoxy, conformity and the hounding of the dissident define the default position of mankind, and there is no reason to think that democracies are any different in this respect from Islamic theocracies or one-party totalitarian states.
Of course, the opinions that are suppressed change from one form of society to another, as do the methods of suppression. But we should be clear that to guarantee freedom of opinion goes against the grain of social life, and imposes risks that people may be reluctant to take. For in criticising orthodoxy, you are not just questioning a belief - you are threatening the social order that has been built on it. Also, orthodoxies are the more fiercely protected the more vulnerable they are."
Freedom of speech and opinion is now a myth. Those in power (by whatever means - monarchy, theocracy, dictatorship, elections) determine your freedoms and civil liberties. The US constitution is meaningless, subject to the interpretation by Supreme Court judges who are the pawns of the political powerbrokers. Only revolutions can take away power from the rulers and they rarely last more than a few decades. The clever revolutionaries are the Chinese Communists who have turned to fascistic corporatism and materialism to hold onto power.
The real power across Europe is held by the European Union and the European Court of Justice. The former makes the laws and the latter enforces them. To challenge EU laws, you have to control both institutions - impossible as the Commissioners and Judges are appointed by 26 Member States. Even countries that vote against Treaties in referenda are forced to vote again until they get the "right" answer. To regain their freedoms, the citizens of a Member State must vote to leave.
^ It is saved for posterity in PDF format on my laptop. I have a large collection of Scruton's books, pamphlets and articles. I like Scruton very much but he can be a bit too liberal and bourgeois at times.
If somebody gives me the link to the pdf, I'll play.
Democracy sucks. Make money if you care to have meaningful input. That's always been where power lies. Democracy just gives your idiot neighbor a belief that his shitty opinions matter.
A bit like when we owned Ireland then Dudley? That seemed to go well back in the day...oh, hang on thats not quite right is it?
The only correct forecast on the likely impact and result of an attempt at 'multi-culturalism' was that of Enoch Powell fifty odd years ago: tension and all the ingredients of a bloodbath - and, so far as the extremist Muslim insurgents in Britain (and the USA) are concerned - they have started to provide it. Mealy-mouthed apologists for further attempts at multi-culturalism (a contradiction in terms) refuse to accept that it is bound to lead to ghetto-towns (such as Dewsbury, Yorkshire), suspicion, mistrust and violence. As long ago as the days of Empire it was recognized that 'multi-culturalism', as a way of evading actual integration, just will not work. Welcome all, as far as I am concerned - the long and the short and the tall - brown, black, yellow - hell, even green - but you must become British or American - not Asian or African or Muslim Brits or Americans - but the very thing - or bugger off back where you came from. Harsh but true and a far better 'take' than that of over-privileged, academic ponces, who live far removed from the immediate, daily impact of 'multi-culturalism'.
PS sur les escaliers:-
Assimilation is an alternative to total integration but even this is avoided by extremist groups. It might also be noted, in passing, that those who flocked to Britain in the 1970s were those who preferred British rule to the alternative African rulers who were on offer (for example Asian Kenyans were permitted to stay) despite the fuss that the Injins and those who became Pakis had made over British rule - which was at least honest and efficient - unlike the governments that took our place right down to the present day.
PPS The recent wave of economic immigrants from Eastern Europe solves no one's problems - they actually just want to make a packet and go home, and the British- on-benefits have even more excuse to stay as scroungers (a national characteristic which is a danger when we talk of full integration - as they would need to become lazy scroungers too) because they will not work for the minimum wage - they get some bent doctor to certify that they have too weak a spinctre to risk hard work etc., etc..
Last edited by Dudley Clarke (2013-08-30 06:15:36)