Say What You Will

A few thoughts on recent developments.

There is a saying that if you want to know who is in control, find out who you cannot criticise. In the realm of ideas the same holds true: if you want to find out what the prevailing ideology is, find out what you cannot question or critique. In the time in which we live there are certain ideas or positions we are not allowed to explore in any critical sense, never mind disagree with, otherwise we find ourselves quickly checked, corrected or even attacked. If you want to see this dynamic in action just go on to Twitter. In such a climate, history, philosophy, learning and other disciplines and their subject matters, are all re-tuned to fit the ideology, and one may not resort to any of these fields outside the interpretations which are permitted, even if those interpretations do not actually fit context and discovery. Objectivity is no longer permitted, indeed, it can be viewed as offensive and lacking compassion. Strange times indeed.

Ultimately this issue is one of freedom of speech and, at another level, it concerns the integrity of academic discourse. Over the last number of years various figures, of differing ideological standpoints, have been examining the rather sudden emergence of a climate within the secular West where free speech is being stifled while we witness the reorienting of science and the humanities to serve a new ideology. On one end we have Brendan O'Neill and his colleagues at Spiked in the UK who would be liberal, left-leaning; on the other we have conservative figures like Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh and Michael Knowles, among others, in the US. In Ireland, among the few raising questions about these developments are David Quinn and John Waters, men who seem to be always under attack. While these two groups of people would disagree on much, they are united in being appalled at the gradual disintegration of the right to free speech and indeed the courtesy that should be central to all argument and critique. These figures in both groups are routinely the subject of criticism and while they offer eloquent arguments, many of their critics prefer to engage in ad hominem attacks: while their arguments are ignored, they are smacked for daring to raise questions about the sacred cows of our brave new world.

O'Neill and his colleagues in this campaign are to be admired for their tenacity. One thing we can note about them is that they are consistent. While they critique the ideas of others, they respect their critics and acknowledge that free speech is an important value and never dismiss another's right to speak their mind and to defend their position. However, their critics are not so magnanimous. From the comfort of their safe spaces, their ideological ivory towers, they use every means they can to silence those who critique them. As they have reoriented knowledge to their service, they squirm as Ben Shapiro reminds them that 'facts do not care about their feelings' and descend to shouting and protest when statistics and clarifications are put before them. And so Twitter is inundated with demands for individuals to be banned - it obeys; universities are implored to prevent certain speakers coming on campus, and they are; police deal with complaints of crimes being committed because the prevailing ideology has been challenged, and we see people who dared to question being hauled in front of judges. 

We have seen all this before, and, sadly, we know where it leads, and how it will end.

One of the most disturbing aspects of this 'new dispensation' is the rise of antisemitism. Jewish people are gradually being sidelined and attacked for who they are, and while those responsible deny they are antisemitic, but rather striking out at what they perceive to be the oppressive State of Israel, it is all too clear that it is the Jews themselves who are the focus of their animus. The source of this prejudice is a new form of fascism, one from the left. While leftist groups and the media continue to brand conservatives as fascists comparable with the Nazis, dishing out images and stories from the Holocaust, it is in fact the left which poses the greatest danger to Jewish people, as Jews themselves will testify. The Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, in an unusual move a few weeks ago, confirmed as much. This spectre of antisemitism and the growing alienation of other religious believers - men and women of all traditions who hold to the existence of the divine, objective truth and moral living, has become the hallmark of this climate of oppression.

There is one good thing that has emerged in the midst of all this, indeed we might call it invigorating, and it is the companionship which is emerging among thinkers of various hues. At one time the feminism of Germaine Greer was odious to many on the right, now, as she comes under attack from extreme leftists for her daring to speak of the singular nature of woman, those who once avoided her come to her defence, and rightly so. So too with many others. Desperate times make for strange bedfellows, if we may paraphrase Trinculo's famous remark, and this is such is a time. When the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was attacked, we heard all and sundry declare as their manifesto the famous words 'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it'. Interestingly many of those who heroically announced this recanted not long after and are among those who are trying to undermine free speech - dramatic gestures tend to fall flat after a while. However, there is a merry company of men and women committed to discourse who do believe that and are now engaged in a battle with narrower minds to ensure the future of objectivity. We Christians would do well to stand with them, regardless of the positions they hold. We may disagree with them on many things, but if we cannot exist in a climate that permits that, then we are in trouble. That governments in the West, our own Irish government included, are keen to enforce restrictions on free speech, even criminalise it, is alarming.

It seems we are now standing on the banks of the Rubicon.