The limits of tolerance

 

Censorship is bad.

But unbridled licence to preach hatred is lethal. The blogosphere reeks with poisonous racialist rabble-rousing

The hatred that drove the mass slaughter of the Labour Party youth was fed by the lying, malicious fantasies of the Far Right. The killer is described as a 'Christian'. He was photographed in his Freemasons' apron. But his hatred is rooted in Fascism. We will hear over the next few days of his web interests and his admiration for fascist politicians. 

We tolerate their excesses at our peril. Free speech is a worthy aim but it should not be an excuse for propagating the ravings of criminal lunatics. It comes at far too high a price when hatred is expressed in murderous violence.

The world grieves with Norway.

 

Over - drugged

If you wait long enough, something will be done.

Strong advice to restrict chemical cosh drugs for the elderly in residential homes. This is an exchange I had with Health Secretary John Hutton on the 2nd of February 1999.

Neuroleptic Drugs

2. Mr. Paul Flynn (Newport, West): What proposals he has to reduce the use of neuroleptic drugs in care homes. 

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Mr. John Hutton): We are aware of concerns that have been expressed about the possible over-use of neuroleptics, and several current initiatives will help to address them, including the National Institute for Clinical Excellence and the national service framework for older people.

Mr. Flynn: I thank my hon. Friend for that helpful reply and for the action that his Department has taken to deal with a distressing problem. The symptoms of senility displayed by many people in care homes are the result not of old age but of the misuse and over-use of neuroleptic drugs

May I urge my hon. Friend to copy the initiative of the school of old-age psychiatry in Manchester, under which independent pharmacists and doctors were taken into homes? As a result, the use of such drugs was reduced, people's lives were lengthened, money was saved for the NHS and many elderly people were rescued from much unnecessary misery and confusion.

 

 

Mr. Hutton: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that very legitimate concern about the use of neuroleptic drugs. I shall certainly look into the work that has been done in Manchester.

My hon. Friend may also like to know that we have commissioned the Centre for Policy on Aging to draw up new national standards for residential and nursing care homes. The use of medication in care homes will be covered by the new standards.

 

 

 

Comments

[HuwOS]

He uses the correct spelling in the previous sentence, so it isn't as if he doesn't know the correct spelling and his point while put quite objectionably is still valid.

Free speech is not a worthy aim, it is a necessary part of a properly functioning democracy.

Blocking it, banning it, doesn't stop it, it merely hides it from view.
Just as blocking anything at all online is merely a form of pretending something doesn't exist. That never leads to happy results.

Much better to let people say what they want and keep an eye on it if you find it worrying than to force people to greater secrecy, which as we now know this person who has brought shame and horror to his own country and own family, exercised a great deal of, only posting his pathetic, right wing victim fantasy ravings a tiny period of time before committing his vile crimes.

[Paul Flynn]

Fair point. Typos are different Huw. It's a spelling howler next to call for better education that is difficult to resist.

[HuwOS]

Dangerous ground and thin ice, when it comes to spelling corrections Paul.

[Paul Flynn]

" if people want to have there say there welcome to it. If you don't want people to be taken in by it i would suggest improving the education system so that people are equipped to think critically and make up their own minds." says Vigilante teen.

Perhaps starting by educating on 'their' and 'there'?

[D.G.]

Well, the dodgy dossier came from the Internet... so, it could be argued. But not seriously, I suspect.

Speaking of penny dreadfuls - apparently it's not bad enough that a 15 year old was murdered by another teen: the Telegraph feels it has to focus on the "free breakfast" aspect to make sufficient impact. Sickening all round.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8666534/Teen-who-killed-Rebecca-Aylward-for-a-free-breakfast-found-guilty-of-murder.html

[HuwOS]

"We will hear over the next few days of his web interests and his admiration for fascist politicians."

And possibly about his family and his schooling and what he tended to buy at the shops.

Focus on getting our own mass killers before the courts Paul. When Tony Blair is convicted we can then look at whether the Internet caused him to commit his crimes.
But you know what, I suspect that like penny dreadfuls, radio, film, television, rock'n'roll, videos and video games, the internet will have had no effect on whether anyone commits a serious crime.

[Vigilante teen]

Ha really?
An MP twisting the brutal slaughter of over 90 unarmed civilians to meet his own selfish and undemocratic aims? Who would have thought it. Let's be clear, the Internet is a free place, a place where you can say anything you want, and that does mean ANYTHING. I have no more time for idiotic and hateful rubbish then you, but if people want to have there say there welcome to it. If you don't want people to be taken in by it i would suggest improving the education system so that people are equipped to think critically and make up their own minds. Equally censoring these sort of extreme views on the internet will only push these people to try and make there points in the real world, and that is not something most people want. A warning to all governments and corporations, the Internet is not yours. It is not yours to silence, censor or control, if your attempts at this continue we, the people of the web will stop you. EXPECT US