clint van damme
Well-Known Member
I’m not saying we should kowtow to religious fanatics, or ban all criticism of a certain religion. I’m saying it’s dumb for people to be setting the table for an endless culture war (in a secondary school, of all places!) when there’s no tangible benefit to starting the argument in the first place, and the only real ‘opponents’ are irrelevant cranks who are desperate for one to start.
We make compromises and trade-offs on our free speech all the time - the aim is that it makes our society safer, fairer and more respectful. Not making pictures of Mohammed part of the secondary school RE curriculum might be another one. So what’s the great cost to society here? Is it so crucial to our kids’ educations that it’s worth the ensuing shitshow? Is the offense it causes to a minority so irrelevant to us that we’d rather fire up the outrage machine every six months than just skip it and get on with our lives? I know there are some free speech purists on here who want to puff out their chests (it’s the internet after all) but I just don’t see it as some massive capitulation.
I agree with much in your post but now this has happened I feel that unfortunately as society we have to pick a side.
Perhaps the only compromise is to suspend the teacher if its proved he went off curriculum.
But if we go down the protection route then that really is a slippery slope.
And it wont stop there.