Sometimes I feel like this is George Orwell’s 1984

[Namechangeforobv]

Name change as my last thread attracted a lot of attention.
Anyway, am I the only one that feels like freedom of speech is slowly dying?!
If my opinion or views differ from the ‘woke’ then it is clearly not valid!

For example I voted to leave the EU, I chose this because leaving benefitted me more than staying. My personal circumstances, my personal choice.
Conversation starts at work about it, I was asked what I voted and immediately discussion closed because it was so “wrong” that I had voted this.

YABU for “no your wrong”
YANBU for “yes I agree”

Just got to the "woke" bit. YABU just for saying woke (me thinks it's some kind of bat signal to get some frothing going. Done to death now🙄). Anyway, you were saying...

@Mousetown

Are you being persecuted for talking about your views?

I usually find when people use words like “woke” and say “freedom of speech is dying” what they actually mean is that people are challenge their views and they don’t like it.

But people are being punished for having the 'wrong' opinion - being taken off twitter, being harassed with rape and death threats (JK Rowling), losing their jobs (Maya Forstater).

Of course people should be allowed to disagree and debate, but how can that happen when speakers at university events are no platformed or cancelled?

I put the term ‘woke’ in adverted commas as it is directly quoted from my last thread that sadly got deleted as my views were not that of the majority.

By putting in inverted commas is expressing it as a quote rather than me saying it. In my opinion it is a word used by the press to address ultra liberal views in a derogatory way, I used it so that it would be relatable to the current issues in the news/ society that I am referring to.

Peter Foster The Times
@pmdfoster
NEW: @DavidGHFrost tells @CommonsEU that he's looking for someone from outside govt/civil service to head new unit, working to him, looking for benefits of #Brexit and deregulation.

Even Frost doesn't know the benefits of Brexit so perhaps you could inform him Namechangeforobv !!

OP, I recommend a book called 'The Coddling of the American Mind'. It talks about how university students in the US started demanding protection from words they don't like, demanding things be remove from the curriculum because they felt 'unsafe' .

• But people are being punished for having the 'wrong' opinion - being taken off twitter, being harassed with rape and death threats (JK Rowling), losing their jobs (Maya Forstater).

Of course people should be allowed to disagree and debate, but how can that happen when speakers at university events are no platformed or cancelled?*

This isn’t the same as having your freedom of speech taken away.

YANBU. It's not good for people to live in an echo chamber. It's important to hear conflicting views, not least because it's important to see that people with views opposite to your own are real human beings like you, with their own lives, needs and priorities. And that it is largely due to chance (of upbringing, education, social circle etc) that you have your views instead of theirs.

I said Brexit benefitted me personally, this is not something that should be questioned or discussed to be honest as it’s private information. I’m guessing I’m being questioned as you can’t possibly fathom leaving as being a good thing in your opinion?

this is not something that should be questioned or discussed

😂

@Chanjer

this is not something that should be questioned or discussed

😂

Pulling a comment out of context to belittle it? Exactly my point in OP!

I don’t see why I need to explain why I voted leave any further than it was the right choice for me

I actually don't see the point in asking anyone or talking about who voted for what/whom in the workplace. What's it going to achieve? Well, issues like what you've just experienced.

Unless you know you're all on the same side or you're ready to have a debate, it's best not to.

If you talk shite then you're wrong.

That is all.

Nothing to do with freedom of speech.

I think it’s important to question, discuss , challenge. I remember when the vaccine was first out I was genuinely a bit worried and looking for reassurance. Felt like a hit squad on here , was told I was ridiculous and stupid etc etc I was just looking for some debate . I had the vaccine recently and a lot of that reason was because some posters actually stopped trying to shut me and helped me with facts and information and reassurance. If you shout people down with a different view you simply take ignorance underground and that becomes dangerous

And leavers never want to explain the benefits of Brexit.

That's because there aren't any unless you're a tax avoiding billionaire.

It's hilarious.

@KinseyWinsey

If you talk shite then you're wrong.

That is all.

Nothing to do with freedom of speech.

🙄

YANBU.

People are being bullied into silence trough the appalling ‘cancel culture’. The trans debate and the right for women to have male free space is a good and very sad example of this.

@IreallydontknowImtired

I actually don't see the point in asking anyone or talking about who voted for what/whom in the workplace. What's it going to achieve? Well, issues like what you've just experienced.

Unless you know you're all on the same side or you're ready to have a debate, it's best not to.

Couldn’t agree more. The Brexit thing was an example and happened years ago.

What actually prompted by post was me being silenced (post deleted) for having different views to others. Surely this shouldn’t be allowed to happen? Especially as there was no malice. It was simply a different view that was not shared.

Pulling a comment out of context to belittle it? Exactly my point in OP!

I don’t see why I need to explain why I voted leave any further than it was the right choice for me

A request to not discuss something is certainly out of context in a discussion about increasing discussion, yes

Couldn't you have come up with a better example that you could talk about?

There is, as ever, a fundamental misunderstanding of what free speech is. Free speech in the UK means you can't be criminally prosecuted for what you say (unless it falls under the very specific laws around hate speech: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech_laws_in_the_United_Kingdom). That does not mean:

1. people can't disagree with or challenge you
2. people have to listen
3. private organisations (like Mumsnet or Twitter) are obliged to host your views
4. private organisations can't ban you from using their services to express your views

So you can say Brexit is great all you like. Nobody's going to put you in prison for it. But MN can delete your thread if they want, and people can call you stupid if they want.

What actually prompted by post was me being silenced (post deleted) for having different views to others. Surely this shouldn’t be allowed to happen? Especially as there was no malice. It was simply a different view that was not shared.

The school thread?

@Silvergreen

Have you actually read 1984?

Well, op?

But if its private information, then why should anyone engage you? I wouldn't want to befriend you- it's private. It's my right to not to want to talk to people I don't like (for whatever reason).

That is not cancel culture.

People seem to conflate people don't want to talk to me when I have views that are objectionable (and in this case I don't want to debate it) with actual suffering suffered by those who express unpopular opinions. Look up the plight of Hany Babu in India, or Rozina in Bangladesh, or journalists in Myanmar. That's what real suffering for freedom of speech looks like. Not someone who isn't popular at the cooler for holding dodgy views.

Yes, I would definitely not reference nineteen-eighty four if I hadn’t read it.

@rubyreddiamond yep. 🙄

Cannot bear all this rectum flapping of people talking utter shit and then bleating about 'freedom of speech' when they are shut down.

They aren't shut down because of no freedom of speech. They are shut down because they talk rubbish.

Freedom of speech means you can say it but don't be surprised when people react to your nonsense and burn it.

And clearly no one has silenced it because you are happily posting about it on MN. If you lost your job because of your views, then you'd have cause to complain. If people ignore you, then well...if you have an opinion that you choose to express then you should be willing to deal with the consequences as long as they are legal.

If I went to a support group for women suffering from infertility and told them that aspiring for motherhood was a regressive, anti-feminist stance, and no one spoke to me again, well, then that's neither cancel culture nor an attack on my freedom of speech. That's other people choosing to exercise THEIR freedom of speech by not engaging with you,