Thread by @Kyri_Kotsoglou

This is to clarify that we are all “safe”. (And NO mob would have made us feel unsafe. Some people need to get over themselves). The event on #FreeSpeech and hate speech was (although I’m biased) highly interesting and successful. I learned a lot.

In view of the (alleged) suppression of free speech in society and especially at universities, let us keep in mind that Northumbria University @NorthumbriaUni and our Centre for Evidence and CJ Studies generously supported and funded this event

Despite the difficulties, despite the anonymous complaints from “colleagues” who are not interested in discussion or ahem.. in research, and despite the tangible chilling effect, the workshop did take place at our London Campus

A panel of experts discussed the absurdity of non-crime hate incidents and their relation to #FreeSpeech. Special thanks go to the participants who showed that we can always discuss despite our differences.

Prof. Dennis Hayes @ProfDHayes , Prof. Peter Ramsay, Ms. Sarah Phillimore, @SVPhillimore, Mr. Harry Miller, @HarryTheOwl101 , Dr. Debbie Hayton, @DebbieHayton, Dr. Amit Pundik, A/Prof. David McGrogan, Mr.Toby Young,@toadmeister, @WeAreFairCop, @SpeechUnion. You made it possible!

Let me make clear without wanting to put anyone on the spot that the College of Policing @CollegeofPolice were invited but, sadly, were “busy”, which is a pity because we had some suggestions about how to get out of the mess of non-crime hate incidents. Maybe next time?

For more details about the event see here:

https://mobile.twitter.com/WeAreFairCop/status/1522129167051022336

Suppression of free speech will be the death rattle of our free society. This is ALREADY happening. We cannot freely discuss what a #woman is. We cannot have a nuanced discussion on abortion and embryo rights anymore. Or on any topic hijacked by radical ideologues

We cannot expose our students to complex problems (because this would “cause distress”). Academics are mainly to blame for this mess. For they conflate the Lectern and the Pulpit. iconnectblog.com/2022/04/the-le…

They claim that discussion and reasonableness as such are “suspicious and harmful”. The “Enlightenment project” was a failure, says the hero of postmodern academics, J. Derrida. And we humdrum academics believing in Truth and Objectivity are “dangerous dogmatists” (says Derrida).