Post by Bartonite on Jun 17, 2015 8:48:31 GMT
I posted this to the Citizen's Facebook page (that I can post there, and that not only am I not blocked from their Twitter account, but they actually follow me, while I am still banned from commenting on the website without adequate explanation, is one of those odd discrepancies).
I've said previously that I believe everyone drifts to the right of politics as they get older. That Guizot/Shaw/Churchill adage is right up there with 'I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it'. In this case, I'm moved by both an inclination (I'll put it no more strongly) that the market should be the arbiter of the free choices people make, along with whatever regulations medical bodies feel are appropriate, and by my loathing for inconsistent application of standards. Just because plenty of grown up people don't act like adults doesn't mean everyone deserves to be infantilised, not while alcohol causes the harm that it does, even to tee-totallers.
I've said previously that I believe everyone drifts to the right of politics as they get older. That Guizot/Shaw/Churchill adage is right up there with 'I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it'. In this case, I'm moved by both an inclination (I'll put it no more strongly) that the market should be the arbiter of the free choices people make, along with whatever regulations medical bodies feel are appropriate, and by my loathing for inconsistent application of standards. Just because plenty of grown up people don't act like adults doesn't mean everyone deserves to be infantilised, not while alcohol causes the harm that it does, even to tee-totallers.
It's reasonable to say that we have to 'protect our youth', but that then begs two questions, 'From what?', and 'To what extent?'
Young people are frequently being 'protected' from controversial opinions in colleges now, but no-one seems to think that they might be able to exercise their own judgement, and allow them to do so in the very institutions that used to encourage them to employ their critical faculties.
It's seen as entirely rational nowadays for people to describe Conservatism, never mind UKIP, as an almost physical threat, especially to our impressionable youth. The same people used to warn us about the 'nanny state', under Labour or the Tories, but now we're expected to let anyone with a Twitter account tell us what's right?
I see plenty of things on our streets that no-one wants to protect us from. Primarily dangerous driving/parking. The woman cycling up a one way street the wrong way is endangering herself as much as anyone, but the desire to 'protect' her seems strangely absent, as it is with parking outside schools. Can the authorities explain this variability of response?
Young people are frequently being 'protected' from controversial opinions in colleges now, but no-one seems to think that they might be able to exercise their own judgement, and allow them to do so in the very institutions that used to encourage them to employ their critical faculties.
It's seen as entirely rational nowadays for people to describe Conservatism, never mind UKIP, as an almost physical threat, especially to our impressionable youth. The same people used to warn us about the 'nanny state', under Labour or the Tories, but now we're expected to let anyone with a Twitter account tell us what's right?
I see plenty of things on our streets that no-one wants to protect us from. Primarily dangerous driving/parking. The woman cycling up a one way street the wrong way is endangering herself as much as anyone, but the desire to 'protect' her seems strangely absent, as it is with parking outside schools. Can the authorities explain this variability of response?