God is dead, but my hair is perfect, University of Warwick

December 11, 2004

Goodbye Lenin

Title:
Rating:: Not rated

Where are the bombs? Am I a bomb? Is this pen a bomb? Get up so I can kick you again you lying fuck.

Alex Tissandier : 11 Dec 2004 22:09 | Comments (3) | Close comments | Report a problem

November 30, 2004

I am the Messiah

Today I walked up to an vending machine to find it was already furnished with one whole pound. I purchased some sweeties and ran away to enjoy my good fortune.

ps. If it was your money then I'm sorry

Alex Tissandier : 30 Nov 2004 23:34 | Comments (11) | Close comments | Report a problem

November 28, 2004

fulfil my self

Why do men fight for their servitude as stubbornly as though it were their
salvation?

Alex Tissandier : 28 Nov 2004 05:18 | Comments (4) | Close comments | Report a problem

November 26, 2004

Don't fear the racist

I voted on the Racism and Fascism referendum.

I dutifully read the Motion Document, followed by the "Argument for". I was looking forward to the "Argument against" but, gasp, there wasn't one.

If I'd known this I would have written an "Argument against" just for the sake of balance.

I voted against anyway.

BUT ALEX, I hear you cry, THAT MAKES YOU A DIRTY RACIST AND OR FASCIST.

Well no actually, it doesn't (and I'm not).

The whole point of free speech, which we make a huge deal of, is that everyone has the right to say and believe whatever they want, no matter how disagreeable the rest of society finds it.

As soon as you say
"everyone can say whatever they want, oh, except group x"
then the point is kind of lost. Who decides which beliefs are and aren't allowed? The idea of free speech accepts that people have different views, so the idea that some views are objectively good or bad seems impossible.

What's the difference between banning racists and banning conservatives or vegetarians or any other group?

Well, I guess there is one difference: everyone, or at least the vast majority, agrees that racism is wrong. But what right does that majority have to enforce their own beliefs onto the minority? An environment where the beliefs of minority groups are suppressed or persecuted isn't a particularly nice environment (at the very least it would be pretty damn boring).

Maybe I'm blissfully ignorant, but I don't really see any kind of threat from a racist organisation anyway. At least not on a campus full of (narrowly) intelligent people. It's not particularly difficult to defeat racist arguments in an open environment with rational debate, and this is preferable to simply silencing them.

Imagine, if you will, the following realistic reconstruction of a conversation :

Person A: Racism is great because blah blah
Person B: Actually racism is bad because blah blah
Person X: After careful consideration I realise that you are correct Person B, thank you for providing me with rational justifications for my beliefs on racism which I can share with others. It's a good thing I am exposed to active debate on this issue lest I lapse into ignorance and become susceptible to racist propaganda.

Now consider:

Person B: RACISM IS BANNED OK
Person X: ok sheesh

Having said all that I realise that the issue of racism isn't just "a belief" like any other: active racists create an atmosphere of fear that is bad for everyone. So I'm not going to lose any sleep over its being banned.

But fascism? Fascism is just a system of government like any other. Sure we all love sweet sweet democracy and know that fascism is mean and naughty, but again this is just the majority view forcing itself onto everyone else.

How can you ban fascists without banning communists, anarchists, socialists, liberals and conservatives? They are all just advocates of a certain style of government and structure of state.

Admittedly our view of the word "fascist" has changed a lot, but I think we should at least properly define what we mean by the term before condemning it to the status of BANNED.

There is an obvious irony in banning fascism. Guess what other kind of political organisation silences people with differing political beliefs? Oh snap.

The referendum will pass easily, and the effects will be good. But it's a risky business.

Alex Tissandier : 26 Nov 2004 02:52 | Comments (13) | Close comments | Report a problem