Tuesday, October 17, 2006

The Spirit Of Free Enquiry (Terms & Conditions Apply)

There’s been an entirely predictable reaction to the government’s suggestion that universities might want to make sure no one’s cooking up bombs in the chemistry lab. Staff and students alike are enraged at the suggestion that they would ever fail to do their duty as citizens and report any terrorists they found operating on campus.

No, just kidding. Who did you think you were dealing with ? People who understand that rights come with responsibilities ? Surely not! Just because they’re bleeding the public dry doesn’t mean they feel under any pressure to stop them being killed in large numbers.

But that’s not it. No, what’s worse is the talking point they’re using to rebut suggestions they should, y’know, get off the fence and start showing some loyalty to the country that keeps them from spending their day asking if you want fries with that. Think ‘ludicrously overused, historically illiterate cliché’. Yes, indeed. It’s all ‘McCarthyism’. Again.

You know, if these people are trying to convince us that British universities are hotbeds of innovation and blue sky research, they might want to try not using the same cliché Every. Single. Time. Ditto, they might want to think about referencing the blessed senator from Wisconsin in this context. After all, Tailgunner Joe was hounded into an early grave by a Liberal establishment enraged by his claims that the US government’s dysfunctional security apparatus was allowing large-scale infiltration by communists. The Libs joked about ‘reds under the bed’ right up until the end of the Cold War when newly-opened KGB archives revealed that there was nothing phantom about communist infiltration of US institutions, at which point the Left snootily announced that McCarthy was just a peripheral figure anyway. Still, if the Left wants to remind us of their wilful blindness the last time the West was faced with murderous tyranny, that’s fine by me.

Also, the wasters are worried that any counter-terrorism effort would focus on Islam. Huh ? Are they trying to say there’s some connection between Islam and violence ? Everyone knows the real danger is from militant Buddhists.

Apparently, we shouldn’t expect the ‘smartest people in the country’ to report on any bomb-related activities otherwise that might 'stifle debate', and you know how much they value free speech. The odd bombing is one thing, but breaching the equality and diversity policy. Now, that’s serious.

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