By doing so, politicians are telling the public that we are not intelligent enough to hear a diversity of opinion and distinguish fact from fiction, right from wrong and prejudice from fair comment. In the end, it is better to have one’s peers advocate the need for healthier choices, rather than the government imposing solutions from the top down.īy increasing the number of groups that are considered to be “protected classes,” the state increases the number of social issues, around which there is a legal chill on discussion. As bad as this may sound on the surface, societal norms are a big motivator for how people choose to live their lives. Part of the solution is to educate people in how to live a healthy lifestyle, and pressure people into adopting better living habits. There’s no doubt that many Western countries, including the U.K., have a growing obesity epidemic.
Censorship cannot be done in a surgical manner it is, by its very nature, intended to stifle discourse on a certain subject, which always ends up conflicting with other public policy goals. If society is naturally becoming more tolerant of different lifestyle choices, why do we need to continue to censor free speech? The simple answer is that we don’t. Each of these groups sported their own fashion and listened to their own music.” On the one hand, we encourage people to express their individuality but at the same time, we impose laws making it harder to discuss those differences. When he was growing up, McCracken writes, young people used to be grouped, “in terms of those who were cool and those who weren’t.” But after a tour of a Toronto-area mall, he saw, “15 types of teen lifestyle pointed out to me, including heavy metal rockers, surfer-skaters, b-girls, goths and punks.
These changes were articulated by anthropologist Grant McCracken in a 1998 issue of Reason magazine. The response to such slurs on the playground is typically: “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Grown-ups seem to have forgotten these words of wisdom. But we also need to realize that kids will be kids, and they will always find a way to make fun of one another. Those who push for laws designed to ensure no one ever has their feelings hurt usually have their hearts in the right place - we should all be working toward a more open and inclusive society. If the committee’s recommendations are followed, the government could put “appearance-based discrimination” in the same class as racial or sexual discrimination - making “obese” and “fat” just as bad as discriminatory terms used against blacks or gays. There is nothing wrong with educating children, but preventing adults from speaking what’s on their mind is an egregious violation of the right to free speech. Leave it to the British to take things one step too far.
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