Win back free speech

Since man came down from the trees there have always been those who assume they have a right to control everyone else. From the Pharaohs through the European aristocracies, religion, unscrupulous bosses, communists, facists and recently militant trade unions. Political correctness is simply the latest reincarnation of mass oppression.

The grass roots PC Brigade are sheep mindlessly following a trend. The evidence? Remember the 1960s student "revolutionaries" who quoted Marx and Trotsky parrot fashion? The PC mantra that everyone who disagrees with them is racist, homophobic, xenophobic, sexist and should be forced to attend a diversity course for "enlightenment training" stinks of brainwashing disturbingly similar to techniques exploited by Stalin and Hitler. Trotsky lives again.

History holds the key to defeating PC influence. Aristocrats, the Church, trade unions and student militants lost credibility when the people stopped taking them seriously and left them preaching to thin air.

We need to stop being defensive. Do not prefix every comment with "I'm not racist, but . . ." or "some of my best friends are gay, but . . ." Personally I speak my mind and if the hackneyed insults fly in my direction, I laugh (albeit through clenched teeth) and watch them slip into furious, self-righteous indignation at my refusal to bow before the great God of Political Correctness. It's tremendously satisfying. It works. And it's legal.

The war on terrorism must be left to the security forces but only ordinary men and women - coloured or white, straight or gay - can snatch back the right to free speech.

Robert Montrose, Springfield Grove, Sedgley.

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