Should we give a platform to racists?
Welcome to the WHYS Daily Email to Kingsford in London, Frank in Zambia, Greet in Belgium, Paddy in the south-west of England, and Mitchel in Tanzania.
Now before getting onto today's topic, my colleague James would like to ask you about renting dogs. Please bear with me...
IS RENTING DOGS CRUEL?
We're an open-minded bunch but when WHYS producer James suggested that we discuss the booming popularity of renting dogs in Japan and the US, there were a few raised eyebrows. Interesting but a global talking point? More of Chiwawa of an idea than a Great Dane if you ask me, but James was insistent that quite a few of you would be interested. So I've promised to run it by you (though there remains not a dog in hell's chance of this making the programme).
So two questions: Is renting dogs cruel (to the dogs that is)? And would you be interested in doing it? Email us (or don't as the case may be) on worldhaveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Does racism deserve a place in public debate?
A debate at the Oxford University Union scheduled for today has begun well before its allotted start time. Invited guests are Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party, and David Irving, the historian who was jailed in Austria for denying the Holocaust. Some people are so outraged that these two men will be given such a public platform, tbhey're holding a demo… and many more are emailing the BBC.
Now, let's be clear, Nick Griffin argues that neither he nor his party are racist. David Irving argues that he is not an anti-Semite. But that is how the two are perceived by many people. I'll let you make your own mind up.
Here's a profile of David Irving and of Nick Griffin.
So if the majority finds an opinion abhorrent, should that opinion still be given a platform? Or should some views be given no help to be heard in the public domain?
YOUR ONE-MINUTE CHRISTMAS MESSAGE TO THE WORLD
Christmas always bring it with plenty of messages. The Queen gives hers here in the UK just as most of us are thinking about retiring to the sofa. And we'd like to record yours. So if you have something to say in sixty seconds that you'd like the world to hear, send me an email and we'll get it organised. With cold logic, we're going to play some of them on Christmas Day.
Speak to you later.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~43~RS~)
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The NSPA, a derivative of the American Nazi Party, was given permission to march and demonstrate in Chicago, but there was never outside official sanction. Institutions that choose to give the pulpit to these con men do a disservice to themselves, as well as the public, and in doing so lose a large degree of their credibility.
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I think we all as human we need not to have diffrent way of calling one and other black or white .
If God did not want us to be together we should have been under one umbreller or planet earth.
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Racism is a deplorable and horrible offense against all humankind and those who feel hatred for others solely on the basis of the colour of their skin or their ethnic origins should always be held accountable for their deeds.
However, we cannot allow the limiting of freedom of speech for some simply because we do not like what they say. How many times has a despotical government or ruler tried and executed people merely because of what they said?
As Pastor Martin Niemöller: "First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me."
If we limit freedom of speech for others we do not like, then how can we protest when, finally in power, they limit it for us?
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everybody ought to be given their platform and there is nothing more individual or unique than a persons perspective. whether we agree or not is also a personal decision which will ultimately manifest itself in our agreement or disagreement with the subject matter.
what i disagree with is the incitement of others in a point of view or 'storm of protest.' if you feel strongly about something, and if you wish to protest it, that is fine, but i think you will find that most normal people will simply ignore subject matter of a distasteful nature, negating the need for moral outrage [often spurred on by mass media].
personally i dont see the need to mix with other cultures and races. interact and appreciate; yes, but mix and integrate; no.
you will find many many examples in nature of creatures with similar genomes and from similar families which do interact but ultimately retain their own identity, and where lines are blurred, conflict and problems occur.
in mans arrogance we neglect to learn lessons from nature, believing we are separate from it. ideologies, religions and righteousness have replaced what may have been called instinct.
each race & culture has/had its place and purpose and our exponential population expansion has probably sealed our fate.
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Can we please learn from history? With regards to the huge economic and political restructuring that Pres. Obama is attempting at this trying time, all you have to do is look at FDR and his administration, responding to the Great Depression. Huge federal spending, many new federal institutions and government programs....with huge results. There were many critics, and a negative response from various political camps, and sectors of American society. The results were, however, mostly positive, with a major reform of our national government and the public's appreciation of those lasting programs and benefits.
Separate from the entire argument about racism here, we do have to appreciate what the current administration is doing, what past administrations did under somewhat similar circumstances, the fact that there was resistance and criticism of such massive change from certain sectors, yet most everyone was happy with the lasting impacts of such momentous government spending and restructuring of the American economy, and even politics and society.
Please offer this perspective on the program. Thank you.
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