The scum also rises

There are people who are desperately worried about the state of free speech. They seem to be particularly worried about free speech for racists, I might opine that's all they seem to worry about. Meanwhile, on planet earth, free speech does not exist in a vacuum.

If a nazi puts out continual provocations and incitement to racial hatred in a forest and no one is around, does it matter...? The fact is nazis are not lurking in forests but on our TV screens, on radio and on our streets. We have groups such as the BNP and gangs such as the EDL specifically targeting British Muslims for violent approbation. Even if not one member of those groups has ever specifically harmed another human being (and they have), the effect they have is just the same.

For example: the students at City University in London who have been subject to gang attacks. This kind of event exposes racism and fascism for what it it (many times better than all the slots on Newsnight and Question Time). It's just unfortunate that, in giving nazis the chance to make fools of themselves, we are not playing with politics or abstract notions of liberty but people's lives.