England Expects in silence
6:15 pm - September 26th 2008
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Via Mr Eugenides, I see that a blog, England Expects, written by a press officer, Gawain Towler, for the European Parliament Independence and Democracy Group, which includes UKIP, has been effectively shut down.
While it appears he may have been in a technical breach of the rules, I would submit that the rules appear to be over strict and that their application in this case – to someone representing a political grouping – is inappropriate.
As it happens, I disagree with the sentiment expressed with Gawain Towler in the original post that caused him trouble. However,
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
~Evelyn Beatrice Hall summarising Voltaire’s attitude towards Helvétius.
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This is a guest post. Dave Cole blogs on davecole.org.
· Other posts by Dave Cole
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Reader comments
You’re serious about that “to the death” thing, are you? Really?
Nice to see someone using that quotation correctly and not misattributing it to Voltaire himself!….
Rochenko,
I’m not sure; in fairness, it is a summary of Voltaire’s opinion. It’s certainly catchier than ‘I place a very high value on freedom of speech and am prepared to make great sacrifices in its defence including, in certain circumstances, my life’.
Mr E,
Thankyou. I suppose I should have said that it was Evelyn Beatrice Hall, writing pseudonymously as SG Tallentyre, in The Friends of Voltaire, which was published in 1906, 128 years after Voltaire’s death.
xD.
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