Free Speech Or Tactless Bigotry? Maybe You Should Be Allowed Both, Caitlyn Jenner

The great thing about free speech in the media is that by exercising one’s right to it, one can be revealed as both honest and utterly foolish simultaneously. Which applies as much to me — this piece has already been refused publication by Huffington Post for whom I’ve written for many years, either because it’s so poorly written or I’m just being too honest. I hope they haven’t forgotten the meaning of free speech over there.

Anyway, this week saw a clash between one of the world’s finest comedians (Barry Humphries), one of its most shameless self-publicists (Caitlyn Jenner) and one of its most celebrated pressure groups (Stonewall).

Humphries — whose alter egos, Dame Edna Everage and Les Patterson, are two of the 20th century’s most uproarious comedic creations — has given an interview in which he takes some well-aimed, politically-incorrect pot-shots at what he considers to be society’s ills.

First, there’s the ‘new puritanism’ of the media and education establishments that prevent open discourse about controversial issues (thank heavens for Les, then). Then there’s the ‘real’ reason Downton Abbey is so popular in America (there are no significant black characters). And most damning of all (and indeed what might prove most damaging to his reputation) is his insistence that ‘sex change surgery is self-mutilation’ and that the transgender pin-up du jour, Caitlyn Jenner, is a ‘publicity-seeking ratbag’. Jenner’s stance and the reluctance of people to speak out, he adds, are symptomatic about what’s wrong with society: ‘It’s all given the stamp — not of respectability but authenticity or something. If you criticise anything you’re racist, sexist or homophobic.’

And guess what? He’s right. Not about Jenner or indeed Downton Abbey whose popularity in my mind are merely examples of the shallowness of media tastes. What he’s correct about is that by exercising his right of free speech in such an eloquent, convincing and deliberately-provocative way, he’s just been accused of something he isn’t.

Because Stonewall, which campaigns for equality, has responded thus: ‘Views and comments like these are dangerous and hurtful, and they promote hatred. People are entitled to their views but when those views are hurtful or dangerous, they should expect to be challenged.’

The trouble is, they don’t promote hatred. They promote debate and that debate might then antagonise, challenge and enrage. That’s what free speech means — you can express yourself honestly and allow people to judge whether or not you’re a fool. Just because you object to something, it doesn’t mean you hate something. Humphries is a fool for using such inflammatory language (though the fact that he has a new BBC radio series to promote might be a contributory factor) but Stonewall is even more foolish for claiming that people who don’t share its views incite hatred.

One can’t, like the infamous Les Patterson, say whatever one likes but one should be able to be honest about something one doesn’t agree with, without fear of being condemned as some kind of fascist (or indeed find one’s article refused publication). The hypocrites at Stonewall seem to have missed the point — if people can (and should) be ‘challenged’ for their opinions, then it’s got to work both ways. That’s the way free speech operates.

I don’t hate Jenner for her transgender stance, I just find her ubiquity annoying. Just because I think students who restrict debate are moronic, it doesn’t mean I hate them. And just because I disagree with my wife about Downton Abbey’s merits, it doesn’t mean that I hate the predictable plots, wooden dialogue and cheesy acting. Actually, having said that…

By restricting liberties and people’s abilities to express themselves, you end up inciting hatred and even violence. In fact, I seem to recall that that’s precisely what happened one morning in 1969 in Greenwich Village when the New York police raided the Stonewall Inn, one of the city’s few gay-friendly establishments, provoking mass riots and eventually leading to the creation of one of the world’s most effective pressure groups for gay and transgender issues.

You can’t shut down debate — or even a bar — simply because you don’t approve. And that includes you too, HuffPo.