Very well put, Paul-1966
Thank you, but I it seems I haven't convinced Mindy.....
Some of us think that that's a very good thing.
If the ever-stricter gun laws are so good, why is it that gun crime is now at a much higher level than it was say 20 years ago?
Again, a good thing and surprisingly worrying that you are arguing against discrimination laws and laws against hate crimes.
I'm arguing against them because they are ill-conceived, unnecessary, and are probably doing more to promote discrimination than to reduce it. That's aside from the fact that the way these laws are being applied now has reached the point where personal freedoms are being violated.
Take a law against "racially motivated" assault. Why do we need such a law? It was already illegal to make an unprovoked attack on somebody, no matter what his race. By introducing a law which specifies heavier penalties if the victim is of a different race than his attacker, doesn't that appear to be official sanction that a white-on-white (or black-on-black etc). assault is somehow of lesser importance?
Look at the employment laws now. If ten people apply for a job and the one who is Asian/colored/homosexual/disabled (your choice of minority) doesn't get it, we end up with employment tribunals assessing whether the prospective employer discriminated on the grounds of race/gender etc.
When this reaches the level of race quotas in public positions (e.g. the police force) it is nothing short of discrimination in itself. Discrimination is still discrimination, whether against the minority or the majority.
When laws such as these are seen to be unfair, then inevitably some people in the majority are going to start turning against the minorities even more, because they see them as receiving not equal treatment, but preferential treatment.
Not so looney when in some areas the Union Jack is closely associated with the far right. It's something that is changing now that more people hang flags than ever used to, but you have to admit that it is an association that many make with seeing a union jack.
True, some people associate the flag with the thugs. Isn't that all the more reason that we should regain it for everybody? It is the flag of the U.K. after all. To claim that flying one's own flag in one's own country is wrong is just absurd.
hmmm. I thought this was a discussion about the UK, not a debate on the EU.
Unfortunately the U.K. is a part of the EU (or to be more precise is gradually being assimilated by it). As questions were asked about freedom in the U.K., and the EU is one of the biggest threats to our freedoms, I'd say it's pretty relevant.
I fear you and I are on opposite sides of the political spectrum and are unlikely to agree on any of these issues.
