Voltaire and the right to disagree

‘I may disagree with what you say but I will fight to the death for your right to say it’

There’s some disagreement as to whether Voltaire actually said that but there does exist a letter he sent to a French cleric that he particularly detested expressing something very similar. Whatever it’s a sentiment that we would all do well to bear in mind in a world where day in day out the right to disagree or express an alternative or contrary view is trampled on, be it by governments, be it by authorities, be it by organisations, be it by an individual and the right to protest also seems to be suffering the same fate. Time and time again passions have been so aroused that the disagreeing of the right to disagree has erupted into violence.

I don’t care much about abortion or hunting and the jury’s still out on animal testing but I don’t see how I could even pretend to hold the high moral ground if I were to subject those with whom I disagreed to physical or psychological abuse. Is injuring a hunter, his hound or his horse or killing a doctor who carries out abortions or harrying those who have them really the right way to express one’s disagreement? Whatever happened to civilised debate and discussion?

Those who govern us should be setting an example but every time I watch Prime Minister’s Questions I despair. In the matter of politics it seems point-scoring is the order of the day and what worries me even more is how the UK government (and others) are using the war on terror to curtail or even stifle protest. At the other end of the spectrum there are those who think that publicly embarrassing the authorities by publicity stunts of one kind or another is the right way to go about it; little do they seem to realise how much they play into authorities’ hands and endanger those freedoms that took centuries to secure.

My grandfather once told my mother. “If you want to keep your friends, never discuss politics or religion’ – for obvious reasons I steer clear of both, though I have to concede there are times when even I get really angry particularly when I feel the disagreements are petty yet there are demands for censorship. No one has any right to impose his/her beliefs on anyone else directly or indirectly or scream blue murder – and sometimes it doesn’t stop at screaming - when others take a contrary stance.

Politics and religion, global warming and going green, protests aimed at seeing one or other injustice resolved, all accompanied by propaganda and claptrap, are all obvious minefields but who would have thought that about history?