Peter Hitchens Quotes
Freedom of speech, for those who don't accept multiculturalism or the sexual revolution, is increasingly limited, mainly by threats to the jobs of those who speak out of turn.
Hitchens, Peter. The Mail on Sunday, Associated Newspapers, 2015.
Singapore has three main ethnic groups, Malays—the indigenous people—Chinese, and Indians. The latter two groups have been more successful intellectually and commercially however the Malays are the largest group. There has been a history of resentment and discrimination as there has been in Malaysia and Indonesia. However, Singapore—under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew—has minimized it and kept a lid on overt conflict and antagonism. However, he has restricted freedom of the press and freedom of speech to eliminate incendiary triggering incidents.
This became a critically important quotation a half century after it was made. Judge Hand articulated the majority Western and Judeo-Christian value proposition between dissent and heresy. However, for the majority of the Islamic world, the reverse represents the majority value that is held. There is a minority in the West that agrees that avoidance of heresy is paramount and a minority of the Muslim world that agrees that the protection of dissent is the more important value, but the two civilizations were at odds in the 20th and 21st centuries. However, Islam is about 600 years younger than Christianity. 600 years ago, the Christian world agreed with the Muslim society and prevention of heresy was the more important value. The Reformation and the enlightenment followed by the world example of America produced a transformation and this may occur in the majority of the Islamic world in time.
The 1st Amendment is almost absolute in its protection of speech. However, ironically the Untied States has much less internecine conflict with minorities better off than the nations where hate speech is illegal and criminal.
Peter Jonathan Hitchens is an English journalist and author. Hitchens writes for The Mail on Sunday and is a former foreign correspondent in Moscow and Washington. He has contributed to The Spectator, The American Conservative, The Guardian, First Things, Prospect, and the New Statesman. He is currently a columnist for the The Mail on Sunday. Hitchens has published numerous books, including The Abolition of Britain, The Rage Against God, The War We Never Fought and The Phoney Victory.
