Lynch Mobs A Menace To Free Speech

It’s a sad day for free speech when people can be hounded from their jobs simply for expressing controversial views, says ACT New Zealand MP Sir Roger Douglas in the wake of the sacking of EMA Chairman Alasdair Thompson.

Mr Thompson has been removed from his position for saying absenteeism in the workplace is greater among women because of their monthly periods.

“Mr Thompson was unable to provide evidence for his view. TV3 presented evidence of a discrepancy between men’s and women’s absenteeism, but offered no explanation,” observes Sir Roger.

“The point is, in a free society with a robust tradition of vigorous and open debate, it should be possible to raise such matters – and be wrong about them – without being destroyed by lynch mobs.

“Valerie Grant, honorary senior lecturer in the University of Auckland’s Department of Psychological Medicine, asked yesterday if we could all calm down and treat sex differences sensibly. It’s a pity the EMA didn’t heed her. Instead, as columnist Karl du Fresne observed, Mr Thompson was ‘howled down so deafeningly that public figures in future will think very carefully before expressing a view on anything, and good people who might otherwise be tempted to enter public life may decide it's just not worth the grief.’

“Mr Thompson’s views were clearly offensive to many, but if that is grounds for dismissing him, we may as well become an Iran. As Salman Rushdie has said, freedom of speech is meaningless if it doesn’t include the right to cause offence.

“Those who screeched for Mr Thompson’s head and who are now congratulating themselves on their latest trophy would do well to remember Voltaire’s ‘I disagree with what you say but defend to the death your right to say it,’” Sir Roger concludes.

ENDS

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