Most people I've spoken to (i.e. two or three woolly liberals like myself) agree that we shouldn't try to prevent the BNP from having their say - indeed, if we ever manage to get a proper voting system in the country, I'd say they ought to have an MP or two, if enough people really want it. It's difficult to defend this position sometimes though, on account of how nobody actually wants to have to listen to what they say. But Richard Herring really nails it in his blog post today:
I certainly think that Question Time should have Nick Griffin on their show. Not only was he democratically elected by the idiotic British public, but by silencing him one only shrouds him in mystery and makes him appear like some speaking maverick whose words are so scintillating that they can not be heard. Let him get up there and say whatever is in his tiny head, because if it's anything like anything else that the BNP have ever said it will be palpable, laughable nonsense and he can only make himself look like a prick. I have doubtless said this before but generally when people are silenced by a government or the church it is because what they are saying is true - Galileo springs to mind, as do the political prisoners around the world who are incarcerated for daring to criticise oppressive regimes or propose democracy. But the BNP have no such worthy or truthful purpose. Let them speak. What they say is wrong and their arguments fall apart under the smallest amount of examination. Are we worried that people might be stupid enough to be seduced by these lies? Perhaps they will be, but if you want democracy then you have to let stupid people have an equal say. It is up to the less feckless individuals to do their part and stop the fascists in their tracks. But we should let them speak or they gain a cachet that they don't deserve.
