17 February

Listened to a debate last night where one of modern society’s increasingly numerous and brazen bullies bleated on about ‘free speech’ (how to pick these people, one of their favourite topics). And how ‘offence’ is entirely in the ears of the beholder, there is no such thing as offence. Have been disappointed to hear even luminaries like Stephen Fry, John Cleese and Rowan Atkinson sign up to this sort of bullshit. The same afternoon I listened to a radio interview about the evolution of men’s business suits. The host said ‘why do women get to choose what they wear to work, but men have to wear the same type of outfit?’ Which to me is backwards, and related to the free speech bullshit. Dominant groups get the luxury of *not* needing to constantly find new clothes to wear to work, they don’t need to differentiate themselves via their appearance. Similarly the people who moan about free speech have platforms of millions of eager listeners to their every word. Dominant groups, feeling their dominance threatened.