Opinion
3rd July 2023
Pellet-gun attack was attack on us all
Much as I would see “Pride” events as intimidating to supporters of equality and universal freedom, Wokeist demonstrations likely to strike fear into any who believe in Freedom of Conscience or rational debate, there is also no doubt whoever targeted such a demonstration in Bristol this weekend with a pellet gun was acting contrary to the principles of Diverse Diversity.
Violence and intimidation in all forms is contrary to freedom and can have no part to play in a fair democratic society. Tribal responses contribute nothing to any fair assessment of society’s needs and only cause distress to victims and fair-minded citizens alike. While, until they are tried, we cannot know exactly what motivated the people who perpetrated the attack (they will doubtlessly claim a political motive though that might just be a cover for yobbish behaviour), this low-level violence achieves nothing other than to give Wokeists the excuse to emphasise the victimhood of those they claim to support and justify their own bullying behaviour. That will just lead to a cycle of violence and silencing in which it will be harder for sane people to work out how to protect the rights of the weak or even who the weak to be protected are. While I would attack Pseudo-liberal ideas vociferously, it is utterly unconscionable to attack people with physical or verbal abuse. People get hurt. Ideas don’t.
Assaulting people with whom one disagrees is normally a demonstration of a lack of sound argument, for those who have strong arguments have no need to resort to violence. It is a sign of weakness and folly.
None of this has any bearing on the rights or wrongs of the political issues involved, but it does make it harder for voices arguing for rational consideration harder to hear. As such, what happened this weekend amounts to an attack on all of us and on the values any fair-minded person will hold.
As for the people shot at, whoever they are, they didn't deserve to be pelted with painful plastic balls. No one should suffer that. They must have our sympathy for that, at least. It was wrong and they should not have to put up with it. This kind of violence is contrary to everything this site stands for.