Monday 27 April 2015

[Today] Freedom of speech does not necessarily make society inclusive

I refer to Mr Darius Cheng’s letter, “Ideological conformity cannot exist in a truly inclusive society” (April 22).
The writer has conflated the notion of a truly inclusive society with freedom of speech. A truly inclusive society should be one where different kinds of people can coexist without any discrimination and, specifically, in relation to those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), that means treating them like we would any other person.
Respecting their opponents as persons as well as their corresponding right to express their views are a recognition of the need for the freedom of speech, but just having that freedom does not make our society more inclusive. If society were to have a free-flow of ideologies without consideration for the hurt that hateful ideologies would cause, then we would be accepting that some people can be racist, for example, which is something we do not condone.
In addition, gay rights advocates have not forcibly pushed for conformity of thought and have instead used their right to speech to express their views. If what they have done may be considered an advance towards ideological conformity, then the same may be said of the pro-family groups who have supported IKEA.
The debate generated over IKEA’s actions is proof that we are not conforming to any particular ideology, and the writer should welcome it.