We’ve visited Britain seven times since 2012, and that doesn’t count the trip in 1983 for our 10th anniversary. We stayed at the same hotel in London for the last six trips, and we’ve noticed the physical changes that have gone on in the neighborhood – new buildings, renovations, businesses changing hands – as well as what has stayed the same – Westminster Chapel, the St. James tube station, protests at Parliament Square, and Buckingham Palace two blocks down the street.
We also noticed changes in the culture and population, as well as a change to how the city “feels,” which is an accumulation of the makeup of people riding the tube and buses, attitudes in restaurants and shops, the number of homeless, and other factors. We’ve never been victimized by a crime; we’ve rarely felt threatened. We’ve had one interaction with London police about a missing friend; the police were more than helpful, and the friend, who has memory issues, was eventually found. It is disconcerting to make our way through a crowd protesting some visitor staying at our hotel (the Dalai Lama once, the prime minister of Bangladesh another time). But with London, protests are a fact of life, including protests disrupting traffic.
What has been most disconcerting of all has been the sense of restrictions on people’s personal freedom. And that blew wide open this past week, when the Irish writer and comedian Graham Lineham was arrested when he traveled on an American Airlines flight to Heathrow Airport. His crime: three tweets making fun of transgender people. He was met by five armed policemen, detained (jet lagged) for 16 hours, and only let go when they had to rush him to the hospital for his blood pressure skyrocketing.
With all the protests going on over immigration and a host of government policies (including policing social media), you might think the police would be more circumspect. The Lineham arrest blew up on both sides of the Atlantic. The Critic Magazine called the arrest stupid and sinister. The Spectator said that free speech is in its death throes in Britain, and an American Anglophile wrote that he can no longer defend a country he loves. Greg Collard at Racket News says the U.K. has earned its status as a censorship state. Brendan O’Neill at The Free Press looks broadly at Britain’s working-class uprising. And The Wall Street Journal explains how it all happened – the U.K. thought it was controlling immigration, and it wound up with an unprecedented wave.
We love Britain and London. I’ve published five novels centered there. We’ve had some great visits and experiences; We’ve walked through great art exhibitions and massive amounts of history. We have friends there. And it feels like we’re watching a slow-motion catastrophe speed up.
I’ve heard Brits say that Americans care more about this than the British people do. They may be right. We’re watching it from afar, and so everything is telescoped. But we also know we sailed close to starting our own anti-free speech regime here in the United States, and just about the only thing that stopped it was Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter.
More Good Reads
America 250
Culper Spy Austin Roe…the Joiner? – Mark Sternberg at Journal of the American Revolution.
The Coming of War in Culpepper, Virginia 1775 – James Bish at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.
“It is Incredible How Much They Dread a Rifle”: Col. William Woodford’s 1775 James River Crossing – Patrick Hannum at Journal of the American Revolution.
Life and Culture
To Stop School Shootings, We Must Reject Three Liberal Premises – John Horvat at The Imaginative Conservative.
The War on Humanity – Matt Taibbi at Racket News.
Farmer’s Kitchen – Brian Miller at Notes from an East Tennessee Farmer.
In Defense of Inequality --- Carlos Carvalho at The Free Press.
What is the Bigger Threat to Free Speech, Europe or Donald Trump’s America? – Matt Taibbi at Racket News.
Faith
China’s Divided Church Under Pope Francis – Paul Mariani at Church Journal.
The Global Church Needs More than American Worship Songs – Trevin Wax at The Gospel Coalition.
Pencil, Ink, and Blood – Keith Drury at Think Theology.
Writing and Literature
I Taught My 3-Year-Old to Read The Hobbit – Tyler Cowen at The Free Press.
When ad hominem attacks are justified – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader on Jonathan Swift.
British Stuff
Pastoral Reality Under a Supermajority – Matthew Hosier at Think Theology.
News Media
A new chapter for the AJC – Andrew Morse at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Another Reason Not to Trust the ‘Experts’ – editorial by The Free Press.
What is Blueskyism? – Nate Silver at The Silver Bulletin.
A Dark Money Group Is Secretly Funding High-Profile Democratic Influencers – Taylor Lorenz at Wired Magazine.
Israel
Israel Is Not Committing Genocide: Exposing the Distortion of Law and Truth – John Spencer and Arsen Ostrovsky at Urban Warfare.
700 Days and Three Years – Michael Oren at Clarity.
Every Which Way – The Quebe Sisters
Painting: Woman Reading, oil on canvas by Georges d’Espagnat (1870-1959), Manchester City Galleries, U.K.
3 comments:
Genuinely curious: Would you also consider the recent silencing of Jimmy Kimmel anti-free speech? I personally think free speech is important and must be protected. I do not believe that the current administration does value it, and I'm concerned about that as well.
Michelle, I'm seeing a considerable number of people losing jobs over what's they said or posted about Charlie Kirk. As much as we might (or might not) agree with those actions, the fact is that the First Amendment does not extend to the workplace. A number of court rulings over the years have determined that. Employers can steps like ABC did with Kimmel, an employee who in his workplace (and on national television, no less) said what was blatantly untrue.
And it also doesn't have to be in the workplace. If an employees acts or speaks in a way damaging to the employer, the employer can take action.
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