Interesting that he wants comments but has disabled replies and quote posts It is wrong to do this, but while it's not fair for their staff to feel intimidated maybe they should also think about how their output makes others feel Throwing words rather than paint doesn't stop it being intimidating
I don’t know if you are referring to me but I haven’t disabled replies or quote posts. What have they written that constitutes the equivalent to vandalism or violent intimidation, in your view?
I was referring to the post you quote posted, not you And it's more their contribution to an atmosphere than specific pieces of output They are part of a divisive right wing world view and think tank ecology that gets overexposed by the likes of the Mail and the Telegraph
In a battle of ideas the only way to win is with ideas. You won’t change people’s minds by throwing paint at them, or even insults. There’s an issue about how right-wing ideas from Policy Exchange are boosted, and we need to deal with that. But that’s not going to happen through “direct action”.
I’m not defending physical attacks such as that, but the notion that ‘in the battle of ideas the only way to win is ideas’ is incredibly naive. EG Thatcher didn’t win the battle of ideas because of the strength of hers but because of who was - metaphorically - jamming them down people’s throats.
It’s not naive, Steven- it’s not easy, and we may well fail, but there’s no other way. We must do more to get our ideas heard - there’s a dangerous bias in the media (including social media) and the power of money to influence media, but direct action and counter demonstrations are not the answer.
To reiterate, I’m not defending that particular action but it sounds like we agree that for certain ideas to prevail in politics other things need to also be in play - it’s a shame this government does not appear to realise it.