Friday, February 24, 2006

The Slow Drawing-Down of Blinds

....a line from Wilfred Owen's poetry on war, referring to home-front activity after the announcement of the death of one of a family's boys Over There...

Also applies to speech in England, per Rich Leonardi of Ten Reasons:

"'People in my diocese have told me that they are now afraid to speak their minds in the pub on some major contemporary issues for fear of being reported, investigated, and perhaps charged,' said Wright. 'I did not think I would see such a thing in this country in my lifetime. ... The word for such a state of affairs is 'tyranny' -- sudden moral climate change, enforced by thought police.'"

[snip]

another friend, a fellow journalist, cited orthodox Christian teaching during a speech which addressed homosexuality and was consequently visited by the police. "There's a chill in the air. The next time the BBC calls and wants me to talk about controversial topics, I fear I'll pause ... I'll remember the uniformed men visiting my friend."

Rich spent the last several days in London on a work assignment. Sorta makes Charlie's "Braveheart" opener moot, eh wot?

1 comment:

Billiam said...

No doubt! Yet the Bible tells us to speak the Word boldly. It still brings on a chill. They're doing this in Canada, though, to a lesser extent. How long before it comes here? Not long, I'll wager. The political correctness infecting our society has already muted some peoples willingness to speak freely.