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The Institute for the Study of Civil Society |
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The Retreat of Reason: Reviews and Readers' Comments
Selected Reviews and Press Comment "Anthony Browne ... provides a swingeing attack on the way "political correctness" has corrupted public debate in Britain, and does it with panache. The points he makes are not new - the same tale of woe can be told about the institutions of higher education in the UK and elsewhere in the western world, for this is where the rot started. However, although the case is familiar, constant iteration of it is necessary, and Browne's is a particularly good statement." "Just recently I read Anthony Browne’s excellent treatise The Retreat of Reason: Political Correctness and the Corruption of Public Debate in Modern Britain. Browne’s pamphlet is a polemic against the manner in which intelligent, honest debate is suffocated by political correctness." "As American readers know all too well, the phenomenon is all too real. 'The Retreat of Reason,' written by the London Times' Europe correspondent, Anthony Browne, is a passionate and frankly angry account of how Britain's political and intellectual debate has been undermined by bad ideology and bad faith." "As Anthony Browne, the British journalist, argues in a recent pamphlet, however noble the aims of what its opponetns call 'political correctness', it can also too easily lead to the suppression of inconvenient truths." "I cannot recommend Anthony Browne's new book, 'The Retreat of Reason: Political correctness and the corruption of public debate in modern Britain', too highly." "One of the most important pamphlets of recent times, The Retreat of Reason, has just been published." "Anthony Browne’s recent excellent pamphlet on political correctness, The Retreat of Reason." Readers' Comments
'BRILLIANT. Thank you SO much for speaking out against this malaise. Let's encourage more truth wherever and whenever we can. With every good wish for the New Year.' - Anonymous 'I read with great pleasure the item on the BBC news web site, and subsequently your press release about political correctness. It was a refreshing change. I am very much of the view that intellectual integrity is, or should be, the paramount principle in all discourse, irrespective of how uncomfortable that may be. Of course it may be argued that all arguments are not "value free" and that they are always invested with "theory-laden" observation. But this is a higher order philosophical problem and its good to see someone arguing for some simple truths… So carry on the good work!' - John 'Many, many congratulations… Many of us in society think and agree with you completely, but we are fragmented and do not have the ear of the media, government and so forth. Reasoned debate seems to have been snuffed out in this country, which is, of course, one of the reasons why it is "going to the dogs". For instance, as an accountant who acts mainly for small businesses, I have long argued that the continued and constant increase in maternity regulations in this country actually hinders the likelihood of young women of childbearing age finding jobs. Both the increased maternity and paternity (and so called "family friendly") regulations and policies of this government actually hinder many young people in general from getting jobs… Not that any of the idiot politicians can see the problems posed by their regulations… Anyway, well done for your excellent, and very correct and true, article.' - John, Cornwall 'Enjoyed your article… an interesting read.' - Michael 'Thank you… best wishes, good luck, and more of the same.' - Anonymous 'As one extremely ordinary British woman, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for opening a debate on all this PC rubbish, which is ruining my country. I have noticed this morning and last evening on both Radios 4 and 5 the venom against Civitas. For a long time now, we have had concerns with this Communist-inspired claptrap with its thought-process-changing ideas. We on the AOL message boards have been fighting against this. We were at the point of saying in numbers: thus far and no further. We've even had a PC who, during a rota, was not allowed to write 'blackspot' in his report of the incident… The constant cover up of ethnic crimes on white people, the blaming of skinheads for attacks on Jewish folk: we are not stupid, these days we find out, then every politician's words are disbelieved. The BBC itself has become complicit in this… Recently I emailed Radio 5 when a British soldier actually stated he had been asked in an NHS hospital to remove his uniform in case it caused offence. So on behalf of millions thank you, thank you, keep it up.' - Veronica, South Yorkshire 'I have just read an item on Sky News, one that I had almost given up hope of ever reading, namely your attack on PC thinking in Britain. Just before Christmas I sent the following despairing email to the BBC website, which I regard as little more than a PC factory: As a PhD scientist, my career has been founded on a pursuit of originality. I also endeavour to develop new challenging, original viewpoints when submitting to online threads. Most of my contributions to the Times Debate have been posted, but, curiously, very few of those to the BBC "Have Your Say". Why is this, I ask myself? It's clearly something to do with the BBC's understanding of the term "moderation". Since few if any of my comments are "immoderate", I believe that what you are displaying is not moderation, but a form of censorship. You are filtering out anything that stands out from the generally bland stream of reactive posturing. In short, although I hate the term, you are in effect "anti-intellectual". I understand the pressures you are under, having reporters in the world's trouble spots, etc, so you try to cultivate this idea of the UK as a place fully of touchy-feely Guardian-reading folk, but that is really no excuse for stifling free-expression on a UK-based website. I detest censorship in all its forms, including the benign, corporate censorship of the BBC which you no doubt defend in terms of "house style". I shan't bother submitting again to the BBC, since, as indicated, my contributions are appreciated elsewhere. But I continue to look forward to the day when the BBC finally wakes up to what it is doing to UK society. I deliberately avoided use of the term "PC", not wishing to be labelled and caricatured by the BBC's blue-pencil brigade, but it should be clear that PC is the real target of my protest… I have logged on to your website for the first time today: it's like an oasis in a barren wilderness! Thank you for getting my New Year off to a good start!' - Colin, France 'I read with interest on MSN that at last a proper body of academics have seen fit to look into the subject of 'political correctness'. The article mentions Anthony Browne as the author. If this gentlemen is a part of Civitas, then I would like to take this opportunity to thank the man for his courage in standing against this insidious nonsense, that in my opinion has caused much more harm to the British way of life and its people, than any other change. I sincerely hope his words are listened to.' - Rod, Isle of Wight 'A friend of mine emailed me this article and I think it is the best and the most truthful piece of news I have read in a long, long time. I just want to reassure you that a lot of people agree with all of it; if they don't say so it is because they are scared not to be liked by others, afraid of losing their jobs, etc., or quite simply because they are quite naïve individuals who believe everything the news say and lack a critical mind. You have my full support. Keep up the good work! The world needs people like you.' - Helena 'Well done in promoting this crucially important paper, which hopefully will catalyse a long-needed debate in this country… Many thanks again.' - Graham, Berwickshire 'Congratulations to Anthony Browne on scoring in the UK media against PC!' - Chris, Edinburgh 'Please congratulate author Anthony Browne on his report findings - he is clearly more 'in-touch' with what many in the UK think than the politicians. He has also identified one of the reasons why politicians (& the media) are rarely trusted to deliver a balanced view. I hope this report will be given the attention it deserves; however, I fear the PC brigade will stifle any debate!' - Al 'I should like to offer you my hearty congratulations on the publication of your report… I agree with the main thrust of your report, which is that all this political correctness is a shield for all kinds of evil activities occurring out of sight and unmentioned! If ever you formed your own political party with a view to abolishing all of this politically correct nonsense, from the Race Relations Act to all manner of other legislation which is an assault on our principle of 'so called' free speech, then I should be one of the first to join you. And I am BLACK! Best wishes.' - Earl 'I agree [that political correctness is stifling freedom of speech] and would suggest also that PC is destroying the Financial Services Sector. There is no logic to what is happening in this sector, its practitioners have been outlawed and rights of appeal denied. During your interview I think the ranting from the other speaker, columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, rather reinforced your arguments and I did rather feel there was a lack of enthusiasm to stop this ranting on the part of the BBC interviewer. This further showed what free speech is up against… congratulations on the excellence of your work. I will circulate this e-mail and suggest strongly that any right thinking man or women ought to read what you have said.' - Simon, Worcester 'Congratulations on the article by Anthony Browne which is brave, cogently reasoned and necessary.' - George, Canada 'Anthony Browne has performed a tremendous service to the principle of free speech in this country. The accuracy of his Press Release comments is emphasised by the noisy and panicky responses from the so-called "liberal left intellectuals".' - James 'Please pass on my thanks and congratulations to Mr Browne for his book The Retreat of Reason. It is such a timely publication. I used to work for the railways. Over the years I had written some poems which dealt with various facets on my working life. I was encouraged to submit these to HQ for publication. A group of ladies, though, found one poem "offensive". They wrote a collective letter to say so, and the result was that I lost my job (after 10.5 years service), solely because I had written some humorous verse. Political Correctness has been the bane of my life. I've been unemployed since I lost my job last July. The suspicion is that because I am white, male, heterosexual and Protestant I will never have any hope of getting a job at all.' - Timothy 'Just wanted to say what a brilliant article on PC-ness. It echoes a view I have held for a long time. I believe myself to be a fair and kind person towards others no matter what their race or beliefs, but it has all got way out of hand and I believe it will get a lot worse in the coming years.' - Brian 'I read with great glee your article. Like most people I am sick to the back teeth with this absurd political-correctness and the constant erosion of free speech. I am also sick of this kind of genuine worry being greeted by volleys of hate abuse from the politically correct with accusations about racism, etc, simply because someone points out a fact that certain people wish to suppress. I listened to an interview with the article's author and a female political-correctness advocate. Her tactics were typical: constant interruption of the opposing speaker, blurting out as fact opinions that were factually incorrect (i.e. the assertion that most child abuse is carried out by white men. This is not true, the vast majority of child abuse is carried out by the children's own mother and white men have no more inclination to abuse than do black and Asian men). This is the typical response to any counter argument to political-correctness. More worrying is the fact that government now seeks to introduce this perverse nonsense into law. This has to stop.' - Dennis, Sheffield 'I just wanted to drop you a line about the Today programme… It was an absolutely typical exchange between, on the one hand, people who are calmly trying to move the debate forward and, on the other, the usual intellectually-lazy "progressive" journalists who have angrily expounded the same views for years without bothering to keep up with the changing times. Whilst Mr Brown remained calm, lucid and constructive throughout, she managed to get hysterical - whilst laughably accusing him of being so! - and throw accusations and fuddled soupy concepts around without saying anything either new or even relevant… Well rest assured, as an (almost) impartial listener she came off much worse.' - Sarah, London 'At last! The scourge of Political Correctness! Well done and keep it up! After working 30 years overseas - mainly Africa and Persian Gulf - there are times when I dare not open my mouth in case I might offend some unnamed and unknown person or group. Most people have now been lulled into the gist of your argument that I now purposefully revert to non-PC words just to give them a shock… I hope you've started a backlash.' - Bill, Scotland 'Whilst I agree with the concept of PC and the degree to which language may reflect/influence behaviour, I consider… that there is a well of "intolerance" within the media and more widely within our society that denies the right of individuals to express their views. As an example - to subscribe to Christianity is now regarded as licence to be subject to contempt and indiscriminate contumely. I should be grateful if you would let me know how one can purchase your publication. Thank you.' - Tom 'Can you pass on to Anthony Browne my email address and let him know that what he is saying EVERYONE IS THINKING but are too scared to say because of PC… he has actually stood up and… it seems that he is the only person in this country who is prepared to do so openly.' - Barry
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