Simon Bridges should take note of what a real commitment to freedom of speech looks like. David Seymour has now joined the ranks of other Free Speech advocates by getting his speech rudely interrupted by protestors during his Freedom of Speech tour. Admittedly they were not up to the disruptive and violent low standards that we have witnessed used against American Free Speech advocates and he doesn’t have a cool tour bus
ACT Party leader David Seymour says he’s had a positive reception to his freedom of speech tour, despite a small group of “lame” protesters interrupting a talk last week.
Seymour – known for his advocacy of freedom of speech – was giving a talk in Dunedin on Friday when a small group of protesters interrupted him.
In the video a young man steps onto the stage and holds up a large poster with David Seymour’s face on it. He then points out the bleeding obvious which is that freedom of speech is not freedom from consequences. Why on earth he thought that was relevant when David Seymour has made it very clear that he is not talking about illegal speech is anyone’s guess.
Seymour walked the talk by handing his microphone over to the protestor. Hilariously he had very little to say and when David asked the protestor’s supporters if any of them wanted to speak one retorted that they had better things to do with their time. Judging by their lucklustre performance their hearts were clearly not in it.
Seymour made the most of the situation by telling the Newshub reporter that he had been hoping for higher-quality protesters for his first time and thought it was ironic that while they were complaining about white, male privilege, their speaker was both white and a man.
[…] “People feel a sense of self-censorship. If they say the wrong thing they feel they will be attacked.”
Earlier this year Seymour was accused by Green MP Golriz Ghahramn of “dog-whistling to racists” in response to him calling her a “menace to freedom” because of her views on hate speech laws.
[…] Seymour has been a strong advocate of freedom of speech this year, particularly in light of Justice Minister Andrew Little asking his ministry to work with the Human Rights Commission to look into whether laws sufficiently balance issues of freedom of speech and hate speech.
[…] While laws prohibit the incitement of racial disharmony, Little says the same sanctions don’t apply on grounds of religious faith.
Seymour wants to remove restrictions on freedom of expression which “make ‘insulting’, ‘abusive’ and ‘offensive’ speech unlawful”.
Newshub