POLITICAL CORRECTNESS: THE DEMISE OF DEBATE

Source: On Line Opinion,  19 August 2016
Louis O'Neill, who is studying writing at Macquarie University defended his right to freedom of speech: 

“Frequently I find myself holding what one might consider a politically incorrect opinion, such as having scorn for Islam, disagreeing with myths peddled by the third wave feminist movement or finding no legitimacy in the claims of the black lives matter movement.
 
As a result my adversaries are more than ready to deviate from the laws of discourse, veering off into ad hominem, red herring or appeal to emotion fallacies. The legitimacy of my political viewpoint is often times devalued, as I occupy the “privileged” end of the spectrum, being a heterosexual white male, and so I'm told that I mustn't speak on issues which aren't specifically related to my own demographic.
 
Sometimes the sanctimony of my ideological combatants is so abundant that they feel they need not even engage further in conversation once I've pushed their buttons enough.
 
Well to them I say, if your idea cannot withstand the corrosive qualities of informed conversation, then your idea is not one worth having. We must herald logic as the great sieve through which we may push idiocy and illogicality, and allow the juices of truth to percolate from it…”
 
Read further here … http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=18460

Canadian Wallace Klinck responded to a colleague on that very point:
 
 The return of the Pharisee.  The zealots will never desist.  Only their opinions matter and their oppressive decrees are not only to be accepted but enforced as absolute.  They have usurped the authority of God.
 
How different from the 1960’s when I listened to the most outrageous and diverse tirades and expositions, often delightfully challenging and humorously insulting, in London at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park.  How wonderful it was to be able to listen to and evaluate these messages for myself.  Some of the speakers knew themselves that many or all of the ideas they were uttering were nonsensical and they were just honing their literary and elocutionary skills. 
 
Humour with its potential for provoking serious thought was still alive. There is no humour and no life in the law of the tyrant which destroys the spirit of man.  “The Law Killeth; the Spirit Maketh Alive”.
 
The New Tyrants care nothing for Life borne of the Spirit which because of their envy they wish only to destroy.  Naked power, “legitimized” and exercised behind the mask and hypocrisy of unjust law is the only Truth which they recognize.
 
Read here…  http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/08/16/london-mayor-to-set-up-police-online-hate-crime-hub-in-partnership-with-social-media-firms/

'The law criminalises “using [a] public electronic communications network in order to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety,” and can result in a six-month prison term or fine of up to £5,000.'  Rather vague terminology.