Testing times

We all believe in free speech, don't we?  Well, no, actually.  Most of us want to pick and choose a bit.  And that is not unreasonable given that absolutes almost always break down when they run into the vagaries of human nature.  However, freedom of speech is recognised as a fundamental aspect of a free society, particularly in the UK and the USA.  In Europe they pretend to bow to it but only with their fingers firmly crossed behind their backs.  Hence, that ridiculous fashion designer who was caught out in an anti-Semitic rant is to be hauled before the French courts for voicing an opinion; and the nation currently heading the European Union, Hungary, has just instituted anti-press legislation to shackle opposition newspapers.  But as I say, in Britain and the States, however lax we are in upholding the principle we do take it fairly seriously, which is just as well because recently we have both been tested severely.

Yesterday, a spiteful Muslim head-banger called Mohammad Haque was found guilty of "using threatening or abusive words or behaviour" when he and others shouted insults whilst burning poppies during the two-minute silence on Armistice Day.  He was given a paltry £50 fine on the grounds that his actions were likely to cause a breech of the peace.  'Over there', the equally spiteful Christian head-bangers who are devotees at the Baptist Church of Westboro won an 8-1 SCOTUS judgement to allow them to continue to picket the funerals of dead soldiers from Afghanistan on the grounds that they believe American tolerance of homosexuality makes their country an abomination in the eyes of God and that anyone who dies in service to it deserves to be heckled and spat upon.

I confess that in both cases I had to swallow the bile that immediately rose in my throat but, through gritted teeth, I support both judgments; and oddly enough I feel a swell of pride that our two countries could find the inner strength and dignity to stand above the mouth-foamers and their hatred.  In an exchange yesterday with my regular commenter, DM, I tried to explain why at a very fundamental level I continue, despite the very many political shifts and changes and disagreements that occur, to hold America in a special relationship, not in the political sense, but in the knowledge that most of us, Brits and Yanks, most of the time, share similar ideals which we hold dear.

 

Comments

[hank]

David

Off subject, but I thogh you would enjoy. Henry V times four.

But it is a speech and it is free.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOUqXEMFaSs&feature=player_embedded

I think the camaflage and red beret just does not go with the lyrics of the Bard.

[David Duff]

Thank you, Hank, that was terrific. Fascinating to see, listen and compare. I think, somewhat to my surprise, that Branagh just pips Olivier but to be fair he is aided by full symphonic music in the background to raise the emotional temper - unavailable to Olivier in parsimonious wartime. Notice also, how they both 'build' their audience from the surrounding soldiery as they go on. However, Olivier's delivery of Shakespearean verse is without equal. Gwillim, I think was truer to Henry's character (as writ by WS) in that he shows a quieter, inner man, fully aware of the effect his agit-prop is having on his compatriots. You have to remember that Henry V is the double-dealing prince Harry of Henry IV Parts I & II, the man who ditches his 'friend' Falstaff the minute he ascends the throne. I saw Pennington's version during a truly memorable all-day show at the National Theatre which covered H IV part I in the morning, Part II in the afternoon and Henry V in the evening. Being a stage version this does not compare so well with the filmed ones. Even so, it was one of the greatest days I ever had in the theatre. The director, Bogdanov, took the approach that he would simply dress people in costumes of any era that expressed their character. Thus, Falstaff appeared in a bright blue pin-striped suit with co-respondent shoes and a spiv's tie! It was staged only a few years after the Falklands expedition, so the scene when Henry sets sail from England had all the soldiery in camouflaged smocks and red berets with much cheering which brought to mind the sights we had seen only a few years before. At the climax a huge banner was dropped from the top of back-stage with the immortal words plastered across it "FUCK THE FRENCH". Needless to say it brought the house down!

[Dom]

"The director, Bogdanovich ..." I always make that mistake too. Bogdanovich was a Hollywood one-hit wonder. You mean Bogdanov, of whom I know nothing except what I read.

[David Duff]

And I, Dom, know nothing either going by my silly mistake above which I will now correct.