How ‘cancel’ threat hurts free speech, by Dorries
FEAR of being ‘cancelled’ is leading individuals to be unable to speak their mind, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has suggested.
In her first TV interview since taking the job in September, the Conservative MP said people engaged in public debate needed to ‘tone down’ the condemnation and judgment and ‘evaluate and engage’ a little bit more.
She added: ‘I think social media probably contributes a lot to this. People are afraid because of the amplification in the echo chambers of social media.’
Talking to the BBC’s culture editor Katie Razzall, Miss Dorries also took aim at Leftwing campaigners who ‘hijack the space that young people would like to occupy to talk about some serious issues’.
In response to being branded the ‘minister for culture wars’, the MP for Mid Bedfordshire said it wasn’t true she was going to ‘charge out’ on some kind of ‘battle’.
And she spoke out against removing statues of historical figures with links to the slave trade, saying: ‘You can’t, with this whole cancel culture, wipe it all out
‘Tone down condemnation’
like it didn’t happen and pretend it didn’t exist.’ Regarding the BBC, Miss Dorries said that ‘of course’ she wanted it to survive as it was ‘the best of British’, indicating this was why there needed to be ‘hard discussions’ about its future.
However, she welcomed moves by its director-general Tim Davie to deal with impartiality at the corporation, adding that it was making ‘a good attempt to start dealing with some of these issues’.
Yesterday Miss Dorries announced an additional £107million towards the Culture Recovery Fund which is helping arts organisations to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Miss Dorries, who grew up on a council estate in Liverpool, said she was keen for less well-off youngsters to get into the arts and sport. She added: ‘Those people in those backgrounds are of every colour and every sexuality, but are we looking after everybody when we talk about diversity?’
The Culture Secretary also spoke about criticism of her appointment. Comedian Dom Joly described it as ‘like the result of some drunk bet’. She said some remarks had been ‘thoroughly unpleasant’, adding: ‘People were making these comments for political attack and nothing else.’