{"id":362,"date":"2018-02-15T18:03:40","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T18:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=362"},"modified":"2018-03-04T17:28:40","modified_gmt":"2018-03-04T17:28:40","slug":"subtext-173-empowering-your-opinion-with-impartial-information","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/02\/15\/subtext-173-empowering-your-opinion-with-impartial-information\/","title":{"rendered":"subtext 173 – ’empowering your opinion with impartial information’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fortnightly during term time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Back issues & subscription details:\u00a0http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

In this issue: editorial, campus fascists<\/a>, senate newsflash,<\/a> campus fools<\/a>, campus activists<\/a>, ua92<\/a>, researchgate fail<\/a>, buses fail<\/a>, bomb shelter update<\/a>, we need you<\/a>, love poem<\/a>, shart<\/a>, concert review<\/a>, letters<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

*****************************************************<\/span><\/p>\n

EDITORIAL<\/span><\/p>\n

Back in October, subtext reported on recent incidents of office doors on campus being defaced by swastikas (see subtext 166 and 167). Now, we bring news of a campus ‘alt-right’ would-be society whose members endorse a white Christian Europe and spread tales of Israel chemically castrating immigrants (see lead story below).<\/span><\/p>\n

Freedom of speech at Lancaster University, although defended by (almost) everyone here, has in recent years been a mostly theoretical debate. There really weren’t significant numbers of people saying things that really caused offence – not openly, anyway. Demonstrations and counter-demonstrations on ‘giving a platform to hatred’ were things that happened at other universities. Well, those times seem like they might be over, so we need to start thinking about what we should do when people propagate hate speech – at meetings, in seminars and at public events.<\/span><\/p>\n

subtext has not seen any evidence that our new alt-righters might be planning or encouraging acts of violence – their style is more to disrupt debate and deliberately be ‘provocative’. It’s quite possible that they are really very desperate for attention and, if we leave them well alone, they’ll soon get bored and go back to retweeting memes about frogs.<\/span><\/p>\n

So do we give them what they want, and start organising demonstrations? Or do we ignore them? And what will our students’ union do about their application for official society status? Let a student jury decide? Your comments and letters would be most welcome.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fortnightly during term time. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details:\u00a0http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial, campus fascists, senate newsflash, campus fools, campus activists, ua92, researchgate fail, buses fail, bomb shelter update, we need you, love poem, shart, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[231,227,97,232],"class_list":["post-362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial","tag-alt-right","tag-fascists","tag-freedom-of-speech","tag-issue-173"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-5Q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":726,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/09\/13\/fascism-on-campus\/","url_meta":{"origin":362,"position":0},"title":"FASCISM ON CAMPUS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"September 13 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Centralisation and the erosion of accountability somewhat paled into insignificance when we learned that a small but vocal group of students were attempting to set up a society for fascists. *Ahem*, sorry - 'traditionalists.' Their Facebook page is full of the usual witless moaning about 'social justice warriors', complaints about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "history"","block_context":{"text":"history","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":929,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/03\/01\/fascists\/","url_meta":{"origin":362,"position":1},"title":"FASCISTS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 1 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Worrying news reaches subtext of Generation Identity (GI) leaflets being left in the Learning Zone at the beginning of February. GI is very much the modern face of the European far-right, but behind its 'lambda' logo and black-and-yellow colour scheme lurks the same old evil. Its main aim, as it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":530,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/04\/26\/subtext-176-for-the-avoidance-of-subtext\/","url_meta":{"origin":362,"position":2},"title":"subtext 176 – ‘for the avoidance of subtext’","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"April 26 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Fortnightly during term time. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details:\u00a0http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial,\u00a0fash, more fash, gender pay gap, UA92 (in four parts), bad governance, more governance, assistant deans, appeal for more assistant deans, bomb shelter update, grad ball, alternative grad ball, lu text lost and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editorial"","block_context":{"text":"editorial","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":646,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/06\/07\/subtext-179-dragging-us-into-a-black-and-white-photograph\/","url_meta":{"origin":362,"position":3},"title":"subtext 179 – ‘dragging us into a black and white photograph’","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"June 7 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Fortnightly during term time. Letters, contributions, & comments:\u00a0subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details:\u00a0http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue:\u00a0editorial, LUSU, access, calling on gary, lost & found, fascists, tech, canal quarter, garden village, sports science, impact!, more access, no letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL In the last edition of subtext we focused on the subject\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editorial"","block_context":{"text":"editorial","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":997,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/05\/23\/fascists-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":362,"position":4},"title":"FASCISTS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"May 23 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A Generation Identity sticker was spotted on campus, this time close to the Management School, on 9 April. 'Patriots walk amongst you' it claimed. It was removed within 24 hours. Another GI sticker was noted near Lonsdale College in March, a few days after the Christchurch shootings. Anyone seeing fascist\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":845,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/11\/23\/subtext-183-white-man-in-lancaster-sugarhouse\/","url_meta":{"origin":362,"position":5},"title":"subtext 183 – \u2018(white man) in lancaster sugarhouse\u2019","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 23 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Every so often during term time. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details: http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial, snowsports special report, demo in the square, charges for overseas staff, lost and found, shart, letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL For the past week it appears University House has been on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editorial"","block_context":{"text":"editorial","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":424,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362\/revisions\/424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}