Fallon Controversy

Well the fallout from the Kieren Fallon revelations continues to go on and on.

I belong to several Horse Racing Forums, in one of them there has been a very heated debate on the pros and cons of the saga.

On the one hand there are those, like myself, who feel Fallon has run out of goodwill and should be kicked out of the sport.

On the other side there are those, who feel equally passionately, that he has done nothing wrong, that there is nothing wrong in taking Class A drugs. There was even one poster, an admitted cocaine user, who delusionally said that cocaine isn’t even addictive.

Strongly differing views and the debate has been very fierce. The good think, whichever side you take, is the forum allows for the free expression and freedom of speech.

Or does it?

(I would say at this point the next part of the post is not directed at the particular forum, it is a more general observation.)

There has been a thread in a non-racing part of the forum which the administrator has had to remove due to complaints. The thread contained jokes following on from the recent teddy bear affair.

Here is one of the jokes:-

I bought a teddy for £10

I called him Mohamed

I sold him for £20

Have I made a prophet?

Jokes and satire have a major cultural contribution to make in that they are tools to point out the absurdities of life and they are a tool for defeating pomposity.

Yet in these days of political correctness, if enough people complain, then censorship prevails – this is wrong.

The situation with a teacher being jailed for naming a teddy bear Mohamed is absurd, almost to the point of disbelief. The absurdity of the situation needs to be pointed out and telling jokes is a good way of making the point.