Worth reading

This blog post fell onto my twitter yesterday, and it’s worth a read.

Public debate on highly contentious issues is now careering out of control. Tragedy is being hijacked by political agitators. Facts are being junked for ignorance, misrepresentation and misleading hearsay. A culture of hyperventilating emotion and licensed resentment means that those trying to articulate dispassionate judgment, justice and compassion are being vilified as unfeeling brutes.

It might seem – it might even be – harsh to speak out like this now, in the immediate aftermath of the Grenfell Fire and in the midst of the tremendously emotive Charlie Gard case, but there’s never going to be a easy time to bring this unpopular but necessary sort of viewpoint forward. The longer it’s left unspoken, the more accepted and acceptable it becomes. And it’s clearly already a problem.

These are faint cries in the wind. Reason, objectivity and disinterestedness are now being howled down by an angry and resentful mob. Emotion and ignorance now rule instead. Observe, and shudder.

There are some difficult truths spoken and some very good points made in this post.
Do go and read it.