In debate, the first rule for me is to remember Voltaire; for those who are uneducated, or have simply forgotten what free speech is, it goes thus:

"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

Why on Earth would I bring this up? Allow me a moment to be my usual Blunt self; I think most people on reddit are pathetic. I think most of the time they exalt the values of freedom of speech and expression, but only so long as it falls in line with a liberal society agenda.

You're permitted to say what you like about homosexuality, so long as you don't mention that you don't agree with it, and it's not your thing - a prime example of this was evident over the past year upon mentioning the subject of Gay marriage. You're allowed your opinion of Muslims, so long as it's a positive view that does not, under any circumstances hold a negative view of the society as a whole.

You're allowed your views of Israel, so long as you don't draw parallels with what they're doing to the Palestinians at this very moment to the way the Germans treated the Jews at the very beginning, before they began committing their atrocities.

Freedom of speech is nothing more than an illusion, and I had honestly - perhaps naively hoped that /r/britishpolitics would manage to avoid behaving in a way that happens all too often in /r/ukpolitics -it's fairly evident that the same bullshit has made its way here, in that anyone with an alternative view is down voted to oblivion and chastised for simply voicing an opinion. There's no discussion, no dialogue; not even the illusion of cordial discourse; simply diatribe for not subscribing to yet another liberal agenda pushing subreddit that gets their sensibilities offended the minute someone says or thinks something different from the status quo. Shame on you. Shame on you all - especially the mods who appear to have already forgotten why they wanted an alternative to /r/ukpolitics in the first place, and already shrugging off any pretence of impartiality.

edit: I have something more to say.

I want you to think about what the subreddit is for. Hell; I want you to consider what reddit is supposed to be for - it's supposed to be about discourse. It's supposed to be about gaining insight, seeing the different angles and discussing them evenly and not bandwagon voting for a fucking popularity contest.

You should welcome racists. You should welcome radical muslims, ex members of the IRA and even paedophile priests to the subreddit, because that's how you learn. That's how you understand why they think the way they do; celebrate the diversity and savour the challenge of someone with an opposing view that you stand a chance of maybe, just maybe changing the mind of by helping them see the flaws in their logic; or hell, even agreeing with them.

But then, I think that's probably what you're all scared of.