LETTER: Important lessons to learn from Christchurch massacre
While your columnists Steven Friedman “Political correctness’ saves lives to restraining hate”, (March 20) and Michael Morris “The risk of forgetting what we stand for”, (March 25) are united in their outrage over the Christchurch massacre, they draw utterly contradictory lessons from it. Only one can be right! Friedman learns that political correctness should be entertained as a “public health measure”. Hurting others’ feelings is impolite and damaging in a society as fractured as ours. Morris concludes that being unafraid to express our thoughts, and therethrough live freely, is the first step in practicing a free and tolerant society. But it mandates one to face reality, including YouTube clips, and not hide from what disturbs us or our ideological outlook. I side with Morris in that SA has no more time to coddle others with false comforts. One must take New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s words as authentically meant: they are not an appeasement. Yet both columnists leav...
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