With cartoons causing worldwide riots and opponents of frivolous wars immediately labeled terrorist sympathisers or worse, it seems freedom of speech has taken a bit of a beating lately. The recent assassination of a notable Russian journalist critical of the Putin government serves as a less subtle example.
Here, in little ole' Finland, the issue at hand seems to be what school teachers may or may not say. It's an issue that in some ways parallels accusations of a liberal bias among American colleges and alleged censoring of conservative viewpoints on campuses and in class. Surely teachers have the same right to freedom of speech as the rest of us?
In an interview with Finnish newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet, a Finnish high school teacher proudly proclaims himself to be a homophobe, having no qualms about comparing homosexuality to paedophilia, or murder. Quite naturally this caused immediate outrage among parents in the school district. The school board have distanced themselves from the teacher, but aren't planning any further action against him.
My personal opinion is that freedom of speech should be abridged as little as possible (with notable exceptions like the oft-mentioned yelling "fire" in a crowded theatre), so this person has the right to say pretty much whatever.
It seems to me, however, that his statements are indicative of him being a terrible teacher. His students are practically all between 16 and 19 years old, that tender age when you first might realise you're homosexual. I think that would be difficult enough, without having a rather influental person condemning you as a murderer. Through his statements he reveals his own obliviousness to the problems his students may face, and perhaps a certain arrogance that's not too uncommon among teachers, but is a terribly quality for a teacher to have neverttheless. I've had several opinionated teachers, and while I wouldn't always agree with their views, I would always be treated with respect, and I would certainly never be compared to a paedophile. A good teacher can and should have opinions, but a good teacher shouldn't cause unnecessary conflict and angst among his or her students. Maybe it's not an issue of freedom of speech at all, maybe it's an issue of competence. A quality this teacher seems to possess very little of.
There something to be said for provocateurs, of course. If his statements serve to further discussion in class, then why not? But one has to wonder why he, if that's the case, chose to raise the issue in a national newspaper, rather than in class, and furthermore, couldn't he have chosen less inflammatory language? People like Ann Coulter, whose writings seem designed merely to cause conflict and not to seriously debate an issue, add absolutely nothing but noise. It seems to be the case with this teacher as well.
Ray Bradbury's dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 predicts the emergence of a world where only the most sanitised and censored forms of "art" is allowed to exist, and everything deemed not politically correct is summarily torched. It is a cautionary tale of what may happen if we compromise too much on the issue of freedom of speech. As far as freedom goes, though, if I was a parent, I would very much like to have the freedom not to have my children being taught by bigots.
