13:10—13:50 in FROBISHER 1-3 

Tickets Available here 

 FESTIVAL ATTRACTIONS –

“THE ART OF THINKING” with Empathy, Clarity and Courage

Many thinkers have insisted that there must be a right to offend – but for centuries, where the limits should be set has been a matter of contest. While some maintain Enlightenment values must include permission to shock, offend and even injure, there is a growing sense that rights must be balanced by responsibilities to one’s community, in speech as well as action.

Consequently, speech and words are curtailed because they are deemed offensive to various groups – feminists, religious conservatives, multiculturalists and ethnic activists, to name but a few.

As new technologies have given us a worldwide platform to express any idea, anywhere, the potential for instant, global offence seems to have grown rapidly. How are we to define where the limits should lie – if indeed there are limits? What distinguishes insult from injury? Are there words or ideas that are so abhorrent they must be eliminated from public life? In this session, film clips merge with videos and YouTube vloggers as the means to interrogate the many different types of censorship and restrictions on speech that we all experience today.

You don’t have to think like everybody else. So join Culture on the Offensive and gain some practice in The Art of Thinking.