Standing Up To Trans Bullies and Zealots
“Edinburgh in August cannot be a city for scolds and puritans, while those who seek to silence others should be reminded that they betray the founding principles of the greatest show on earth.”
— Andrew Doyle (@andrewdoyle_com) August 17, 2023
The Times view on cancel culture at the Edinburgh Fringe...https://t.co/wuAGCYn6Ib
The Times with an excellent leading article on the trans bullies and zealots in Edinburgh who are turning Scotland's capital city into a laughing stock.
"Edinburgh’s principles are the values of an open and liberal society. But free expression and artistic liberty requires those virtues to be protected against those who would menace them."
The Times view on cancel culture at Edinburgh: Beyond the Fringe
The clamour to shut out speakers at this year’s festival threatens the free exchange of ideas upon which the arts depend for their vitality
Graham Linehan, the Irish comedy writer, was forced to find a new venue for a show in which he was appearing
Graham Linehan, the Irish comedy writer, was forced to find a new venue for a show in which he was appearing
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER - JAMES GLOSSOP
To be tired of Edinburgh in August is to be tired of life. All the world may be a stage but, come the summer, all roads lead to Auld Reekie. Edinburgh’s festivals transform the city as it becomes overcrowded, over-priced and over-supplied with culture. There is nothing quite like it, and it is magnificent.
Emerging from a continent’s ashes in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the Edinburgh International Festival was designed to, in the words of its founders, “provide a platform for the flowering of the human spirit”. For 75 years it has managed precisely that. The festival is, by definition, a place of exploration predicated on open-mindedness and tolerance.
That culture of celebration and discovery extends to the Festival Fringe and the other festivals which each play their part in Edinburgh’s chaotic and cacophonous summer of entertainment. In the words of Shona McCarthy, the Fringe Society’s director, the Fringe exists “to give everyone a stage and everyone a seat”. This foundational principle has spawned countless imitators in cities across the world but no other arts festival has yet matched the Scottish capital’s summer carnival of delights, let alone trumped it.
Edinburgh’s principles are the values of an open and liberal society. But free expression and artistic liberty requires those virtues to be protected against those who would menace them. In a depressing number of instances this year, those values are threatened by a puritanism that, while in keeping with Edinburgh’s Calvinist past, is wholly at odds with the festivals’ founding credo.
Thus, the Edinburgh Book Festival has been heavily, if also ignorantly, criticised for accepting sponsorship from the investment house Baillie Gifford. Authors who have benefited from the company’s largesse themselves demand the Book Festival sever ties with a sponsor which has given its support for almost 20 years. They do so on the fashionable but spurious grounds that Baillie Gifford is heavily linked to fossil fuels, though this is not in fact actually the case.
Elsewhere, the SNP politician Joanna Cherry was initially “cancelled” by The Stand comedy club and the Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan was likewise forced to find a new venue for a show in which he was appearing. Meanwhile David Greig, artistic director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre, was summarily convicted by social media’s court of intolerance. His crime? “Liking” tweets implausibly deemed “transphobic”.
The sum of these controversies is greater than their parts. A rising tide of intolerance risks curbing the frank and free exchange of ideas upon which the arts depend for their vitality. The expression of wholly legal speech now too often comes with significant jeopardy attached. Those who deny the existence of so-called “cancel culture” are also those most likely to seek other people’s cancellation.
If debates cannot be had in a spirit of free and frank inquiry in Edinburgh in August then where, and in what circumstances, might they be had? Previous attempts at censoring the programme of delights available typically came from Conservative councillors deploring moral debauchery they deemed likely to corrupt Edinburgh’s otherwise virtuous citizens. Often, these denunciations were sufficient to make the show in question a sold-out success. These days the clamour for silencing contrary views more often emanates from self-styled “progressives”. But they, too, betray the spirit of the Festival.
The lesson is that liberalism cannot be assumed and must always be defended. Edinburgh in August cannot be a city for scolds and puritans, while those who seek to silence others should be reminded that they betray the founding principles of the greatest show on earth.
