Sir, - The history of political controversy has witnessed a marked tendency to categorise debaters into those who are on the side of the angels, and those described as adherents of the devil. Throughout the past century the devil was believed to have assumed many forms. Anarchism, socialism and fascism, at different times, were believed to have been incarnations of him.
His latest incarnation is believed now to be in the form of the racist. Liberal political correctness, which is the zeitgeist of the age, believes itself, by contrast, to be on the side of the angels. The solution proposed by the liberals to the perceived threat of racism is to resort to the big stick of the law with which to beat racists, whether individuals or institutions.
However, perhaps the liberals ought to pause awhile in their crusade and reflect on the potential efficacy of their procedures. For what they call racism may in fact be a historico-biological phenomenon with deep roots in the evolution of human culture and society. Awareness of difference in alien groups and the corresponding awareness of likeness within their own home-based kindred groups may well have performed a valuable service in the evolution and development of early human societies.
Such consciousness may well have enabled them to preserve the integrity and identity of their cultural homogeneity. This would have provided them with an obvious evolutionary advantage over competitors who lacked such an acute awareness and consciousness.
If this is the case, then what today is so superficially called racism may in fact be a deep-rooted culturally-protective mechanism and may not respond readily to the "big-stick" approach of the liberals.
A more effective solution is needed. For example, perhaps we ought to begin with a truly democratic and open-minded discussion and debate of issues which might constitute a flashpoint for the emergence of attitudes which may be deemed "racist". One such flashpoint is obviously the current influx of illegal immigrants into Ireland and Europe.
However, the politically-correct blinkers with which liberals approach this issue have until now had the effect of aborting genuine honest and open discussion of this phenomenon. The current liberal response to those who disagree with their point of view is to threaten them and label them as "racists", and so demand their silence. As a result, subjects such as illegal immigration have now become taboo.
In the name of free speech, the blinkers used by leading opinion-makers ought to be removed. If we fail to do this, authentic racism, which is in fact relatively dormant and quiescent at the moment, will return fully activated in a much more virulent and primitive form. - Yours, etc.,
Thomas P. Walsh, Fassaugh Road, Cabra, Dublin 7.