Freedom of speech

Freedom of speech is a well engrained belief in our society but it has come under pressure because of the need to meld together the much more diverse group we have become.
When the Nations culture was relatively easy to define and most people were descended from a common thread of ancestry the opportunity to discuss and write about virtually any subject was taken for granted. We are now in very different territory with ever more subjects becoming taboo and the writer having to negotiate the myriad sensitivities like a bomb disposal team moving through the battlefield.
As a statement of fact this is correct but as a statement of a confused and over complicated national dilemma it is also true and one we should be wary of.

I have been reading of the multi layered, multi ethnic, multi cultured society that exists on the sub continent of India.Given it calls itself the largest democracy in the world, it is anything but democratic, given the not so subtle human grading system within its vast population. Birth determines everything in India. From Brahmin at the top to Dalits (untouchables) at the bottom the structure is so complete so unassailable that no amount of discussion can breach the fortifications of caste.

The unswerving religious observance within the Muslim faith is another un-breachable fortification that the native on these shores has to navigate if he is to try to make sense of the new paradigm that describes being British. If we are to describe the above as a racial subject, add gender issues which have distorted our naive view of normality, and then consider promiscuity and the minefield of sexuality norms, one has to ask of oneself, what is left that is safe to write about without being banished.
In this complex mish mash of competing agendas people are scared to hold views other than the most benign, to avoid exciting the cultural gatekeepers who will pounce on any whiff of political in-correctness. It seems that to hold a view and keep it to yourself (1984 is still some way off) is ok but one can only discuss your opinion within four walls and amongst friends. The moment you address a wider audience you are in danger of being in disagreement with someone and,in some way, this "new world" is incapable of coping with healthy disagreement.
Has our socially complex society become too complex too sensitive, has the individual parts become too aware of their own fragility that they need the support of the thought police who as always are only too willing to step I with a bit of crowd control.