Hi Dan,

I hadn't heard about this outburst until I looked at your link and was more than a little suprised by MS's comments, and they are not views that I personally share. It must be a bit of a body blow for her fans? Imagine Steve Earle giving a talk on the benefits of the Capitalist system from the stage of one of his gigs!

However, speaking as a left wing type person, I am disturbed by the fact that a gay man decides he doesn't like what he is hearing, and so uses his position to censor what is being said.

To me there seems to be a bit of a glut of this type of action by the left at the moment and it disturbs me. Why? Because someone who claims to be a liberal, and then won't allow for other opinions to be held and voiced is (IMO) the polar opposite of liberal.

Of course I don't have the full transcript of what MS said, so it may be that she stepped over the line into incitement to hatred? In which case the effect of that was already "self policed" in that people were voting with their feet. However my general point stands. It's okay to disagree, it's not okay to cut people off at the knees when you disagree with them.

Great blog by the way, I will be back.