I do not agree with what you have to say…

I do not agree with what you have to say…

…but I will defend to the death your right to say it

For several years I have gone each year to Kilkenomics, my favourite event of the year. One of the most remarkable things about it is that the panel moderators are professional comedians, who bring their skills in sensing the crowd to how they facilitate conversations, and also are really well briefed, particularly Konstantin Kisin and Colm O’Regan.

However, I had never seen any of the comedians doing a comedy set, until last weekend when I went to watch Konstantin and his show “Orwell that ends well”.

Konstantin went through a media whirlwind late last year, so I have to admit it was with some trepidation I went to his show, as I had a surface concern that his material might offend me.

What happened instead was that, by being open to going to the show and to listen, instead I found the show deeply moving and affecting and reminded me strongly about the power of listening to diverse views, and, above all, to the importance of free speech.