In Defence of Dissent

I listened to parts of BBC radio 4's Moral Maze (See here) on Wednesday evening.

The debate centered around dissenting from current orthodoxies like climate change, and to some extent multiculturalism, and discussed whether there was a growing intolerance of ideas that do not fit within the new orthodoxy.

I have to say I think there is a great deal of intolerance around, directed at people who hold unfashionable views. The problem is of course, that the current orthodoxy was yesterday's unfashionable view. If we allow debate to get fossilised in this way then we will lose the ability to move ideas forward.