The Trump petition and why it's wrong

I want to make one thing clear before I begin, I absolutely do not agree with the opinions of Mr Trump, in fact I despise them.

(However, here's where the crucial BUT comes in.....)

But I do not believe anyone with views I disagree with should be banned from travelling to the United Kingdom, and if you signed that petition to ban him, you are no better than Donald for wanting to ban Muslims from the US.

In case you forgot, we live in a Liberal democracy and one of the key principles of said democracy is the freedom of speech and freedom of expression. In theory we all have the right to voice whatever opinions we feel like and there should be no repercussions.

In reality this is slowly being eroded, with flimsy 'hate speech laws' and questionable spying charters.

Freedom of speech is also a human right, not just one of a liberal democracy. We are quick to defend those who have no voice in countries like Iran, China and North Korea, so we should not lower ourselves to the same depths of these countries either.

If we can allow hate breeders such as Anjem Choudary remain in this country we can surely allow Mr Trump to visit as well. Banning him from the UK also hinders another fundamental human right, the Freedom of Movement. Something we are very quick to defend whenever immigration is brought up.

Whether you like it or not, someone will have a viewpoint you will not agree with. It is not acceptable to silence them or prevent them from visiting our country because you do not like what they have to say.

As Voltaire said 'While I disagree with what you say, I will fight for your right to say it'. I would rather a man visit this nation who holds abhorrent views than silence them because I don't like him.

If we do ban him,  how does that make us any better?