Carl Sagan expressed it thus:

“When permitted to listen to alternative opinions and engage in substantive debate, people have been known to change their minds. It can happen.”

Unfortunately not everyone expresses their opinions without resorting to personal abuse. The Orkney News has a zero tolerance policy to any comments which seek to resort to this lowest form of attack so prevalent today on social media sites.

In this run up to the UK General Election on 4th July, and in this world where innocent civilians are being exposed to the worst forms of violence and war crimes, comments are often made which seek not to discuss an issue or raise a point, but merely to personally attack someone expressing a view.

Comments which include abuse will be deleted and if an individual persists in doing so they will be blocked. If any reader finds such comments which have slipped past us please contact news@theorkneynews.scot and we will look into it.

The values of science and the values of democracy are concordant, in many cases indistinguishable. Science and democracy began – in their civilized incarnations – in the same time and place, Greece in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. . . . Science thrives on, indeed requires, the free exchange of ideas; its values are antithetical to secrecy. Science holds to no special vantage points or privileged positions. Both science and democracy encourage unconventional opinions and vigorous debate. Both demand adequate reason, coherent argument, rigorous standards of evidence and honesty. – Carl Sagan

Fiona Grahame, Editor, The Orkney News