“Now, I don’t want to go on a rant here, but….”

By Ali Khimji

Andrew Marr, presenter of his own BBC show, has labelled bloggers as “socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed young men sitting in their mother’s basements and ranting.”

As bloggers, we feel the need to respond to such hurtful comments. We’re definitely not socially inadequate, as you’re probably reading this through Facebook.

We’re not pimpled or slightly seedy. Not any type of seedy for that matter. Most of us are single, but we are still young (some at heart), and we all have full heads of hair. We don’t even know what cauliflower noses are, and we are not all young men in our mother’s basement. (Women outnumber men in our above-ground London offices)

But most importantly, we are not ranting. (This post isn’t a rant, it’s a response. There is a difference of six letters!)

Although many blogs out there may seem like verbal diarrhoea, everyone should be entitled to their own opinion and be free to express it.  Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right, and cannot be denied to anyone.

However, some people do need to recognise when their views are insulting and abusive and we, as society, cannot tolerate any offensive behaviour.

But at the same time, should we take everything to heart and feel insulted by the smallest of jokes? Perhaps if we take life too seriously, we’ll never get out alive?

We want to hear your views on the matter; should people be prevented from putting across any sort of offensive views? Or should we take everything with a pinch of salt and let people express their opinions?