A drinking buddy of mine who has clearly imbibed too much Trump Kool-aid recently remarked that the Progressive Democrat Commies want to censor free speech. He cites Europe as an egregious offender, enacting laws against hate speech and even prohibiting criticism of government leaders, and even denying the Holocaust.
I did some fact checking: In Europe, it looks like they are jailing offenders of "Hate Speech" when there is a threat attached. That seems reasonable to me.
In general I'm not a fan of political correctness, especially when it inhibits normal expression of feelings or opinions. But I will admit that some of the laws do seem Draconian to me: e.g., laws against Disparaging a public figure, without fear, is a capstone of a free press.
Just calling someone a midget or an Indian should not be a crime by itself. I'm not certain that it's legally okay (though morally wrong) to call someone a "dirty Jew" or a "Fag," even when there is no threat, but I would not support a general law against name-calling.
During the time when the people who were running Facebook and Twitter were censoring obvious misinformation and what was generally considered hate or threatening speech, I thought those platforms were more balanced and more pleasant places to exchange thoughts. Why they stopped doing that is mysterious to me. (I don't log in to either anymore.)
I am a fan of censorship when it comes to suppressing disinformation. The problem is in the execution. Who decides what is a fact? To me this is the existential crisis that we have today: People don't trust "trusted" sources anymore.
So it is that we cannot intelligently argue, because neither side will accept the other's source of any "fact". I blame Trump and his ilk. They have sown the seeds of distrust --with unsubstantiated claims -- in our legal system, election integrity, and any person or organization that disagrees with them. Trump makes claims with no evidence, and none of his claque dares to say him nay.
Funny that most of the witnesses during the Jan 6 hearings were Republicans who worked in government. And the majority of his first administration staffers said publicly that he was "unfit" to be president again. These weren't Dems, mind you. The only reason the 2nd impeachment didn't stick is that the Republican senate majority simply ignored the facts revealed by Jan 6 witnesses.
But of course, no self-respecting MAGA would believe any of that. They say, "The First Amendment guarantees free speech, so shut the fuck up!"
2 comments:
I would like to make a pithy as well as insightful comment ... but I'm too dazed by the steady stream of authoritarian decrees to think of one other than: I take one shower a week, so I wouldn't be offended if you called me a "dirty Jew." But a "Fag"? Shame on you, you hornswaggling, misanthropic, piece of putrid excrement. And your feet smell of elderberries, too!
Rickster, I would never call you a Fag to your face.
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