England gave us Monty Python, the Sex Pistols. Shaun of the Dead. Simon Pegg. Which makes it sad to learn an average of NINE PEOPLE per day get arrested for posting “offensive messages” online. A DAY. “Offensive messages.” Online.
Though Britain has long engaged in oppressing its people (see Rowan Atkinson Stands Up for Free Speech. Defends UK Politician’s Burka Joke and Count Dankula Slaps London Mayor Sadiq Khan for ‘Free Speech’ Tweet), we’re still hit with a case of the sads with each new revelation:
It is testament to how entrenched censorship has become in 21st-century Britain that a police force can so casually call for reports about speech.
This is a country whose communications laws and public-order legislation can be, and regularly are, used to punish hateful expression. Last year The Times reported that British police are arresting nine people a day for posting “offensive messages online.” In 2016, 3,300 people were detained and questioned for things they said online. In some parts of Britain the arrest rate for offensive speech has risen by nearly 900% in recent years. We Brits are sleepwalking into a police state.
Not content with punishing people for the offensive things they say on public online platforms, now there are moves afoot to punish them for what they say privately too. This week the Labour MP Lucy Powell put forward a Bill in parliament that would ban private online discussion forums because, she says, hate speech can fester in these “echo chambers.”
Leftists in America are salivating for this kind of dictatorial control. One reason the left is contorting itself into ethical pretzels over Brett Kavanaugh is because they hate the First Amendment, and want to chip away at it. The leftist judges Democrats want to appoint to the bench agree, and believe the freedom to say or write whatever you want is problematic. Free expression, the free exchange of ideas, undermines their plan for thought control.
Yes, thought control. Read the report above again. Tell me leftists aren’t actively engaged in censoring your thoughts. If you dare type something they find displeasing, the left labels it as “hate speech” and off to the pokey you go.
Our freedom of speech is precious. We must do whatever we can to maintain it, to learn from the oppression going on OPENLY in the United Kingdom, and prevent such tyranny from happening here.
Read also OPINION: America is a Thing Because the United Kingdom’s Government Blows.
