We take for granted how rare is our First Amendment, how unique is our devotion to unfettered free expression, barring threats of violence. We Americans can say almost anything we like, question orthodoxy, question the truth of historical events, freely poke holes in the words of our rulers. The law protects us in a way that exists nowhere else on earth. It’s something we take for granted, even though the beating heart of our relatively free civilization rests on the millions of people who make use of the First Amendment to either speak freely or absorb and think over news and opinion freely published. England is one such nation that doesn’t afford their citizens this freedom, and as a result, English citizens are quelled into silence. They choose their words carefully, or they don’t speak at all, for fear of the unarmed bobbies forcing their way into their homes to make arrests for ridiculous speech crimes. The existence of speech crime in England has greatly contributed to that nation’s demise, and they will further sink into the totalitarian mire so long as they aren’t able to express themselves freely. One imagines a vast army of government spies, an online Gestapo, scouring social media for heterodox viewpoints, and sending in the police to haul English citizens away in a paddy wagon for a few nights in jail, an understandably traumatic experience for the peaceful, that is used to send a message to the rest of the populace, should they be tempted of unloading their unfiltered thoughts in a public forum. One also imagines all of England enlisted as snoops and snitches, calling in complaints of every heterodox opinion they come across, getting their ideological opponents arrested, while propping up the regime. It appears that England is looking to further extend the range of speech crimes to woolly and indefinable “misogyny”. What constitutes “misogyny” to the point that the police will haul you off? It seems to really be in the eye of the beholder, and we know the beholders that will be attracted to a job where the power exists to exact vengeance against men who express themselves online. Terrorism charges for “extreme misogyny” is laughable, but also tragic, because we know the horror stories that will emerge as this expanded law is put to use.
Soon, in the UK, you'll be able to report your sexist uncle as a terrorist threat to the police. pic.twitter.com/TfyShDan23
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) August 17, 2024
