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Legend
Posts: 66,299
Joined: Apr 2012
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I Root For: Texas, UK, UGA
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Europe goes into censorship
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articl...34534.html
Tens of millions of Europeans died in WWII fighting totalitarianism. Now they let it in the front door. Small steps at first, curbing freedom of expression. Many Democrats want us to be more like the Europeans.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articl...34534.html
"...This is why the U.K. Committee of Advertising Practice (and, boy, it takes a lot of willpower not to use the cliche "Orwellian" to describe a group that hits it on the nose with this kind of ferocity) is such a smart idea. It will ban, among others, commercials in which family members "create a mess, while a woman has sole responsibility for cleaning it up," ones that suggest that "an activity is inappropriate for a girl because it is stereotypically associated with boys, or vice versa," and ones in which "a man tries and fails to perform simple parental or household tasks...."
"You can see where this is going by checking out Europe. Dismiss slippery slope arguments if you like, but in Germany, where hate speech has been banned, police have raided the homes of 36 people accused of posting "illegal content." A law was passed last month in Germany that says social media companies could face fines of millions of dollars for failure to remove hate speech within 24 hours. When debates about immigration are at the forefront in Germany, the threat to abuse these laws is great...."
"In England, a man was recently sentenced to more than a year in prison after being found guilty for stirring up religious hatred with a stupid post on Facebook. There are hate-crimes cops who not only hunt down citizens who say things deemed inappropriate but also implore snitches to report the vulgar words of their fellow citizens.
When I was young, liberals would often offer some iteration of the quote misattributed to Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." This was typically in defense of artwork that was offensive to Christians or bourgeoisie types -- a soiled painting of Mary, a bad heavy metal album, whatnot.
You don't hear much of that today. You're more likely to hear "I disapprove of what you say, so shut up." Idealism isn't found in the notions of enlightenment but in identity and indignation. And if you don't believe this demand to mollycoddle every notion on the left that portends danger of freedom of expression, you haven't been paying attention."
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07-21-2017 09:22 AM |
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