A Law in Norway and the Death of Free Speech

 

The first amendment entitles us to free speech, particularity political speech. If there was one thing the Trump administration revealed, it is that there are a lot of people who have no tolerance whatsoever for opinions which diverge from their own. The insidious cancer of political correctness has infected every area of our country and lives and the rise of social media has made it terminally virulent. Differences of opinion or political support are no longer tolerated among the tyrannical political class, their accomplices in the media and their sycophant followers throughout society.

We have lived with corporate boycotts for a long time but now the boycotting applies to the individual. This has become known as the cancel culture. An individual, sometimes famous but often just a normal person, expresses an opinion that offends someone somehow and they find themselves shamed. But it is more than that. Pressure is put on employers to fire them, any organizational or professional memberships are revoked. The point is to destroy that person's life, make them unemployable and isolate them from friends and family until they genuflect before the bullies and acknowledge their sin of holding an incorrect opinion or worldview.

It was once primarily about global warming and sexual orientation. For the last four years Trump has become the personification of everything the politically correct elites hated, they attached to him everything they believe is wrong with society and people. He, and even more importantly, his supporters, are backward Neanderthals who oppose everything they believe characterizes a proper modern leftist society. With this focus and the fact that he was the president, the cancel culture and the war on divergent political speech escalated by several factors. The intimidation now became very personal; as in face to face. Politicians, most famously senator Maxine Waters, told their supporters to seek out their political opponents when they were out and about at a store or restaurant and get in their faces and yell and make them very uncomfortable. This mode of intimidation spread to any supporters of President Trump and to those who refuse to actively support organizations like Black Lives Matter. Who can forget the images of BLM thugs shouting at people in restaurants and refusing to let seniors with walkers cross the street.

The methods have gotten more sophisticated and boldly crossed the line in obvious illegality. The violence that too often accompanied the intimidation is one example. Doxing is another. Doxing is the illegal activity of revealing documents and other personal information about someone with the intent to threaten, harass, intimidate, shame, humiliate or place them at risk. Who is going to stick their neck out when they could end up with the BLM and antifa brown shirts showing up on their front lawn? How many are willing to risk their livelihood to express a political or social opinion that may offend? But this is all our fault, we are the ones bowing to this pressure, we are the ones genuflecting before these people. We need the courage to stand up to these bullies as individuals and businesses. If we don't respect one another's right to speak and if we allow ourselves to be intimidated, we will not need the government to explicitly take this right, we will have already given it up.

We are rapidly heading in the direction of Europe and other western nations where restrictions on free speech are onerous and getting worse. Here are some examples. Britain prohibits any “abusive or insulting words” meant “to stir up racial hatred.” Canada outlaws “any writing, sign or visible representation” that “incites hatred against any identifiable group.” These laws ban speech based not only on its content but on the reaction of others. Supposed blasphemy against Islam will subject people to legal penalties in a lot of western countries. In Paris a man was prosecuted for getting into a cursing match in a bar in which he used sexist and anti-Semitic slurs. A comedian in Canada was charged for violating the human rights of a lesbian couple with whom he got into a trash talking session with a group of women during open mic night. In Australia a woman was arrested and drug out of her home in front of her children for attempting to plan an anit-lockdown protest.

It should come as no surprise to learn that these laws have a chilling effect on people's feelings about expressing themselves. A recent poll in Germany found only 18 percent of Germans feel free to express their views in public. Over 31 percent of Germans did not even feel free expressing themselves in private among friends. Just 17 percent felt free to express themselves on the Internet and 35 percent said that freedom to speak is confined to the smallest of private circles. Their fears may be well founded if Norway's recent action catches on. Norway has criminalized anything that could be construed as hate speech against transgender people or ideas. For public comments you could be jailed for three years. Even more chilling is the fact you can be jailed for a year for private comments. So among your friends or in your own home you could be jailed for your opinion.

Think your home would be safe? Are you sure your children have not been indoctrinated to the point where they wouldn't turn you in? Are you sure your friends would not snitch? Turning us against one another is what the statists want. But also consider this. Alexa and Siri and Google are always listening. You don't think there will be some algorithm in the NSA bunker that will sort those out? Free speech is a fundamental right that is required in a free society. We need to push back against those who would bully us into silence, we need to bury political correctness and rebel against a government that spies and regulates this most precious right.

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.” Anais Nin