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Will the Global Elites’ War on Free Speech Succeed?
American Thinker ^ | 5 Feb, 2025 | Susan Lawson

Posted on 02/05/2025 5:08:58 AM PST by MtnClimber

The World Economic Forum has big plans to stifle the world’s freedom. But America stands in the way.

The World Economic Forum (WEF), the self-anointed vanguard of the global elite, reconvened late in January in Davos, Switzerland. The agenda this year looked at the increasingly thorny question of free speech. The rhetoric soared to new heights after German chancellor Olaf Scholz said during a panel discussion, “Freedom of expression has its limits, especially when it’s right-wing.”

Scholz took a jab at the role of X (previously Twitter) in amplifying some controversial voices. His remark was a direct shot at Elon Musk, the self-proclaimed free-speech absolutist and owner of X, who has become a lightning rod for unwinding content moderation policies.

Scholz’s comment attracted intense blowback from free speech advocates, who contend that so-called anti-extremism rhetoric like his paves the way to censorship. In Germany, whose already stringent hate speech laws include the Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz (NetzDG), this position is viewed as an escalation of efforts to quell dissent. His statement is a perfect example of Europe’s hardwiring of orthodoxy on speech.

Under Scholz’s watch, Germany has broadened the scope of the NetzDG, a 2017 law that forces social media platforms to take down “illegal” content within 24 hours or face heavy fines. Officially styled as an instrument of combating hate speech, NetzDG has nonetheless strangled public discourse on migration, crime, and cultural integration.

Germany’s experience with mass migration highlights the muting effects of censorship. Following a 2015 migrant crisis, violent crime spiked, including some high-profile sexual assaults. But media reporting is still filtered to avoid charges of xenophobia. Sensible citizens expressing legitimate (if unpopular) concerns become extremist or are prosecuted under speech laws.

All of this is representative of a wider worry among European leaders about what they see as a resurgence

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: censorship; dissent; freepspeech

1 posted on 02/05/2025 5:08:58 AM PST by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

Why doesn’t free speech have it’s limits, especially when it is left wing propaganda?


2 posted on 02/05/2025 5:09:08 AM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

The State Department should issue travel warnings for countries like Ireland, the UK, and Germany that punish free speech.

I can imagine some freeper being jailed in the UK if he had posted derogatory comments about, for example, the pusillanimous, tyrannical Brits. (Yeah, I never want to go there again.)


3 posted on 02/05/2025 5:15:18 AM PST by Cincinnatus.45-70 (What do DemocRats enjoy more than a truckload of dead babies? Unloading them with a pitchfork!)
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To: Cincinnatus.45-70

I make it a goal to post articles that would be banned in the UK and Germany.


4 posted on 02/05/2025 5:20:25 AM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: All
I am know I am preaching to the choir here but for someone who may not know this, please pass it on.

The reason why free speech is only for those on the left is because conservatives are majority Christians. It's how communists, marxists, socialists and all the ists roll.

They hate God and know he exists. Going after Christians is Satan's attack on God's children. They are satan's children.
5 posted on 02/05/2025 5:24:47 AM PST by ssfromla
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To: MtnClimber

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Article 19
1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.
2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.
3. The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph 2 of this article carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary:
(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others;
(b) For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals.

Article 20
1. Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.
2. Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.

https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/ccpr.pdf

Article 20, clause 2 is why the UK censors/punishes people.

The US is a state party to the Covenant too. What is being done in the UK could happen here.


6 posted on 02/05/2025 5:44:07 AM PST by Brian Griffin
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To: MtnClimber
“Freedom of expression has its limits, especially when ..."

AAAaaannd THAT's where the GERMAN failed.
7 posted on 02/05/2025 6:01:18 AM PST by larrytown (A Cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do. Then they graduate...)
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To: MtnClimber

Now you’re on Keir and Klaus’ naughty list. They’ll throw you in the dungeon.


8 posted on 02/05/2025 6:04:18 AM PST by packagingguy
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To: MtnClimber
Will the Global Elites’ War on Free Speech Succeed?

Yes, it will. Because it already has succeeded in multiple places and at multiple times.

No victory is ever permanent.

9 posted on 02/05/2025 6:20:45 AM PST by flamberge (The times, they are a' changing.)
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To: Cincinnatus.45-70

“I can imagine some freeper being jailed in the UK if he had posted derogatory comments about, for example, the pusillanimous, tyrannical Brits. (Yeah, I never want to go there again.)”

I go there I am wearing my MAGA hat.


10 posted on 02/05/2025 6:21:53 AM PST by EQAndyBuzz (Privatize the administrative state!)
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To: ssfromla

Amen! It will continue until we are called up.


11 posted on 02/05/2025 6:41:59 AM PST by grcuster
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To: MtnClimber

Our country has criticized and imposed sanctions on Russia, Red China, North Korea, and Iran for violations of human rights. It is time to realize that, unless the current crop of leaders is voted out of office, Britain, France, and Germany are authoritarian regimes with a veneer of democracy. I hope that the State Department warns these countries, and smaller ones like the Netherlands and Ireland, that if they don’t end restrictions on free speech, the United States will remove Most Favored Nation status, withdraw from NATO, and place tariffs on their products.


12 posted on 02/05/2025 6:49:51 AM PST by Wallace T.
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To: MtnClimber

No.


13 posted on 02/05/2025 7:14:34 AM PST by jmaroneps37 (Freedom is never free. It must be won rewon and jealously guarded.)
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To: MtnClimber
“Freedom of expression has its limits, especially when it’s right-wing.”
German chancellor Olaf Scholz

Thus Olaf Scholz disqualified himself from the serious consideration of all honest, intelligent, benevolent, truth seekers--which includes most of the people of the world.
14 posted on 02/05/2025 7:21:06 AM PST by Savage Beast (The constant enemy of wise men is the unslakable flame of desire, by which wisdom is concealed.)
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