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Criminalizing Free Speech
Townhall.com ^ | March 25, 2019 | Rachel Alexander

Posted on 03/25/2019 4:27:24 AM PDT by Kaslin

Political correctness regarding free speech has gone too far. At first it took the form of just criticism. Feminists and diversity proponents lectured everyone on how they should speak. It was prevalent at universities, and spread next to corporations and K-12 education. Then it turned into civil infractions. Businesses that refused to accommodate same-sex marriage, based on their sincerely held religious beliefs, were held to have violated the law. After that, big tech took to censoring offenders. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube in particular banned those whose speech it disliked. Now, it’s becoming a crime in civilized countries to say politically incorrect things. 

One area this has arisen in is pronouns for transgenders. I’m not talking about using derogatory terms for transgenders. This is over merely using the pronoun of the gender someone was born with, instead of the gender they are attempting to become. It is being called “misgendering” or “deadnaming.” 

In the United Kingdom, a Catholic journalist was investigated by the police earlier this month for referring to a transgender as “she” instead of “him.” The U.K.’s Malicious Communications Act criminalizes “a message which is indecent or grossly offensive,” “a threat,” “information which is false and known or believed to be false by the sender,” or “any article or electronic communication which is, in whole or part, of an indecent or grossly offensive nature.” Caroline Farrow faces up to two years in prison, a fine or both.

Political correctness regarding free speech has gone too far. At first it took the form of just criticism. Feminists and diversity proponents lectured everyone on how they should speak. It was prevalent at universities, and spread next to corporations and K-12 education. Then it turned into civil infractions. Businesses that refused to accommodate same-sex marriage, based on their sincerely held religious beliefs, were held to have violated the law. After that, big tech took to censoring offenders. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube in particular banned those whose speech it disliked. Now, it’s becoming a crime in civilized countries to say politically incorrect things. 

One area this has arisen in is pronouns for transgenders. I’m not talking about using derogatory terms for transgenders. This is over merely using the pronoun of the gender someone was born with, instead of the gender they are attempting to become. It is being called “misgendering” or “deadnaming.” 

In the United Kingdom, a Catholic journalist was investigated by the police earlier this month for referring to a transgender as “she” instead of “him.” The U.K.’s Malicious Communications Act criminalizes “a message which is indecent or grossly offensive,” “a threat,” “information which is false and known or believed to be false by the sender,” or “any article or electronic communication which is, in whole or part, of an indecent or grossly offensive nature.” Caroline Farrow faces up to two years in prison, a fine or both.

Loomer called Omar "anti Jewish" and said she is a member of a religion in which "homosexuals are oppressed" and "women are abused" and "forced to wear the hijab." Robert Stacey McCain, who tweeted humorous things about feminists, was permanently banned by Twitter for those tweets in 2016.

Criticizing gays in Canada was made a crime in 2004 with the passage of C-250. “Sexual orientation” was added to the list of classes protected by the hate provisions of Canada’s Criminal Code. In one of the more high-profile cases, William Whatcott was convicted of violating the law for distributing flyers regarding the Bible’s prohibitions against homosexuality.

The definition of a hate crime has been expanded in some countries to include speech. Merely stating your religious beliefs is now lumped in with committing heinous acts against people, as if they are the same. It’s a clever tactic. The U.S. passed a federal hate crimes law in 2009. It does not include speech — yet.

There needs to be more attention drawn to this pattern of progressively eliminating politically incorrect speech. The problem is that it is taking place in slow increments so people don’t realize how serious it’s getting. It’s like the frog in boiling water, the water is heating up so gradually the frog doesn’t realize how hot the temperature is getting. It’s someone fringey like Alex Jones of Infowars who big tech bans so the rest of us are OK. But coming after mainstream conservatives is already happening. Progressives are trying to get Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Jeanine Pirro fired for things they have said.

The First Amendment protects free speech in the U.S. But similar to how progressives have gradually eroded much of the Second Amendment, they are slowly taking apart the First Amendment. By the time conservatives wake up and realize what’s happening, it will be too late. Even if you don’t believe the First Amendment protects speech on the tech giants’ platforms, the bakers who have been civilly tried for refusing to bake same-sex wedding cakes are clearly engaging in free speech. The case of the Oregon bakers known as “Sweet Cakes” is currently at the Supreme Court. If their free speech is squelched, what’s coming next is criminalization of the First Amendment.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: dncstrategy; expression; freespeech; liberalfascism; thoughtcrime; transgenders

1 posted on 03/25/2019 4:27:24 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

2 posted on 03/25/2019 4:34:12 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee

See my tag line.

L


3 posted on 03/25/2019 4:39:35 AM PDT by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending it is.)
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To: Lurker

Amen.


4 posted on 03/25/2019 4:58:46 AM PDT by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Kaslin

Imagine, pronoun crimes are now the thing.

Leftist activists expect us to yield. They must be denied and ridiculed. Remember that trans-dragon is only removed from transgender by a matter of degree – some prosthesis and hormone supplements, a bit of reconstruction, a fuel supply and ignition source.


5 posted on 03/25/2019 5:01:25 AM PDT by jimfree (My18 y/o granddaughter continues to have more quality exec experience than an 8 year Obama.)
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To: Travis McGee

Let me see if I can squish and mangle that down into my tagline...


6 posted on 03/25/2019 5:04:47 AM PDT by A_perfect_lady ( Political correctness forbids discussing any negative outcomes of Left-wing ideology. -PMcL)
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To: Kaslin

Do not bend to those who insist on PC speech policing. Use the language to throw them down and stomp on them.

Let us not hear any of the cowardly crap “That’s not who we are”

It is who we must be or we will not be. Coexistence......... forget it


7 posted on 03/25/2019 5:18:44 AM PDT by bert ( (KE. N.P. N.C. +12) Honduras must be invaded to protect America from invasion)
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To: Travis McGee

Except in talk radio. Conservative talk radio drives the left NUTS!


8 posted on 03/25/2019 5:22:01 AM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: Kaslin

islam is a totalitarian death cult founded by a child rapist.


9 posted on 03/25/2019 5:57:58 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Trump 2020 - Re-Elect the M*****F***er!)
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To: Travis McGee

The problem is that you can’t turn off that spigot so you may end up hoisted on your own petard. NZ banning the video and Manifesto of the killer is nonsensical because you can’t control what people do outside your country. What will you do if Muslims post them? Or the dreaded Russians?
What will they do in Canada if Muslims criticize gays? Or use the wrong pronoun? What if a Trannie uses the wrong pronoun on purpose?


10 posted on 03/25/2019 6:03:54 AM PDT by AppyPappy (How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?)
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To: jimfree

IIRC, they’re working on the technology to read minds.

Thought crime will really be a thing.


11 posted on 03/25/2019 6:06:51 AM PDT by Califreak (If Obama had been treated like Trump the US would have been burnt down before Inauguration Day)
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To: Kaslin
The American Patriot better wake up and smell the coffee.. Diversity is a weakness, not a strength..
Those folks who are "rushing" our border are NOT our friends. Mexico is NOT our friend. And, it would seem, HALF of the stinking lawyers in DC are definitely NOT our friend.!!
The blood of every American that has died defending our Constitution should be on the hands of every one of us who willingly accepts the BS that the commie left is handing out..!!!
12 posted on 03/25/2019 6:19:54 AM PDT by unread (Joe McCarthy was right.......)
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To: Kaslin

Treating people as individuals is racism to the left.


13 posted on 03/25/2019 6:24:09 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: Kaslin
In the decadent period of Western Civilization, it became a crime to speak Truth.

Mendacity was the evil most fundamental to the internal moral rot and decay that damned the Western nations and their people.

Because Truth was criminalized, the people lost their way; internal moral rot and decay festered; civilization collapsed; and the nations committed suicide.

When Truth is a crime, nations fall.

14 posted on 03/25/2019 7:19:34 AM PDT by Savage Beast (The Trump Revolution is the Resistance to the Decadence of Western Civilization.)
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To: jimfree
"Imagine, pronoun crimes are now the thing."

Hard to imagine, all right.

It seems to me that it would be wiser merely to discard the masculine and feminine pronouns and retain only the neuter. It would certainly be simpler, and it would be fair to all concerned.

However, wisdom and fairness are not attributes of the decadent Left.

15 posted on 03/25/2019 7:24:13 AM PDT by Savage Beast (The Trump Revolution is the Resistance to the Decadence of Western Civilization.)
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To: Travis McGee

I don’t know if you saw but the NZ shooter’s Manifesto is banned in NZ but the government will sell you a copy.


16 posted on 03/25/2019 8:11:22 AM PDT by AppyPappy (How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?)
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To: Kaslin

The left never did like that “freedom of speech” thing and looked desperately for ways to eliminate it while at the same time claiming that it was alive and well.


17 posted on 03/25/2019 10:37:37 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Lying Media: willing and eager allies of the hate-America left.)
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To: Kaslin

TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.


18 posted on 03/25/2019 1:45:49 PM PDT by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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