The Speech Cops Cometh

When Elon Musk bought Twitter, most people thought that he would honor his word. It would be a free speech platform. Meh, not so fast. His site, now called X, has a new policy. Brandon Morse discusses the new policy here. Sure, you can “tweet” (now post), but if the Twitter overlords arbitrarily determine a tweet to be “awful,” you might as well be yelling in the blackness of space. Twitter’s sensors will put a sock in your mouth and duct tape it. “Lawful but awful” is the designated threshold.

America was the first and only country to guarantee free speech and mean it. Speech that we can find disgusting, like KKK marching or Westboro Church wishing eternal hell on fallen soldiers, is protected speech. The best way to combat disgusting, repugnant speech is to have a better argument.

We’ve seen more attempts at the state level to suppress speech — speech that the government simply doesn’t like. Speech it deems “offensive.”

In New York State, misgendering is illegal. On page 6 of its Human Rights Law Guidelines, it states:

Gender identity discrimination occurs when a person is subjected to inferior treatment because of their gender identity or expression. The Human Rights Law prohibits such conduct in conditions or privileges in employment, schools, in the provision of housing or in places of public accommodation. Such discrimination may occur because an individual has transitioned or intends to transition from one gender to another or because the person is thought not to confrom to sex stereotypes.

In New York, having a penis doesn’t mean you’re a man, it means you have been “stereotyped” as a man.

Michigan has passed a law that makes it illegal to, in essence, hurt someone’s feelings. Is it ultimately unconstitutional and void? I think, yes. Will someone have to suffer the consequences of being arrested and fined for hurting someone’s feelings? Also, yes. My buddy and colleague Duke, a Michigan resident, wrote about it in detail.

Before it passed, I wrote:

Under this law, could pastors, or for that matter, a student who refuses to use “preferred” pronouns, be charged with a crime if, for instance, a boy who claims he’s a girl has his feelings bruised? Yes.

The proposed law allows for prison time or a “diversion” program for the offender. In other words, the offender can avoid a jail cell if they agree to community service.

The community service would “enhance the offender’s understanding of the impact of the offense upon the victim and wider community.” If that sounds like it is out of an Orwell novel or a Mao playbook, you would be right.

In Great Britain, the ancestral home of George Orwell, one cannot comment on another’s sexual orientation without being pulled out of your home and arrested on the spot. Recently an autistic girl called a Brit officer (aka gender thug) a “lesbian.” Apparently, that word is illegal in Great Britain. The blonde bobbie with a bob hairdo decided that she couldn’t arrest a 100 lb. girl without help, so she called for reinforcements. Seven speech cop colleagues strongarmed the girl to the ground and arrested her. In Great Britain, seven thugs are needed to arrest an autist girl because a cop was “mislabeled” or something.

🚨 SHOCKING FOOTAGE: Woke Cops Arrest Autistic Girl Under “Hate Speech” Laws For A “Homophobic Public Order Offense” After Saying The “Female” Officer Looks Like A Lesbian ⚠️ pic.twitter.com/R8E5K938ra

— Matt Wallace (@MattWallace888) August 10, 2023

The ”I’m not a lesbian” cop stands to the side, smirking as her fellow brownshirts — apologies, “speech swat team” members — do the dirty work for her. I don’t know if I am ever going back to the big island of repression. They might pull up my RedState articles, and I’d be arrested on the spot. Maybe the next step is if someone looks at a Bobbie with a Bob hairdo wrong, the cop can just assume you were just thinking, “She’s a lesbian,” and you’ll be arrested.

“Prove you weren’t thinking “wrong thoughts,” and we will let you go.”

“No? Off to jail and a reeducation camp for you.”

Brave New World, or a living nightmare?