I was recently invited by a center-left German think tank to write about Europe’s free speech recession and spoke about it at the UK’s Battle of Ideas festival.
The situation here in the UK is equally concerning. People are being arrested for tweets and messages on WhatsApp. I think the work you and your colleagues at the Future of Free Speech are doing to raise awareness about these issues is absolutely crucial. Most citizens are not even aware of what’s happening, as this is often dismissed under the convenient label of "hate speech", which many people can't be bothered to question.
Brilliant breakdown of how enforcement mechanisms reveal the deeper problem here. The fact that calling someone a "weakhead" online triggersa house search with armed police shows this isnt really about protecting democracy anymore. When the state's response to speech becomes more intimidating than the speech itself, we've crossed into something else entirely and nobody seems willing to call it what it is.
I think even worse is when actual serious violence gets a pass and you’re arrested for liking a tweet that the elites at the time don’t like. We just had a guy out on “monitoring” wearing an ankle monitor- punching women in the face in Chicago (3 in a day!) and he’s been doing it since 2018. So it is laughable that these types of things are being policed but then actual violence (UK rapists that were covered up) are pushed under a rug. It’s so Orwellian and insane that it’s like… where does this end and can I wake up now. I think 3/4 of the problem is most people have no clue what is happening but the other ones are under some crazy trance (like even really smart people at some of our best institutions). Also- Meanwhile- some words are not offensive that seem absolutely ridiculous and divisive… like this new research at the University of Minnesota (USA) called “The Whiteness Pandemic” that is funded by taxpayers— look that one up. The same state that looked the other way at 1 billion dollars being taken under their nose bc the group cried racism. It’s all so stupid.
The situation here in the UK is equally concerning. People are being arrested for tweets and messages on WhatsApp. I think the work you and your colleagues at the Future of Free Speech are doing to raise awareness about these issues is absolutely crucial. Most citizens are not even aware of what’s happening, as this is often dismissed under the convenient label of "hate speech", which many people can't be bothered to question.
Brilliant breakdown of how enforcement mechanisms reveal the deeper problem here. The fact that calling someone a "weakhead" online triggersa house search with armed police shows this isnt really about protecting democracy anymore. When the state's response to speech becomes more intimidating than the speech itself, we've crossed into something else entirely and nobody seems willing to call it what it is.
I think even worse is when actual serious violence gets a pass and you’re arrested for liking a tweet that the elites at the time don’t like. We just had a guy out on “monitoring” wearing an ankle monitor- punching women in the face in Chicago (3 in a day!) and he’s been doing it since 2018. So it is laughable that these types of things are being policed but then actual violence (UK rapists that were covered up) are pushed under a rug. It’s so Orwellian and insane that it’s like… where does this end and can I wake up now. I think 3/4 of the problem is most people have no clue what is happening but the other ones are under some crazy trance (like even really smart people at some of our best institutions). Also- Meanwhile- some words are not offensive that seem absolutely ridiculous and divisive… like this new research at the University of Minnesota (USA) called “The Whiteness Pandemic” that is funded by taxpayers— look that one up. The same state that looked the other way at 1 billion dollars being taken under their nose bc the group cried racism. It’s all so stupid.