Unless you say the right things, the nice progressive, politically correct things, there are a lot of Real Smart People who say you should shut up.
As usual, when it comes to abridging the people’s liberties, Great Britain led the way. When it comes to gnawing at the tree of liberty, Parliament always has an appetite for it. The Racial and Religious Hatred Act makes it a serious offense to say or write anything that could be construed as “hate.” Somehow it remains impossible to “hate” Christians or native-born white Britons; but with everybody else, you have to walk on eggs.
By 2007 the chill on ordinary free speech had gotten so severe that screenwriter Anthony Horowitz, who has written the scripts of some of the most popular thrillers and mysteries ever aired on British and American television, said he might have to find another way to earn a living. The least misspoken word, the most trifling lapse in political correctness, might destroy a writer’s whole career; “and everywhere,” he added, “there is someone waiting to hear it spoken”.
Remember “The Lion King,” Disney vintage 1994? It wasn’t even a real movie. It was a cartoon. A feature-length cartoon.
Nineteen years after its release, in 2013, a “hyena biologist” sued Disney Corp for making hyenas the villains in “The Lion King”. In so doing, babbled the plaintiff, the film-makers had defamed the character of an entire species. And other bellyachers quickly hopped on board, yapping about the cartoon’s “anti-immigrant bias”—what? Did the hyenas in the movie come from Wales? Surinam?—in addition, of course, to being a feature-length advertisement for “fascism” and racism, yatta-yatta.
I have been unable to find out how that lawsuit was resolved. There are rumors that the judge reached into his robe, pulled out a gun, and shot the plaintiff’s lawyer on the spot, for which the taxpayers of his district voted him a hefty raise in pay. But those are just unconfirmed rumors.
Now we’re in 2019 and we have a Democrat Congresswoman from Florida who says there ought to be jail time for those uppity plebs who make fun of members of Congress. This, asserts Rep. Frederica Wilson, is a criminal abuse of the social media and anyone who does it should be prosecuted. Gee, where’s Loretta Lynch when the Party really needs her?
“Those people who are online making fun of members of Congress are a disgrace,” she chattered. “We’re gonna shut them down and work with whoever it is to shut them down, and they should be prosecuted.” What eloquence.
Under what law could anyone be prosecuted for making fun, online, of members of Congress? I say Ms. Wilson wears hats that even the most needy snowman would reject, and has the instincts of a rather nasty Roman emperor, if you could find an emperor who could wear such hats and not be laughed out of the Forum. There, I’ve just made fun of her: what law did I break? Where is our Exalted More-than-Human Status of Members of Congress Act?
Well, for many years Democrats in the Soviet Union worked on perfecting the formula, “Prosecution first, legislation later.” Oops. Excuse me: I find it hard to distinguish between Democrats and communists. The Dems are the ones with all the Botox injections. But both subscribe to the motto, “We don’t need no stinkin’ laws.”
In the liberal utopia, as I trust we have now seen, there will be no villains in any of the stories (if there still are stories), even animals will be out of reach of any criticism, and if you make fun of any politician who’s been slimy enough to make it to Congress, you’ll be tossed into prison—along with the Climate Change deniers, misgenderers, and microaggression-mongers.
I would add a raspberry for Congress, if I knew how to spell the sound it makes.
I have discussed these and other topics throughout the week on my blog, http://leeduigon.com/ . Stop in for a visit; a single click will take you there. You can also find my articles on http://www.chalcedon.edu/ .
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E-Mail Lee Duigon: leeduigon@verizon.net
