New York Governor Kathy Hochul Wants UK-Style Hate Speech Laws in the USA
But "hate speech" isn't just speech you hate
It was quite a weekend in the UK, with huge pro-Palestinian protests winding their way through the streets of London. And as is likely with any large group of wound-up protestors, a small number of people ran afoul of UK ‘hate speech’ laws. The Metropolitan Police took to the internet for help tracking down these vile law-breakers:
Sometimes, the ‘hate speech’ isn’t even speech at all, but instead a picture or symbol:
(If you’re wondering why the first picture is ‘hate speech’, “The Telegraph” helpfully explains: “The reference to “coconuts” is used as a slur against non-white people to insinuate that they are betraying their native culture and pandering to “white” opinion.” In America, one might hear “Uncle Tom” instead.)
The situation in London was further complicated by the presence of counter-protestors, who were universally labeled as “far-right”. (As you can also see above in the first headline.)
This provides a perfect example of the utter worthlessness of attempting to dilute political opinions into “left” or “far-right” boxes. (There is no “right” box anymore.) The “far-right” protestors who “clashed with police” are actually in line with the UK government itself:
It seems obvious that if the “far-right” is counter-protesting your movement, you must be on the left — yet nowhere in any media that I could find were pro-Palestinians protestors called “left-wing” (and they certainly didn’t “clash with police”, they only “set off fireworks at police”). I can only speculate this is because the left doesn’t want to “pick a side” in this issue that divides them down the middle.
As you can see, the entire issue is one giant clusterfuck of conflicting interests and contrasting rules. Is it illegal to protest for Palestine, or is it illegal to protest against the protestors?
Yes.
This week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul looked at the messy situation in the UK and said “Gimme some of that here in New York”:
Wait, New York has its own “Social Media Analysis Unit” monitoring what people say online? One that Hochul beefed up right after the horrendous mass shooting in Buffalo? Interesting……
Is there any level of government that ISN’T spying on us? Exactly how much are we paying to surveil ourselves? (And why is every shooter seemingly “on the FBI’s radar” before they go postal?)
Just how many of these public/private “fusion centers” are actually up and running? From Twitter Files reporting, as well as recent revelations from Jim Jordan, we know the federal government runs multiple “fusion centers” and has been FOR YEARS effectively spying on and/or banning people from social media for legal speech.
Of course, the state uses different — warmer, fuzzier — terms when it comes to hiring people to work on its censorship project:
But lest we fall into the trap of thinking that the spying and curtailing of speech is only a Democratic thing, here’s Neocon Nikki Haley taking Hochul’s bad idea and quadrupling down on it:
In Nikki Haley’s world, not only does the government need to keep track of the current problem-makers, they need to keep track of POTENTIAL problem-makers……which is everybody, because that’s how potential works.
(It’s also a little hilarious to hear that a government that can’t/won’t prevent non-citizens from flooding the country thinks Twitter can prevent Russian bots from popping up online with ‘verification’.)
Rand Paul has a different idea — making it illegal for government to suppress ANY Constitutionally protected speech (such as saying masks don’t work). As an added bonus, Paul also hammers Fauci for his covid cover-up:
(Full 17-minute interview available here.)
The simple fact is that no matter how vile or disgusting a sign or slogan, the ‘danger’ of unfettered free speech is DWARFED by the danger of allowing a government official to determine what ‘free speech’ is acceptable and what isn’t — no matter if that government official is Kathy Hochul, Nikki Haley, “State Police Intelligence Analyst 2”, Rand Paul, OR a biased AI program:
The company is “Logically”, and the AI software Oregon will use is called “Logically Intelligence”. This software will “prevent malicious individuals from manipulating public discourse using social engineering tactics”. (Although by now we all know that manipulation of public discourse using social engineering tactics will be perfectly acceptable for “some” people.) At this point, it also probably won’t surprise you to learn that Logically is based out of the United Kingdom……….
Enough is enough. Leave the crappy British speech laws in Britain. After all…..
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Nikki Haley doubles down on her vow to have social media companies ban anonymous accounts and have all users verified by name in the interest of “national security”:
“They need to verify every single person on their outlet… I want *everybody’s* name.”
https://twitter.com/michaelpsenger/status/1724572978049175766
Yea, well we literally locked up an American for posting memes. Aren't we all just one big happy fucking family!