Free Speech In Europe

from JoeUser Forums

This is what we are supposed to look up to an emulate?

At least some here, and abroad are holding up this as an example of what America should be.  A land where you can be arrested, fined and jailed for what?

 

"I am fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country and imposing its acts,"

 

That is Bridget Bardot's crime.  Just stating an opinion.

Now we can argue that she is wrong, misguided, racists, xenophobic, and many other things.  She may be all those things or none of them.  But all she did was STATE that.  She did not burn crosses, over turn vehicles, strap bombs to children, or shoot at them.  She only stated that.

It is more telling for what the French are doing, than anything Bardot has said.  It is a clear indication that 1984 has taken control of Europe, and that newspeak is the only acceptable form of free speech.  Kind of like the joke in the old USSR:

American: We have free speech! We can say anything we want about our government!

Soviet: We have free speech too!  We can say anything we want about your government too!

It is sad that with the dawn of the 21st century, America is being told by friends abroad, and by liberals at home, that to be great we have to emulate this kind of censorship.  It is sadder still when their willing sycophants mouth those same sentiments, not understanding that even while they may agree with the keepers of newspeak today, the keepers of tomorrow may not be in synchronization with them.

Europe has taken a large step back from freedom.  And the sad part of it is, they don't even realize they have just abrogated one of the most precious rights they had.  All in the name of political correctness.

I for one do not want to see America goose stepping to this new world order.

15,114 views 19 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
It's going to eventually be that way here too. We're already on that path, it's just a matter of time.
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
It's going to eventually be that way here too. We're already on that path, it's just a matter of time.
End of quote


Unfortunately, I have to agree with you. But like DOn Quixote, I will not stop tilting at that windmill.
Multiplicity - Control multiple PCs using one keyboard and mouse
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
Unfortunately, I have to agree with you. But like DOn Quixote, I will not stop tilting at that windmill.
End of quote


Somebody has to do it :LOL:
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

That is too much like almost all of our futures are.

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Soon America will be the land of the not so free, the home of the less than brave.

Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
Somebody has to do it
End of quote


I am interviewing for Sancho Panza now. ;)
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
That is too much like almost all of our futures are.
End of quote


If we do not fight for them now, we will have nothing to fight for later.
Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top
Soon America will be the land of the not so free, the home of the less than brave.
End of quote


With few exceptions, I think we are there.
Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top

hello? those laws have been around for like 20 years now.

Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top
hello? those laws have been around for like 20 years now.
End of quote


Dont you think it is about time they got rid of them?

This was not an article of history, but of the selective enforcement of muzzle laws. And the implication that America is heading down the same road.
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top

Dont you think it is about time they got rid of them?
End of quote

It just isn't going to happen anytime soon. Very few people are complaining about them and politics (left & right) are voting new ones every other year. Just a few days ago, there was one about anorexia. Being a democracy, if the majority is OK with it, it's not going to change.

Given the late Europe history, I can certainly understand why those laws were enacted. America has a different history and hopefully there will never be that kind of censorship, but it has its own daemons to fight (death penalty comes to mind).

Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top
It just isn't going to happen anytime soon. Very few people are complaining about them and politics (left & right) are voting new ones every other year.
End of quote


I fear you are right. "Those who would sacrafice freedom for security, will have neither". Ben Franklin. As wise today was he was 250 years ago.
Reply #13 from JoeUser Forums Top

It already is happening even here in the US, and it's not only freedom of speech. And most people don't care at all. I don't blame them, after all this is only to fight bad people that want to hurt the US citizens, why would they give a damn, right?

Have you tried taking the plane lately? Let's hear it from the DHS: "You forgo your right to privacy when you are seeking admission into the country" (http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/02/11/laptop.searches/index.html). And if it was the only thing: you basically don't have any right whatsoever (and if you're not an US citizen, you can be deported...)

All the laws passed in the recent years restricting freedom, the executive saying that wathever they do is legal, those are things that are much more scary to me than laws restricting freedom of speech (in a very specific way).

Reply #14 from JoeUser Forums Top
Have you tried taking the plane lately? Let's hear it from the DHS: "You forgo your right to privacy when you are seeking admission into the country"
End of quote


I fly frequently. And this one is even dicier. On the one hand, the Airlines have a right (as a private concern) to search anything going on their property. That does not abrogate our rights. However, they have entered into a shady agreement (more like the gingerbreadman and fox relationship) with the government as the enforcement arm. The TSA is a bad idea. It was creaTed out of fear due to 9-11 to address a situation that did not exist.

And yes, everytime congress raises their glasses in cheer, it is to another of our rights restricted or eliminated. And the people cheer.
Reply #15 from JoeUser Forums Top
And yes, everytime congress raises their glasses in cheer, it is to another of our rights restricted or eliminated. And the people cheer.
End of quote


Well, you see our enemy hates our freedom, right? Our strategy is to systematically eliminate our freedoms and thereby giving them nothing to hate. :)

That's from the John Oliver special that premiered last night on Comedy Central. I highly recommend it. :D

~Zoo
Reply #16 from JoeUser Forums Top
Well, you see our enemy hates our freedom, right? Our strategy is to systematically eliminate our freedoms and thereby giving them nothing to hate.
End of quote


Whoever it is from, it seems to be the order of battle today.
Reply #17 from PolMach Forums Top

Quoting Littleboy, reply 13
I don't blame them, after all this is only to fight bad people that want to hurt the US citizens, why would they give a damn, right?
End of Littleboy's quote

 

Sadly, this is a very naive belief that people hold. The UK is scaremongering about walking into a 'surveillance society' because of the amount of CCTV cameras everywhere. While I think that's a stupid statement to make in a nation like the UK, America needs to remember the amount of walls they've put up against a dictatorship. By allowing freedom of speech to be curbed, they are theoretically making it easier for a bad egg to take over.

Hitler never acting illegally when he took power in Germany.

The problem is, Hitler managed to take charge of the country by putting goons in charge of the jobs he wasn't allowed. The result? He uses the 'emergency powers' among others to take charge?

Sounds familiar?

This is one of the ways Roman emperors appeared out of the Roman republic - they used 'emergency powers' which allowed them virtual dictatorial powers for a year whenever 'danger' appeared to threaten the republic.

 

Freedom of speech isn't the same as 'emergency powers,' but it is one wall of many in America which protect against this. If you knock down one wall, what precedent halts the next wall being knocked down? And the next? And the next?

Reply #19 from JoeUser Forums Top

By allowing freedom of speech to be curbed, they are theoretically making it easier for a bad egg to take over.
End of quote

Whatr those who advocate limits on speech are looking at is who the censors will be.  Today, they see the sensors as having the same ideals as they do themselves.  But that will not hold true for all time.  As you point out with the Roman emperors, they used a pretext to use existing laws to grab dictatorial power.  Free Speech is one of the walls we have to ensure that does not happen.

The very people calling Bush a Nazi and such are the very proof that he is not.  Their ability to make such statements shows that their statements are false.