Without wading into the numerous points surrounding the debate about a thing called ‘Palestine,’ or any “people” alleging indigenous status, or who did or started what, when, and why – we’ve plenty of that just about everywhere – there is something else to discuss.
Free Speech.
One of the advantages we have over the left is that we’ve never told them to shut up. We encourage them to talk. To exercise their right to provide us with an endless stream of material upon which to write. We do it because it amuses us, their right to be wrong. And it is the same as everyone else’s.
We do not block their speakers on campus or anywhere else. Armed hooligans in black block do not drop by to scare away audiences. We show up and report on their words.
That right applies to everyone around here. You do not have the right to infer injury or death, but almost everything else is reasonable. That would include expressing support for “Palestinians.” You’ll get some pushback, so be prepared to defend your arguments – and we request that everyone refrain from vulgarity and personal attacks – but have at it.
Here, there, everywhere, well – not everywhere. Sadly, much of the world has taken the Hamas attack on Southern Israel as an excuse to suppress speech. Pardon the long pull quote.
There’s a lot of that right now, lurid claims of graphic and pointless violence directed against the innocent, most of which survives just long enough to cause some outrage before being “debunked” or walked-back.
Part of that is the general “fog of war”, heightened by the advent of social media. When a lot of people can talk a lot more is said (good and bad).
But there’s another interpretation: That fake war stories are being intentionally seeded onto social media and then “debunked” to discredit platforms and appear to justify digital censorship. …
It’s not just “misinformation” either, but also “hate”. In an unusually subtle headline, NBCNews warns of the “increasingly fraught nature of online speech”. USA Today is more on the nose, claiming “online hate” is “surging”. …
In the UK and US pro-Palestinian rallies were met with calls for the police to get involved, citing laws that outlaw the public support of “listed terrorist organizations”.
UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has told the police that waving a Palestinian flag could be considered a crime. Metropolitan police are engaging in “reassurance patrols”.
In France the police are already more directly involved, shutting down a pro-Palestine demonstration.
…and people applauded.
The Globalists are, without a doubt, using their digital dens to muddy the online waters, and they are not shy about the goal of regulating the internet to regulate (silence) speech. None of that is theoretical, and we are past reasonable doubt. Every day has a crisis, and none of them go to waste.
European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton sent warning letters out to every major social media platform, claiming they needed to “combat disinformation” regarding Israel and threatening them with fines.
In yet another blow to the “China is on our side” narrative, Chinese video-sharing service TikTok has eagerly agreed to “combat disinformation”.
Students from Harvard and Berkeley have been threatened with “blacklisting” for voicing support for Palestine.
German and French police are breaking up pro-Palestine demonstrations, while – in both the UK and US – there are calls to arrest people for waving Palestinian flags, or deport those who “support Hamas.”
Another excuse to normalize government suppression of speech.
The cowards at Message Control Central don’t want free and open debate; it is, therefore, incumbent on us to demand it, even if we dislike or disagree with the message. You don’t have to listen, but you should speak up against the suppression of peaceful conduct or the idea that people congregating around a message are, by default, a threat to public safety, even if that is how they might treat you.
We can’t permit the government or anyone else to suppress public speech on these terms. That goes for peaceful association and protest as well. And I mean peaceful, not BLM Antifa peaceful.
Once they take it, they will never give it back.
