Freedom of speech non-negotiable

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for September 8, 2024)

Anyone who is on the side of censorship and punishing people for their speech is not on the right side.

It doesn't matter if they are a government, a corporation, or an individual. It doesn't matter if they are a crooked Brazilian judge, a US presidential candidate, or a probable android running a "book" of faces. Banning speech, especially for political reasons, is inexcusable.

Freedom of speech is non-negotiable, but this matters less when it's speech you like hearing and agree with. No one is looking to silence those voices. It matters most for things people, particularly powerful politicians, don't want you to say or write.

People who want to silence the opposition come up with nice-sounding lies. They'll label anything they don't like as "hate speech", and claim this isn't free speech. They are wrong. They'll claim they are protecting the public from harmful "misinformation". Yet, they'll say this while spreading their own self-serving harmful misinformation.

The excuse of "misinformation", coming from the largest gang of liars on the planet-- government-- fails the fact check. It's a lie even when the information really is wrong. Government doesn't care about misinformation, it cares about information that makes it harder to rule you.

Government has a hard time operating under the pressures placed on it by free speech. This is a good thing. Most governments can't withstand factual information about them and their activities being widely known. It's why they "classify" information to hide what they are doing from their superiors-- you and me. They make up rules which say it's legal, but it's still criminal behavior. If any government can't survive complete transparency, it should die.

The best cure for misinformation is true information. If someone is spreading misinformation and you silence or block their words, you've given them credibility-- especially if you're as untrustworthy as a government or a corporation known for carrying water for government. Lies must be countered with truth. It's the only way.

Invariably when someone is a free speech absolutist, someone else will claim they're in favor of schools providing pornography to children. If you believe this, and if this is where your mind goes automatically, you might be too politically brainwashed to think clearly. Which is where politics often leads.

The next time you see someone trying to silence opinions and information, ask yourself what they are trying to hide. Then stand with the free speech absolutists.

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This is why we are in danger

According to a dedicated anti-conservative account on X, it makes a person "far-right" to admit there was no insurrection on January 6 and that elections aren't credible (ever, not just that one).

No, it takes awareness, observation, knowing what words mean, and a lack of partisan brainwashing. 

I told him that every day I get called "far-right" by radical Leftists and a Leftist by the Far-Right. He demanded I present evidence.

I told him he is the evidence.

People like him are also proof that politics makes people stupid. Or, since "proof" is subjective, it is more evidence on the heap. A heap so high that to me it is convincing proof.

He believes his media sources, he trusts what cops say, he believes in democracy, he wants you to be governed, he doesn't listen to others, and he makes up reasons to not believe reality. He's common. He has more in common with the Republicans he hates than he does with me. He won't see it.

He doesn't realize he's hallucinating. He'd never admit it if he got an inkling. He's not alone. Certain things make me fearful for the short-term outlook of our species. Clutching onto political nonsense is one of those things. People like this are a danger to everyone when they get power, including the power of large numbers. They'll impose deadly democracy on us even if it kills them, just because they believe in it so hard.

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