As we race toward tyranny, let’s take a moment to see how far we’ve traveled from individual liberty.
Did you know not doing something constitutes doing something? In 1938, in a feeble and stupid attempt to stabilize crop prices, FDR and his band of statist rebels passed the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which restricted levels of crops farmers could grow and sell across state lines. Roscoe Filburn was penalized for growing wheat for his own consumption. In the famous Wickard vs. Filburn case (Claude Wickard, Secretary of Agriculture), the Supreme Court ruled that not participating in commerce constituted participating in commerce, that somehow recusal from the market affected the market. This was one of the justifications upon which Barack Obama and the Democrats forced American citizens to purchase health insurance. If the federal government can regulate you for not participating in commerce, it certainly can for participating.
Where “FIRE!” in a movie house was once the typical example of free speech limitations, most of us understand that free speech is generally unlimited. It’s one of the cornerstones of America and the West. But once a government gate opens just a crack, not only does it never close, the gate gets ripped off its foundation.
Our “free” neighbors to the north have a problem. Not satisfied with dictating what you shouldn’t say, the left will now penalize for not saying something they think you should [emphasis mine].
Bill C-16 moves to add gender identity and gender expression to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination. Its critics detect something more sinister under the surface of the bill. Perhaps most famous among those critics was clinical psychologist and Professor Dr. Jordan Peterson, who testified against the bill last Thursday. Much to the dismay of Peterson and his allies, the bill passed without amendment.
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People must call particularly confused individuals by their preferred pronouns, lest they be met with the full force of the state. With ever-widening gender bending pronouns being promulgated, one can only imagine how easy it is to “misgender” someone by mistake. With the first law on the books for compelled speech, it only gets easier to make more laws modeled in the same fashion, representing a slippery slope to dangerous totalitarian politically-correct speech codes. [and the money line]The penalty for not using a tragically confused person’s preferred pronouns is a fine. If the fine is not paid to the Canadian government, they have the right to imprison the offender.
Let’s say you teach a class, and just for today little Johnny identifies as little Jenny. If you don’t use “she” or “zhe” or whatever these social justice pukes prefer, they’ll have your career, they’ll have your life. Peterson said he will not comply, will go to jail, and will go on a hunger strike.
We often say things without thinking – often to our regret — but the truth is there is no speech without a precedential thought. Even if you utter something incomprehensible, your brain still took the nanosecond to form that image before the words escaped your lips. Is it a stretch to assume the next rung on this tyrannical ladder is regulating thought?
And now Katie Hopkins, after the Manchester massacre, a UK Daily Mail columnist is being investigated for saying we need a final solution (versus THE final solution).
She’s being investigated for words.
God help us.
photo credit: MattysFlicks Portrait – Telelobotomy via photopin (license)
Share if you think the Left is aiming at controlling our thoughts, as well.
