The Freedom To Criticize Ideas
Authorities in the UK were recently caught threatening people online who were found to be criticizing drug busts that the police had posted about on their Facebook page. The West Yorkshire Police Department had posted on their page about the cannabis they had confiscated and they ended-up receiving a great deal of criticism from the online community in response.
They threatened that those who were caught posting sarcastic and mean spirited comments might be charged under the Malicious Communications Act and they also admitted to banning many people from posting on the page.
They claim that they aren't ready yet to overlook the significant harm that illegal drugs cause to their communities.
They say that they are fighting cannabis because cannabis is a gateway drug to other things. Cannabis might be considered a drug to them but so is alcohol, caffeine, and sugar. Illicit drug users often start with those products before moving on to anything else, so why is cannabis singled out as the gateway entrance?
Also, researchers have previously suggested that most illicit drug users report using alcohol or tobacco prior to getting involved with cannabis.
Bothering someone over a plant and initiating violence against them because of it, isn't anything to be boasting about. It's immoral, it's illogical, and hopefully one day it will come to an end. Though, that day won't come until authority figures give up their obsession with intervening in the personal choices of others.
And this isn't the only instance where authorities in the UK have recently tried to crackdown on critics over social media.
The Lord Chief Justice believes that the critics are capable of undermining the rule of law with their actions, that they are contributing to the erosion of confidence in an institution who according to him doesn't deserve to have its confidence eroded.
Perhaps what he means is that confidence in an idea is being eroded.
If authorities in the UK and elsewhere are serious about trying to crackdown on online voices, who are peacefully expressing their discontent with the system they live under and the decisions coming from those authority makers, then that is very telling of the police state that they currently reside in. People should be free to voice their dissent peacefully.
Sources:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5715727/Police-threaten-ARREST-Facebook-users-mocked-post-tiny-cannabis.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/06/the-real-gateway-drug-thats-everywhere-and-legal/?utm_term=.3566d9c12d26
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/9bgn7a/why-marijuana-is-not-a-gateway-drug-1013
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/25/trolls-abuse-judges-social-media-could-prosecuted-suggests-lord/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_tw
Our opinions are never favored by the government , for them our words are a crime and they will use it against us in any case possible . I didn’t expect this Fromm uK officials
If authorities want to ban criticism or dissent online about flawed government policy then lots more people need to start commenting on those posts. Not just friends or family from the local area but also people internationally with similar views.
If only a few people post they can easily ban or charge them but if thousands/millions post what are they going to do, ban or arrest everyone? They want the chilling effect because that means fewer people sticking their necks out to challenge the system which means they are easier to chop off. If people work together to enact change they can't chop off everyones head or people might start to realize their rulers are not the good guys.
What they are terrified of is the people uniting and working together. But hoping for a united humanity in the face of a psychopathic ruling elite hell bent on exterminating a large percentage of the human race may be hoping for too much when millions of people can be so easily distracted and divided with such pointless crap as the colour of a dress or if a voice says "yanny" or "laurel".
It's like they're having a toddler tantrum!
The government is never going to admit they are wrong, even when it is blatantly obvious. There will always be someone else at fault.
This law that they are using to threaten people is stupid as well. I remember there being a politician that wanted to bring a similar law to the floor of Congress a while back but it failed miserably.
You do not have free speech when you have laws like that on the books. Course, I believe the UK has never claimed their citizens have "free speech" have they?
I've all but made a career out of harassing the police on facebook haha
I will always be free to voice my dissent. I always will, too.
Thanks for the great article @doitvoluntarily
#Voluntaryist
it is incredible that this happens, where is the freedom of the right of expesion of the people, the organisms if they do not want to be criticized have to improve the image of the corporation, or not to publish in the social networks.
I am in favor of criticism, to the extent that they are true, passionate and with the intention of a constructive criticism.
thank you very much for sharing this news dear friend @doitvoluntarily
This particular act is so messed up, we in the UK look at other countries (maybe China for example) where authorities do things on the line of this type of actions. Meanwhile in the UK our government can be very similar.
People must work to defend their freedom to criticize something, otherwise how is that democracy? And its a way of preventing people from opening their mouth even if governments are having their way.
You’d think decades of an unsuccessful war would prompt those in charge to consider new approaches. People have always and will always seek alternatives to reality. If it is unhealthy it should be treated as a health issue, not a criminal one.
Oh, war is always successful. It's just never really about what they say it is. We are conned into wars for BS reasons, when what every war is really about is profiteering. Money is always made in war, and The War Against Treatment is no different.
True, war is a business, a very profitable one.
Not only that, when sharia law is proposed anyone who speaks against it will be arrested as a hate speech criminal, they have painted themselves into a corner. Free speech is best because it allows offensive ideas to be see for what they are instead of driving them underground to fester or creating martyrs out of those who are offensive. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Everyone in authority always have a way of swaying the law to their favor.I guess that's why we all are humans,cos of our imperfections