Democrats are no longer hiding their plan to censor America, with the First Amendment seen as a major barrier to “hammering disinformation out of existence” and no longer fit for purpose, says Andrew Doyle in UnHerd. We have been warned. Here’s an excerpt.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum earlier this month, former Secretary of State John Kerry argued that when it comes to “disinformation”, the “First Amendment stands as a major block to be able to just, you know, hammer it out of existence”.
The First Amendment codifies a ‘negative liberty’, not a licence for certain behaviour but rather a protection from government interference. It reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” It can function as a kind of barrier to the worst excesses of the illiberal Left, even at a time when their party of choice occupies the White House.
Such challenges to the First Amendment began around 10 years ago with the emergence of the Critical Social Justice (or ‘woke’) movement, which sought to promote equity according to group identity through authoritarian means. In March 2018, an article appeared on the website of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which noted that by this point it was “common” for Leftist activists “to call for lower legal protections for speech”. The writer concluded that such calls were misguided, describing the First Amendment as “our most powerful tool to keep the government from regulating the conversations that spark change in the world”.
But other activists took a different view from the ACLU. In 2018, two of the founders of Critical Race Theory, Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, republished their 1997 book Must We Defend Nazis?: Hate Speech, Pornography, and the New First Amendment. This version of the book was modified according to the shift in activists’ demands, and the subtitle was now Why the First Amendment Should Not Protect Hate Speech and White Supremacy. In that same year, activist and legal scholar Justin Hansford argued in the Yale Law Journal Forum that, when it comes to race, the “marketplace of ideas” does not apply. “When ideas on race that would disrupt the racial hierarchy of white over Black emerge,” wrote Hansford, “the First Amendment is disproportionately applied to trample that dissent”. …
A snobbish mistrust of the masses lies at the heart of the opposition to the First Amendment, a feature that we can trace to the Frankfurt School and the French postmodernists of the 60s, two groups that have substantially influenced the philosophy behind Critical Social Justice. According to this view, popular culture has created a society of unthinking clones. What Herbert Marcuse described as the “one-dimensional man” is irredeemably blind to his own subjugation and reacts mechanically according to decrees from above. According to this perspective, “hate speech” has the power to rile up one group against another, even though the evidence for this claim is scant.
Those of us familiar with the concept of the “long march through the institutions” will be aware that these theories take time to percolate and to infect the mainstream. John Kerry’s recent remarks would suggest that First Amendment scepticism has finally made the leap from academic activism into the political sphere. Whether it gains traction in its new home should trouble us all. …
There was a telling moment in the recent vice-presidential debate, in which Tim Walz interjected to claim that “hate speech” is excluded from First Amendment protections. The remark was so fleeting that it was not even included in the official CBS News transcript, but it was perhaps the most significant moment of the evening. If the Democrats are triumphant in the election, Americans will be governed by an administration that does not believe the First Amendment is fit for purpose.
Worth reading in full.
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First Amendment … no longer fit for purpose.
That depends on your purpose, doesn’t it? It was fine until they altered the purpose.
Whoa, you two!
Brilliant piece and Brilliant comments..but I’m left behind here!
Bit thick, but, explain for the many watches and future members of the sceptic, in laymens term?
One for all and all for one!
Thanks Dinger.👍
https://disinformationchronicle.substack.com/p/election-exclusive-british-advisors
Kneel thinks he’s big enough to help Kamala Harris win the US election. He’s flexing his muscles. Of course he could also get badly burnt.
Hat tip Guido.
McSweeney & his cohorts set up a US office to export their methodology with aim of shutting down independent media & in particular X.
They got funding from Hollywood bigwigs & others. Teamed up with the Democrats & set about targeting X, Matt Taibi & others.
The methodology basically targets advertisers, persuade advertisers not to place adverts by claiming that X, or whoever, are spreading misinformation.
Wouldn’t you love to be in the room when Starmer goes to visit Trump & in walks Elon? Priceless.
Starmer, McSweenet et al are more dangerous than we gave them credit for.
Exactly.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/global-tyranny-un-summit-future/5870659
And here is why the Democrats don’t care.
At the recent Summit of the Future 193 nations signed up to committing us to their vision of dystopia…
“Lost in the hoopla of the coming US presidential election and the pandemonium of current global affairs was an unheralded summit last month that could cause more upheaval on the planet than anything our self-described world leaders have thrown at the populace yet.
On September 22, representatives of 193 sovereign nation-states gathered at the United Nations headquarters in New York City to adopt a Pact for the Future.
The document, which includes a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations, promises to “open the door to new opportunities and untapped possibilities,” according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
The landmark agreement, which Guterres called a “step-change towards more effective, inclusive, networked multilateralism,” contains 56 “actions” that countries pledged to achieve.
The net effect of the Pact for the Future and its two so-called annexes is intended to radically accelerate the push toward completion of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its Agenda 2030.
Marketed as a blueprint to “lay the foundations for a sustainable, just, and peaceful global order—for all… Read more »
Sounds like 193 countries have signed up for immiseration. The big difference between the signatories is, unlike Kneeler, the majority will just ignore it if it’s not in their self-interest.
“the majority will just ignore it”
Exactly.
Interesting revelations here, and it becomes apparent why Starmer isn’t interested in Elon Musk investing in the UK. Musk has declared, ”This is war” over on X;
”The British are coming, to meddle in our elections!
In an explosive leak with ramifications for the upcoming U.S. presidential election, internal documents from the Center for Countering Digital Hate—whose founder is British political operative Morgan McSweeney, now advising the Kamala Harris campaign—show the group plans in writing to “kill Musk’s Twitter” while strengthening ties with the Biden/Harris administration and Democrats like Senator Amy Klobuchar, who has introduced multiple bills to regulate online “misinformation.”
The documents obtained by The DisInformation Chronicle and Racket show CCDH’s hyperfocus on Musk — “Kill Musk’s Twitter” is the first item in the template of its monthly agenda notes dating back to the early months of this year.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate is the anti-disinformation activist ally of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, and a messaging vehicle for Labour’s neoliberal think tank, Labour Together. Both the CCDH and Labour Together were founded by Morgan McSweeney, a Svengali credited with piloting Starmer’s rise to Downing Street, much as Karl Rove is credited with guiding George W. Bush to the White House.
The CCDH documents carry particular importance because… Read more »
And to further cement the story here is Reclaim the Net on the same subterfuge. Morgan McSweeney certainly thinks he’s fighting with the big boys. And Kneel wants to be very careful, the American Deep State won’t think twice about having him Magafulied if he phooks up.
British politicians interfering in American elections. What would the courts think…oh well skip that.
Naughty, naughty Kneel.
https://reclaimthenet.org/the-british-operatives-determined-to-kill-elon-musks-free-speech-platform-x