OPINION: Hate speech or speech they hate

“One of the most dangerous trends of our times is making the truth socially unacceptable, or even illegal, with "hate speech" laws.” — Thomas Sowell

Our society is besieged by a small but vocal group of self-appointed arbiters of what is acceptable to utter in the public square. Should you dare cross some imagined moral threshold they pounce and proceed to excoriate you for your transgression.

Video of a coven of these conspiring speech Karens shows them strategizing about scouring social media to glean anything which may be taken as an unacceptable utterance and then to besiege the offender’s business, customers, clients, employers, friends or family with threats and demands. There is no assumption of innocence or benefit of the doubt. Their motto is ‘We don’t need no stinkin’ due process’ as they strip someone of their ability to earn a living and feed their children.

In the crusade to identify offenses of the ever changing speech standards, the context of the words is not considered, nor is the intent of the speaker. Only the meaning inferred by our moral betters is placed on their single pan scale of judgment, even if what they infer is a wishful thinking hallucination.

The degree to which this imagining of offenses ventures into mental derangement was illustrated by the thought police at Twitter when they permanently banned President Trump from his 88.7 million followers. Just before Tweeting his last, President Trump called for peace, civility and respect for the police. He also said that his supporters “not be disrespected in any way, shape, or form!” Oh the horror! It pains me to even write such hateful utterances. But the worst was yet to come; the Tweet that forced Twitter to ban him permanently for violating their “community standards”….gird your loins and shield your children because here it comes…

“I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”

Have more hateful words ever been uttered? What? You don’t see it?? That is because you lack the clairvoyance of Twitter’s (now unemployed) Hall Monitor Lords.

For those of you who lack the ability to read the mind of the speaker and the listener, Twitter explains Trump’s Tweet “I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.” actually is “further confirmation that the election was not legitimate” and “encouragement to those potentially considering violent acts” which requires “permanently suspending the account due to risk of further incitement of violence” because “our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly.”…obviously.

Really Twitter….really…….really.

The obvious problem with trying to implement a policy rejecting hate is that “Hate” is a relative thing. Without a concise definition of hate it is up to the individual to determine what is hate and what isn’t. If it’s up to the individual then that person’s inherent biases come into play. Someone on the left may hate what someone on the right says and visa versa.

For example, when someone on the “right” objects to sexually explicit material in the children’s section of the public library woke groomers scream “censorship!” But when an elected city councilman posts multiple, expletive laced video rants insulting Christians and Republicans we get crickets.

When an Arts Commission member/pub owner with a predilection for communist symbolism and satanists constructs a human form effigy of Republicans and then burns it in the middle of a downtown public street, was there a single objection? Can you imagine a more hateful expression than symbolically burning someone to death? This isn’t just hate speech, this is hate action. Where are the “Reject Hate” T-shirt clad self-appointed defenders of human rights and proclaimers of “not who we are” now?

They are nowhere to be seen because apparently to them it is not a problem.

Make no mistake, I am not calling for the speech fascists to descend equally on those that insult the right. Just the opposite, because they have every right to express themselves and I will defend that right. I may find their speech or actions offensive, insulting, immature, inaccurate, rude or boorish but as long as they do not directly call for harm, their political speech is a God given right enumerated in our Constitution and incorporated into our laws. This is the true meaning of free speech and if we forget this fundamental fact we are doomed to a tyranny of the Thought Police.

Besides, when your opponents are making clowns of themselves, why would you want to stop them?

The next time you hear someone shouting about hate speech ask yourself it is really hate speech or just speech they hate. And remember that liars hate the truth.

It’s just common sense.

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Brent Regan is chairman of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.