Roger Boyd
The oligarchs need the population to buy into their Othering of those that they considers to be their enemies, and not to question the actions of it allies; for example, the Gulf Cooperation Council medieval monarchies or Israel. The US administration, through its expansive and aggressive Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, has already put in place the ability to deport any US non-citizen that has “unacceptable” views, repeating the actions of the first US Red Scare during the few years after WW1 under president Wilson. ICE are also allowed to get access to the contents of people’s electronic devices and send back those that have “unacceptable” views; many times after a few weeks or months residing in one of the ICE concentration camps. The European governments also routinely ban entry to those with the “wrong” views, including citizens of other Western nations.
Many Western countries are also using “hate speech” legislation against those that criticize Israel, and those speech acts that are deemed “uncomfortable” for certain populations but not others. For example, the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo could produce what could be deemed to be anti-Moslem hate speech and the content be treated as free speech. In contrast, even milquetoast criticism of Israel or support for the Palestinians opens the publisher and journalists to criminal prosecution.
But all the above is still not enough, leading Western governments to internally sanction people who publish, or publicly speak about, “unacceptable”topics and/or taking positions that clash with those of the hegemonic culture. The EU has sanctioned such people as:
Sylvain Afoua (journalist), in France
Jacques Baud (former military, commentator), in Belgium
Huseyin Dogru (journalist), in Germany
Nathalie Yamb (civil activist), in Switzerland
For such sanctioned people that live within the EU, the effects are financially crippling while the related travel ban does not allow them to leave the EU. Switzerland is surrounded by EU nations, which leads to EU sanctions being crippling for anyone living there. The severity of the sanctions is meant to scare others into silence and compliance as they see what could possibly become their own fate.
It seems that in the West these days Freedom (of speech) is Slavery to Misinformation and Ignorance is Strength, that’s at least what the oligarchs and their courtiers want us to believe. If you repeat a lie often enough people will believe it (Goebbels), especially if you block out any countervailing views and inconvenient facts.
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