by Brett Stevens on January 4, 2017

The problem of law, government and ideology is that they always expand scope. This occurs because they are based on abstract principle as interpreted by individuals, each of whom has a vested interest in self-promoting, and the only way to do that is to expand power. For this reason, even the simplest rule soon broadens and greedily includes more and more, including things for which it was never designed.

We can see this in action through ethnic intimidation laws, through which your free speech has effectively just died:

A 14-year-old white student accused of making a racist video of a black student that was shared on social media will be prosecuted on charges of ethnic intimidation and harassment, a prosecutor said Tuesday. …The student recorded a high school student eating chicken wings and, in narrating the piece, refers repeatedly to the black student with a racial slur and obscenity and describes him as “being broke and on welfare” and getting free food. The black 16-year-old student was earlier accused of assaulting the white student in retaliation.

The original idea of ethnic intimidation laws was to prevent people from making threats to minorities and using those to nudge them out of public spaces. While even that was a terrible idea, as freedom of association is perhaps the most vital principle of an open and free society, the inevitable happened: lawyers and politicians, looking for a way to make a name for themselves, broadened the interpretation.

Now “ethnic intimidation” includes satire. This was never part of the original intent of the law.

In a fair press, not a LÃ¼genpresse as we have now, we would be able to see the video and learn more facts about the interaction of these two people. For example, was racial language used against the white kid first? Was there a previous disagreement? But our lying press will not show us these, and instead will selectively mention certain facts that affirm its narrative, and nothing else.

This leaves us guessing, but so far, no “intimidation” occurred in the video; the videomaker may have expressed some dubious opinions, but nothing more than what is said in many American households of many races about many races. Would we have the same outrage if an Indian student filmed a white person and claimed they were gobbling casseroles to save up energy for scrapbooking and tax evasion?

Laws always expand scope. Today, making fun of a black kid is ethnic intimidation; tomorrow, mentioning any words or ideas that make someone of a minority or protected group nervous will also be ethnic intimidation. That means that expressing facts and analysis will be a felony. Your free speech just died, and no one seems to be mentioning it.

Tags: diversity, ethnic intimidation, free speech, race, racism

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.