James Robertson writes:
Europe’s war on free speech is the result of a profound identity crisis, one that is being generated by the blanket abandonment of traditional Judeo-Christian values coupled with mass immigration from Muslim countries. But in their zeal to criminalize free thought and free speech, the leftwing guardians of Orwellian political correctness are systematically destroying European democracy.
Not only are European elites using hate crime legislation to silence people with opinions that do not conform to official state policies. They are also dividing Europeans into two groups (the majority and the minority), each with different rights and responsibilities. The minority (Muslims, homosexuals, Socialists) is imposing its will upon the majority (non-Muslim, heterosexuals, non-Socialists) by aggressively prosecuting those who refuse to fall into line.
He provides some recent examples of what’s going on in the rest of the West. It’s bizarre, but not unbelievable. And, America is not immune from this kind of thinking. We have our own history of overcompensation, with so many incentives given to “minorities” that leaves a white male as perhaps the most disadvantaged person of all, as jobs and scholarships are given out based on diversity rather than on ability. I have no problem with equality – I don’t believe that “all men are created equal,” but I think it’s great that our Constitution created that equality. Of course, the Constitution is not what it used to be; and if we don’t watch it, in a few years it will be just a shadow of what it is today.
What happens, I think, is that what starts out as a very good and admirable desire for justice quickly turns into a shallow, mindless self-righteousness. We who have a new-found “tolerance” or understanding start to believe that we are perhaps better than those who may not be so tolerant. There is then created a New Elite, a self-righteous minority who out of force of will become the new majority. But, as G.K. Chesterton said, “Tolerance is the virtue of a man without convictions.“ Where does that leave us? As the perception grows that overcompensation – and the corresponding oppression of contrary opinion – is the high moral ground, right and wrong become so convoluted that a voice of reason is looked at with suspicion. It is Orwellian, indeed.
Who, now, is the disenfranchised in the US? Note that some of Obama’s first acts as President were in direct opposition to the majority opinion. Note that a majority of people would like all the facts about evolution taught in our “public” schools. I could go on, but all you have to do is pick up the newspaper for more examples.
Roberton asks if the U.S. will follow in Europe’s footsteps. I think that as the issues become turned upside down, it is quite possible; and for some of our leaders, I think that this is actually the desired goal.
