"Mr Trump does not seek to criminalise hate speech so much as to criminalise speech he hates. The US is being dragged into a state of emergency. Speech is framed as terrorism. Satire is rebranded as enemy propaganda. Employers punish workers for personal posts. The predictable result is a chilling climate of surveillance and reprisal, in which citizens learn to keep quiet."
"The assassination is not just being used to police manners; it is being used to reconstruct the public square so that dissent equals disloyalty, and disloyalty is treated as a security threat. Hannah Arendt warned of the existential peril in blurring the line between truth and lies: then truth doesn't stand; it becomes optional. Mr Trump's reported falsehoods about paracetamol and autism will harm mothers, stigmatise families and erode trust in medicine."
"His assault is twofold. First, speech is being weaponised through partisan media, online influencers and harassment networks that seek to capture attention while corroding the conditions for open dialogue. Second, state power is weaponised by cowing social media platforms, threatening network licences and politicising information. Handing TikTok to rightwing billionaires is a morbid symptom of democratic decline. Authority is to be controlled by public opinion, not public opinion by authority, said the US supreme court."
Donald Trump admitted hatred for his opponents and rejected wanting the best for them. Efforts to censure speech are reframed as attempts to criminalise speech disliked by political leadership. Speech is increasingly framed as terrorism, satire is painted as enemy propaganda, and employers punish employees for personal posts, producing a chilling climate of surveillance and reprisal. Assassination rhetoric is used to recast dissent as disloyalty and a security threat. Blurring truth and lies erodes trust and damages public health when falsehoods about medicine spread. Partisan media, harassment networks, and state pressure on platforms weaponise information and undermine democratic self-government.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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