By William Haupt III [Tennessee Watchdog Journalist, Columnist, Author, and Citizen Legislator via The Center Square]
“Threats to freedom of speech and writing, though often trivial in isolation, are cumulative in their effect, and unless checked, lead to disrespect for the rights of the citizen.” – George Orwell, 1984
In 1946, George Orwell provided the definition of 20th century totalitarianism and how it will control society today. Orwell’s insight into the future, “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” provides a visceral cognition of the modern day progressive state that is controlled by an all powerful oligarchy. The head of this political state is “Big Brother,” who secures control over the masses by denying freedom of speech.
Since the end of the Second Great War, prototypes of Big Brother’s all powerful and freedom-limiting governments have appeared around the world. These all-controlling autocracies use one common tactic to control the masses. They censor all forms of free expression; what is spoken and what is written. Big Brothers control the language and therefore they control the past, present and future.
After the Revolution, the colonies were so adamant about maintaining individual independence and liberty that they demanded that the architects of our Constitution include a Bill of Rights. The first right they coveted was the right to freedom of speech. The second was the right to bear arms to defend it.
America lays claim to free speech but has a long history of violating the First Amendment. Since John Adams outlawed criticizing elected officials in the 1800s, our free speech rights have been challenged.
“We must never disrespect those in elected office or their authority.” – John Adams
Many attempts at limiting free speech have come during war. Reporters were arrested in the North for opposing the Civil War, and their reports were censored. During World War I, vocal critics were jailed. During World War II, Franklin Roosevelt created the Office of Censorship to monitor information about the war. Everything published in newspapers or broadcasted on the airwaves was censored by FDR.
In 1955, the U.S. post office banned the Greek play “Lysistrata,” about women withholding sex due to war. That year, the FCC ordered that The Ed Sullivan Show film Elvis Presley from “the waist up” due to his “sexually explicit moves.” Many of his songs were also banned from radio stations.
“I feel my temperature rising. Help me, I’m flaming, I must be a hundred and nine” – Elvis Presley
When the court lifted a ban on William Burroughs’ book “The Naked Lunch” in 1965, this ended all censorship by U.S. Customs. The American Motion Picture Association adopted the Hays Code in 1968, which is today’s film rating system. In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that adult pornography was no longer illegal. And even comic book star “Betty Boop” was allowed to appear in her mini skirt again.
“Girls, there are plenty of fish in the sea. Be sure you hook the right one!” – Betty Boop
Although the FCC’s Child Online Protection Act only censors internet content not fit for minors, the latest Pew Research poll found that 75% of Americans believe social media censors political views they find objectionable. Both Twitter and Facebook would not post anything about the Hunter Biden scandal, and censored conservative viewpoints last presidential election, which aided progressives.
Throughout the years, what the U.S. Supreme Court considers free speech has shifted from left to right and someplace in between. But they have usually come to their senses and redrawn the line in the sand when Big Brother “ventured too far over that line.” Let’s hope they do that to Joe Biden.
Orwell’s dystopian leader Big Brother maintains total control with his “Ministry of Truth.” This allows him to control the language and enables him to rewrite history. This enables him to justify what he does currently and will do in the future. He has total power over the society and the citizens.
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” – George Orwell
In true progressive form, last week “Big Brother” Joe Biden proclaimed he was crafting a personal “Ministry of Truth.” The creation of Biden’s “dystopian disinformation bureau” will coexist under the department of Homeland Security. His government police will monitor and censor free speech.
GOP congressmen called this a “disgrace” and an attack on the sanctity of the First Amendment.
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, said “I thought this was a satire. Surely, no president would use his power to allow government to abridge our First Amendment rights!” Sadly, Hawley was mistaken.
It is an “inconvenient truth” that Joe Biden’s foray into “Big Brother’s” dystopian totalitarian state is obviously a reaction to Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter. Musk promised to make improvements with the social media platform that will make it a true free speech form for everyone.
When news broke of Elon Musk’s $3 billion investment in the forum, VP of Communications Lulu Cheng Meservey tweeted, “If you’re a Twitter employee worried about Elon Musk pushing for less regulated speech, do not come work on Tuesday.” Democrats and woke Twitter employees sent “APBs” to the White House tweeting serious concerns about not censoring conservative speech.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that she didn’t have details on the board’s role, or its executive director, but said “President Biden knows that there has been a range of disinformation about a range of topics including COVID, election eligibility, and his policies – just to mention a few.”
Biden has joined an elite group of infamous dictators, all who established a “Ministry of Truth” to silence free speech and advance their peremptory hold over the people. Adolf Hitler in Germany had a Ministry of Truth run by Nazi Joseph Goebbels, and so did ruthless soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
“How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.” – Adolf Hitler
George Orwell wrote, “The ministry of Truth is the ministry of lies.” Orwell’s protagonist is Winston Smith, head of the ministry of truth. His role is to rewrite historical facts to align them with what Big Brother wants the people to believe is true. This assures Big Brother’s party will never lose power; much like what progressives have been doing since they took control of our federal government.
The only ones buying into Biden’s dystopian truth ministry are those seeking to censor information that reveals key points of vulnerability for Biden and the Democrats. The left needs to hide the truth about illegal immigrants on our southern border, the true status of how Biden has destroyed the economy and Biden’s botching of Afghanistan, and news about our failed foreign policies in Russia and Ukraine.
Biden’s “Disinformation Board” is unconstitutional and all Americans must call Congress ASAP and demand that the coffin is nailed shut on Biden’s “Big Brother” before he is a creature. It is far easier to kill a bad idea than a monster after he is created.
“Political chaos is connected with the decay of language. When the present is untrue, those untruths become the truth of the past.” – George Orwell
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About the Author: William Haupt III is a retired professional journalist, author, and citizen legislator in California for over 40 years. He got his start working to approve California Proposition 13. His work also appears in The Center Square, The Western Journal, Neighbor Newspapers, KPXJ 21 (Shreveport, LA), Killeen Daily Herald, Aberdeen American News, InsideNova, Kankakee Daily Journal, Monterey County Weekly, Olean Times Herald, The Greeneville Sun and more.
https://tennesseeconservativenews.com/bidens-big-brother-will-be-watching-over-you/
FBI INVESTIGATED CONCERNED PARENTS
By | Powerline
You all remember the story: the Biden Department of Justice coordinated with the National School Boards Association to arrange for FBI investigations of parents who are unhappy about their local schools teaching racism and anti-Americanism (Critical Race Theory) and gender confusion, and requiring masks. The episode was so sordid that many state school board associations dropped their affiliation with NSBA, and most people doubted that the FBI would be craven enough to follow Attorney General Merrick Garland’s patently unconstitutional directive.
But follow it they did. Yesterday Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, acting on tips from unhappy FBI agents, wrote Merrick Garland to criticize the diversion of FBI resources to investigations of parents who dissent from “woke” ideology and care about their children’s education:
The FBI’s counterterrorism bureau reportedly created an internal “threat tag” in fall 2021 to track alleged threats against school boards following an October 4 directive from Attorney General Merrick Garland. Garland released his directive after the National School Boards Association called on the Biden administration on September 29 to investigate parents who allegedly threatened boards over policies on school masks and critical race theory, and to determine whether the parents had violated the Patriot Act or hate crimes laws. (The NSBA subsequently apologized for releasing the letter.)
The FBI labeled “dozens” of investigations with the threat tag “EDUOFFICIALS,” Representatives Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) and Mike Johnson (R., La.) claimed in their new letter on Wednesday, citing FBI whistleblowers.
Emphasis added. These “investigations” were ridiculous and could only have been intended to intimidate conservative parents from being involved in their public schools. One might note that these parents merely attended public school board meetings to express their opinions. I am not aware of a single case where they demonstrated outside the home of a school board member.
One investigation allegedly began after the FBI received a tip that a mom had told a local school board, “We are coming for you.” The complaint “alleged that the mom was a threat because she belonged to a ‘right wing mom’s group’ known as ‘Moms for Liberty,’ and because she is a ‘gun owner,’” the congressmen wrote. An FBI agent reportedly interviewed the the mom, who said she was upset about a school mask mandate and wanted to elect new board members.
Sounds like an insurrectionist! But imagine having a couple of FBI agents ring your doorbell on instructions from the Attorney General because you don’t align politically with the Biden administration.
In another instance, the congressmen wrote that an FBI agent interviewed a tipster who admitted he had “no specific information or observations . . . of any crimes or threats.” The tipster had submitted a complaint against an anti-mask-mandate dad, claiming that the dad “fit the profile of an insurrectionist,” and the FBI had opened an investigation into the dad.
The “tip line” sounds like something out of Red China. More details on that case from the Congressmen’s letter:
Another one:
The congressmen also claimed that the FBI began an investigation into Republican elected officials in a certain state because a Democratic state-party official claimed that the Republicans “‘incited violence’ by expressing public displeasure with school districts’ mask mandates.”
Contemplate that: a complaint by a “Democratic state-party official” was enough to trigger an FBI investigation of “Republican elected officials” who opposed mask mandates. What country are we living in?
Many liberals–perhaps most–believe that conservative, pro-freedom, pro-American speech should be illegal, if it isn’t already. What I want to know is, are there any Democratic House members willing to take a stand against this obviously unconstitutional overreach by the Attorney General? So far, I haven’t heard of any.
It is shocking to think that Merrick Garland was once nominated to the Supreme Court. Thank God he was not confirmed.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/05/fbi-investigated-concerned-parents.php
