OPINION:
The United Nations, ahead of its global celebration of the International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination, sent out a press release putting forth the notion that free speech is good — free speech is necessary. But free speech has its limits.
Umm, forgive us for asking the obvious, but isn’t that another way of saying the government has a duty to crack down on freedom of speech?
Seems kind of counter to the whole Constitution thing.
But this is what the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said in a statement.
“Politics of division and the rhetoric of intolerance are targeting racial, ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities, and migrants and refugees,” Zeid said. “Words of fear and loathing can, and do, have real consequences.”
Wonder what kind of “words” Zeid meant?
Could it be the type uttered by President Donald Trump, when he vowed on the campaign trail and again, in the White House, to curtail the number of unauthorized incursions across America’s borders — not only from Mexico and Central America, but also from terror hot spot nations around the world?
Methinks maybe.
Zeid’s statement also included a press for governments around the world to outright ban racist hate speech, which he called the precursor to discrimination and violence.
“It is not an attack on free speech or the silencing of controversial ideas or criticism, but a recognition that the right to freedom of expression carries with it special duties and responsibilities,” he said.
Well, actually, curtailing free speech is an attack on free speech — that’s exactly what it is. That’s a dictionary definition, in fact.
Let’s not dismiss this as typical U.N. talk.
Why Americans should care that the United Nations is pushing this mantra is that it’s not so easy nowadays, if you haven’t noticed, to simply dismiss notions of the far left. What would have been seen as crazy talk just a few short years ago, is now accepted policy.
When Hillary Clinton called for a national health care system, she was derided as socialist. When Barack Obama pressed for the same, it passed into law.
When Sen. Bernie Sanders called for free college tuition, he was mocked and scorned. When presidential candidate Bernie Sanders called for free college tuition, he was applauded and favorably polled.
See where I’m going with this?
Too many in the Democratic Party right now point to Trump as a driver of hate — as a fanner of protest flames. They blame him for the broken glass, busted cars and beaten police that have marked the media’s stories on recent protests about the new White House.
That blame, misplaced as it is, nonetheless is just a short hop and skip from saying language ought to be controlled. Now here comes the United Nations, coincidentally, with the suggestions, recommendations and means for governments around the world to do just that. Watch for it: Democrats won’t be long in lining up some legislation that underscores the importance of the First Amendment — at the same time, watering and gutting its freedom of speech rights.
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