Freedom From Speech
Well, well, well. Aren't our southern neighbors doing a great job at continuing their spiral into BAD. Trump has been attacking free speech for some time now and is getting more and more brazen. In his defense, he's gotten away with everything so far so why wouldn't he keep pushing?
But, I'm Canadian. Are we doing any better up here? I immediately say yes, though there are those that would try to control it in their own ways. I'm not a huge union guy, they have their uses, but sometimes overreach or protect lazy employees. In the case of the recent Air Canada flight attendant, the union proved it's worth. The government has forced union members back to work way too much in the last few years or so, which takes away all the power from the workers and basically tells them to shut up. Cupe called the governments bluff and said "Fuck you. Try to arrest us all."
It was a good indicator that the government was going too far and it backed off. I wish this kind of stuff would work in the states but Trump would have just mobilized the army.
How do we help Americans though? Moral support doesn't seem like enough. Maybe we need some educational content of how to properly protest your government and how to avoid trouble if the cops come, but that might be coming close to some legal issues.
Maybe just more political research. It has been shown all around the world, time and time again, that once an Oligarchy is in place, it takes violence to remove it. Once a dictator has money, they have the power. How does a normal citizen fight this? Most of us don't want to shoot anybody so it's hard.
I don't have the answers, nobody does. As I get older I just realize more and more that there is no good political system. They are all only as good as the people running them, no matter how many checks and balances there are.
Comments
Stating my opinon here, racist speech, hate speech and harmful speech doesn't have a place. That's not saying that we shouldn't be allowed to have meaningful discussions in these realms but statements that encourage violence or harm shouldn't be tolerated. And I think the ways our laws work to deal with that help to strike a balance.
As much as I cringe when I see a "fuck Trudeau" sticker, it's political speech and I think it should be protected. I also think my speech should be protected when I say they are abhorrent.
But the issues in the US right now are deeply rooted and the recent muzzling of Cobert and Kimmel are direct reactions to the muzzling of people like Alex Jones or Trump's suspension on Twitter. A more clearly defined system of what is ok and not okay to say would have created a balance here. Both sides have been muzzled despite their deeply held belief that it shouldn't happen.
I was thinking the same thing this week that there must be a way for Canadians to support our American neighbours who are victims of this. I really don't know the answer, but I appreciate those of us who are inclined to help in this situation rather than turn our backs on this. I continue to speak out against the Trump government in my music and I think we should never shy away from being critical of the authoritarian actions we can clearly see rolling out in the US.