The biggest setback for free speech this week came from, alas, Australia. Tony Abbott’s ministry has decided to abandon plans to repeal Section 18C, which is the Aussie equivalent of Canada’s now deceased Section 13 “hate-speech” law. Section 18 will not be joining Section 13 in the graveyard of discredited thought-crime legislation any time soon. Mr Abbott is in other respects perhaps my favorite head of government in the world today, so his climbdown on this is …disappointing.
(…)
A culture in which you can be hauled into court for “offending” persons of designated groups is one in which everyone quickly becomes adept at reflexive self-censoring. This is where we came in, 13 years ago – Portland airport in Maine at five in the morning on a Tuesday morning in September…
Yep, I was just thinking about that, for obvious reasons.
Speaking of which:
It really is true that people act like total fuckwads at the 9/11 memorial.
Jesus, even Vice fucking magazine gets it.
Hey, Japanese people: I’m gonna show up at your Nagasaki whatsit and taking smiley selfies!!
We are all Japanese now — compulsively photographing ourselves being photographed in front of Some Famous Object.
Meanwhile I was standing next to a man the moment he found his friend’s name.
Then we randomly chose a name on the interactive screen. Everyone’s entry has their date of birth. One smiling middle aged lady’s was September 11.
But hey, make sure you squeeze your fat self and all your fat kids into your fat fucking grinning photo, everybody!
Nobody gives a shit about anything.
