Crazy World : Apparently The Spanish Inquisition Is Back. Is there any free speech any more?

The police were attacked in Brixton, London, in June. No one’s angry about that? I won’t even begin to mention how many times the American police have been baited and attacked in the last few weeks.

Lawyers say, “Don’t write anything down! You can’t be implicated if you don’t write anything down, or if you don’t say anything in the first place. You have a right to remain silent, even if you’re not guilty of anything.” You might be guilty of something if you don’t bend the knee. Put up a statue of George Floyd and the crowds will supposedly love it.

Friends fall out over nothing at all. Somebody shares a newspaper article to your timeline, but apparently it’s the wrong newspaper! Apparently it’s been banned. I did not know it was banned! Nobody told me it was banned. It wasn’t even mentioned on the national TV news that it was banned. So who decided we weren’t allowed to look at articles from that newspaper? I didn’t even share it to anyone, but so what if I had. Is that a crime?

Anyway the ‘Spanish Inquisition’ starts up again. Oh, we’re not allowed to share newspaper articles that aren’t from reputable acceptable non racist newspapers. The ‘Spanish Inquisition’ have apparently decided the Daily Mail is a racist newspaper and its articles cannot be shared with anyone else on facebook. Apparently it has now been been banned by the ‘Spanish Inquisition’. The article was about flights coming in to Britain during and after the main lockdown period in Britain from places like Pakistan and suggesting Covid 19 cases could be coming into Britain from such places without being tested. Surely that could be possible. Whether it is or not surely we’re allowed to read the article. The ‘Spanish Inquisition’ seemed to have decided that any sharing of this article, and by implication anything from this newspaper should be construed as an act of racism towards Pakistani people. Maybe the Daily Mail is banned in Pakistan? I haven’t checked that up either.

 Oh, we’re not allowed to share any ‘unsubstantiated’ facebook clips of real incidents. But if they are or were real, surely they actually happened so we can look at them. Isn’t that partly the idea of social media, that we can share information and knowledge fairly freely so we can talk about things and maybe find out more about them. I also got into trouble from the ‘Spanish Inquisition’ for sharing a clip of a violent altercation on a Tube Train in which the perpetrator appeared to be a Black man. Perhaps it did come from a ‘right wing’ source, or maybe not. It did appear to be a real incident, but there was no explanation of what the incident was about or who started it, or the background behind it. I shared it because it was on facebook at the time of riots and demonstrations in London for Black Lives Matter, or against it. I wondered if it was connected. The Black guy appeared to attack/ threaten some people on the Tube and then pushed what looked to be an innocent white female adult bystander over against the side of the carriage. Often by sharing discussions can be raised and more might be found out from other ‘friends’ about issues or events. It isn’t a publication by a newspaper journalist, or an article fully researched, but it may be up there for discussion. If we don’t know about it maybe it should be reported on and in the news.

Oh, so we’re not allowed to share unsubstantiated facebook clips of incidents, particularly if they involve anyone who is black or ethnic. Is everybody on facebook a journalist now? Do we have to observe ethical journalism standards now? Even if we are not publishing in a newspaper or earning a professional salary now. Are we normal citizens still allowed to sit on juries any more?  Are we still allowed to express real opinions, or share thoughts or questions? Maybe it’s alright to share clips which are funny, but not if they are serious or disturbing? Which committee is it that decides what we can and can’t see on social media? Is there an age at which we will be permitted to discuss matters openly on social media, or have I gone past it already?