‘The Scale of Censorship Is Insane’ | Greg Lukianoff on Britain’s Speech Police

Dec 30, 2024 | Is the UK a free country anymore? An estimated nine people per day are arrested for making offensive comments online. In fact, more people had their collars felt in Britain for speech crimes in 2015 and 2016 than were arrested in the US during the entirety of First Red Scare. Here, Greg Lukianoff – president of the US’s Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression – warns that laws against so-called hate speech, and the elite panic over ‘misinformation’, have given licence to the British state to trample on our liberties. He also discusses the Trumpian threat to free speech, the explosion of campus censorship in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, and what it really means to ‘incite violence’.

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Andrew Klavan — The Censorship Is Just Beginning | Konstantin Kisin

Erd 18, 2024 | Konstantin Kisin, co-host of Triggernometry, joins us for an insightful conversation about the rising threat of censorship in England and shares his perspective on the future of America.

Hillsdale College hosts Andrew Klavan »

Gain instant access to a free video series about the Great Reset here.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Growing Threat of Radical Islam

Premiered May 26, 2024 | Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somali-born human rights activist, writer and former politician.

Indeed! What is wrong with our leaders? Keir Starmer is a perfect example of what is wrong with our Western leaders. He has no understanding of the issues we face! And if he does, it means that he has no courage to deal with the real issues we face! It has been reported that he is ready to introduce a law outlawing Islamophobia. That is the very last thing that should be done. Islam is the greatest threat to the West. No sensible person would outlaw the healthy criticism of the very force which is intent on destroying our way of life. That would be tantamount to outlawing the criticism of Nazism in the 1930s! No, Mr Starmer, we do not need more censorship. What we need is OPEN DEBATE. HEALTHY, open debate. Whither our country? Whither the West? – © Mark Alexander

SP!KED : How Britain Fell to Censorship

Aug 21, 2024 | The UK has become a posterboy for the perils of censorship. In the wake of the recent race riots, the British state has set about arresting and jailing not just the rioters, but also those who posted hateful memes or spread misinformation during the unrest. Anglophiles looked on aghast, as this once liberty-loving nation appeared to suddenly fall to authoritarianism. The depressing truth, however, is that this was a very long time coming. Here, Tom Slater lifts the lid on the UK’s decades-long experiment with policing speech. Being arrested for posting something offensive online has been alarmingly normal for some time now. And the bar for censorship is only getting lower and lower. Britain is a warning to genuine liberals the world over. Censorship is poison. Never, ever let it in.

Very troubling developments indeed in Starmer’s unfree Britain. – © Mark Alexander

The World Is Shocked at British Censorship & Lack of Free Speech and Our Authoritarian Government

Aug 17, 2024 | On today's NCF Deprogrammed, NCF Director Peter Whittle, Senior Fellows Rafe Heydel-Mankoo and Dr. Philip Kiszely and Amy Gallagher of Stand Up to Woke discuss the shocking stifling of free speech in Britain and the reaction of Elon Musk. Also, millions of Britons are now economically inactive and a net drain on the state.

A pall has come over the nation since Keir Starmer has become prime minister. I am retired, so I have lived for rather a long time already. But for the very first time in my life, I am nervous about writing anything on this blog. I feel that people who write on the Internet are being watched. Starmer's Britain is a rather intimidating place. For the first time in my life, I am now beginning to understand how an average German must have felt in Hitler's Third Reich. Anyone who disagreed with what was going on must have felt frightened to open their mouths.

This blog has been going for a very long time. Certainly more than twenty years. Never before have I ever given much thought about expressing my views – until now!

I always sleep extremely well; however, last night was the exception. I tossed and turned for much of the night, asking myself whether I should close this blog. That is how bad things have got under Herr Starmer! Freedom of speech in this country is a thing of the past. It hasn't taken Starmer long to kill it, either!

We all know why this is happening. This is not rocket science.

My country has been ruined by weak and badly-informed politicians of all stripes and hues. The passing of our wonderful, late Queen Elizabeth II hasn't helped any either. She was such a steadying hand. She was the embodiment of wisdom and long political experience. She had dealt with such an array of past prime ministers.

I have yet to decide about this blog. But I am giving its closure serious consideration. I shall keep you apprised. Naturally, I shall be hoping for better days ahead. However, any turning point is a long way off. We have a hard-left, socialist government. The modus operandi of such governments is always to ban things and take people's freedoms away from them. – © Mark Alexander

Ann Widdecombe | On Censorship and Freedom of Speech | Oxford Union

Jul 10, 2019

It is to be hoped that our Führer, Herr Starmer, is listening! – © Mark Alexander

Why Censorship Won’t Stop the Riots

Aug 11, 2024 | Inaya Folarin Iman, Tom Slater and Fraser Myers discuss Keir Starmer’s crackdown on dissent.

With New Limits on Media, Putin Closes a Door on Russia’s ‘Openness’

THE NEW YORK TIMES: One of the paradoxical things about Vladimir V. Putin’s increasingly authoritarian rule of Russia was how relatively open society always remained.

For all the state’s control of media, people could read or watch what they wanted, including foreign newscasts like BBC and CNN. The internet was largely unfettered, a portal to the rest of the world. Unlike, say, China, you could criticize the president with some assurance that the police would not knock at the door.

Until now.

As the war in Ukraine grinds on, Mr. Putin has strangled the vestiges of a free press to justify an invasion that has been almost universally condemned — and with that moved closer to the stultifying orthodoxy of the Soviet Union. The result will be to isolate the country, as Mr. Putin has isolated himself, leaving it with a one-sided view of the world no longer subject to debate. » | Steven Lee Myers | Monday, March 7, 2022

Chinese Censors Cut Gay References from Friends

THE TIMES: Outcry over ‘defiled’ version of hit American sitcom

Chinese censors removed scenes that referred to Ross’s ex-wife being gay | PAUL DRINKWATER/NBCUNIVERSAL VIA GETTY
Chinese censors have removed lesbian scenes and sanitised references to sex in Friends as the show is re-released on streaming sites, to the anger of the sitcom’s many Chinese fans.

The cuts have been so comprehensive that fans have complained that plots and some jokes now no longer make sense. They have called for a boycott and slammed the censorship as “defiling” the first season of the show, originally broadcast in 1994.

On Friday when several entertainment platforms, including Tencent Video, reprised the show, some fans were quick to notice the absence of several scenes, including those relating to the character Ross explaining that his ex-wife, Carol, is gay. Viewers also reported cuts or mistranslations of lines by LGBT+ characters or scenes that included mildly … » | Didi Tang, Beijing | Monday, February 14, 2022

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I’ll Fight to Overturn US Ban on My ‘Queer Bible’, Says British Author

THE OBSERVER: Former model Jack Guinness caught up in furore over Mississippi mayor’s attempt to withhold funding for library until ‘homosexual materials’ are withdrawn

Jack Guinness said he was proud that the controversy had turned him into a campaigner. | Photograph: Pal Hansen/The Observer
A British writer, presenter and former model says he is shocked to find himself at the centre of an unprecedented wave of book banning in the US.

A Mississippi mayor has told the Madison County Library to remove LGBTQ+ books from its shelves or lose funding. One of the books singled out as an example was The Queer Bible, a collection of LGBTQ+ history essays edited by Jack Guinness. Ridgeland’s Republican mayor, Gene McGee, has refused to release funds to the library until “homosexual materials” are withdrawn.

Tonja Johnson, executive director of the Madison County Library System, said when she told McGee that the library served the whole community, he replied that he only served “the great Lord above”.

Guinness discovered his anthology had been caught up in the book ban on Twitter. “I couldn’t quite believe my eyes,” he told the Observer. “When you write a book, you kind of imagine people might read it, but you don’t imagine anyone will ban it. Referring to it as ‘homosexual material’ – that’s the sort of phrase my grandmother would have used to talk about my jeans.”

Guinness, once described by GQmagazine as “the coolest man in Britain”, worked as a model after university for fashion labels such as Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci and Dunhill and became a famous face on the capital’s social scene. He was friends with Pixie Geldof, DJ Nick Grimshaw and musician Florence Welch, and used to be Alexa Chung’s flatmate.

He soon segued from modelling into work as a presenter and as a writer for Vogue, GQ and the Guardian. Since starting the Queer Bible as a website in 2017, he has been included in Attitudemagazine’s trailblazers list of exceptional LGBTQ contributors to the arts. He is also now a member of London mayor Sadiq Khan’s diversity in the public realm commission. » | Alice Fisher | Sunday, February 13, 2022

Youtube Is Censoring Free Speech? | Dave Rubin On Tucker Carlson

European-style Media Censorship Looming in Canada

Ezra Levant predicts that the Trudeau government will punish TheRebel.media for allegedly posting "fake news" regarding the Québec mosque attack.

Inside Story - Should Social Media Companies Ban Certain Content?

Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Microsoft to join efforts to filter out content they consider "terrorist propaganda".

Special Report: UN Censor Admits Real Reason He Banned Rebel Reporters from COP22

Ezra Levant lets UN censor Nick Nuttall explain, in his own words, why he refused press accreditation to TheRebel.media, to cover the climate conference in Marrakech.

Angela Merkel Confronts Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg on Hate-Post Policy

Revealed: Facebook's New Plan to Censor "Right Wing Speech"

Ezra Levant of TheRebel.media reports on Facebook's new Online Civil Courage Initiative, designed to censor "right wing hate speech" online after the mass Muslim migrant rapes in Cologne, Germany. Why doesn't Facebook target Muslim radicalism online, too?

Morocco Says Exodus Film 'Represents God' and Is Forbidden in Islam

THE GUARDIAN: Film’s distributor receives written notice to ban Hollywood import because scene depicts God in the form of a ‘child who gives a revelation to the prophet Moses’

Morocco banned the Hollywood biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings because it “represents God” which is forbidden under Islam, its distributor said on Saturday.

The distributor said it had received written notice that Ridley Scott’s blockbuster contained a scene that represents God in the form of a “child who gives a revelation to the prophet Moses”. Initially, cinema owners were informed verbally that the film had been banned, media reports had said.

“I deplore this censorship,” distributor Mounia Layadi Benkirane said in a statement.

Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, has also banned the movie, citing “historical inaccuracies”. » | Agence France-Presse in Rabat | Saturday, December 27, 2014

Killing the Messenger

As censorship increases worldwide, journalists are being attacked, kidnapped and even killed for exposing the truth.

Exclusive: BBC ‘Free Speech’ Show Censors Gay Muslim After ‘Conerns’ from Mosque

BREITBART LONDON: BBC Three's Free Speech programme was broadcast from Birmingham Central Mosque last night, and one of the topics set to be debated was homosexuality and Islam.

But after the "BBC snake ate its own tail" (host Rick Edwards words, not mine) by discussing the necessity of BBC Three for 20 minutes, we were treated to an excellent example of how and why the BBC fails to do its job properly. Sort of like the snake eating its own tail, vomiting it back up, then eating it again.

A short clip was broadcast, featuring Asifa Lahore, Britain's "first and only" gay Muslim drag queen. The topic had "the most comments on the audience questions page", but this was still not enough for the BBC 'Free Speech' programme to force the issue with its venue hosts, the Birmingham Central Mosque.

As the clip ended, host Rick Edwards announced, "We were going to debate that question but today after speaking to the mosque they have expressed deep concerns with having this discussion here... so we'll move on to our next question". Read on and comment » | Raheem Kassam | Thursday, March 13, 2014

Muslim Censors Move to Ban 'Noah'

Mar. 07, 2014 - 2:04 - Egypt's top Islamic body angered by biblical film's portrayal of the prophet

YNET NEWS: Hollywood blockbuster 'Noah' faces ban in Arab world: Censors in Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE banned film as Islam objects to depictions of holy figures in art. Similar bans expected in Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait.‬‬ » | Reuters | Saturday, March 08, 2014