Well, in light of the murder of right-wing emblem Charlie Kirk, Trump's Amerika is enjoying a shot in the arm (no pun intended). That free-speech loving country is now being encouraged to report all free speech about Kirk's death if it doesn't accord with the official narrative of the slain right-wing leader as a secular saint.
America will take action against foreigners who “glorify violence” or otherwise “make light” of the shooting death of right-wing media personality Charlie Kirk, a Trump official said on X Thursday, as he encouraged people to report violators to the government in order to “protect the American people.”
U.S. deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau wrote that such people are not welcome in the United States, and that he has instructed consular officials to take “appropriate action” against those who “praise” or “rationalize” the shooter’s actions.
Good Amerikans, never ones to be asleep at the switch, are readily heeding the call:
In the hours after Landau’s post asking for reports about foreigners making light of Kirk’s death, he received almost 4,000 responses, including from users who posted screenshots from the personal social media accounts, including photos, of people that users claimed had “sided with America’s enemies,” as one widely-shared response put it.
Trump whisperer Laura Loomer is also getting in on the 'patriotic' action, claiming
on X that she’d gotten a government employee fired after publicly posting screenshots of his social media accounts, one of which included a post of him calling Kirk a “literal racist.” The “Libs of TikTok” X account has posted photos of several dozen people, including teachers, government employees and even a reality TV show contestant, it claims have celebrated Kirk’s death. Self-described political strategist Joey Mannarino posted on X that he’d been “reporting people to their jobs all day.”
As I predicted in yesterday's post, a new era of repression and terror is beginning, and the Benighted States is becoming an even more dangerous place than it has already been under the second Trump regime.
Calling for action against those who express controversial opinions is “striking and dangerous,” said Amarnath Amarasingam, an associate professor who studies conspiracy theories and online communities at Queen’s University, in an email.
Landau “is basically crowdsourcing surveillance and turning social media users into informants for state power,” he wrote. “This opens the door for abuse, with people mass-reporting foreigners whose politics they dislike, knowing it might jeopardize their visas.”
One needn't be an ardent student of history to understand that the current Amerikan trajectory mimics that of Nazi Germany. This small snippet serves as a potent reminder, however:
To make up for a lack of staff, the Gestapo decided the vast majority of the population were loyal to the regime. It ruthlessly targeted its resources against groups within German society defined as political opponents, most notably, communists and socialists, religious dissidents, Jews, and a much broader group of ‘racial’ enemies, including long-term criminals, prostitutes, homosexuals, Gypsies, juvenile gangs and the long-term unemployed.
'Loyal' Amerikans would likely dismiss such parallels as the hysterical rantings of "the radical left." In their hubris and profound ignorance of the world and history beyond their borders, they would undoubtedly claim that their persecution of unpopular views is entirely different and in defence of God and country.
Hmm, I do believe that is exactly what the Nazis claimed to be doing as well.
As an old fellow born in England in the closing days of WW2 after Amerika belatedly joined the allies to defeat Hitler I am well aware of both the path that led us there and the aftermath. Finding myself now living next door to a regime that is so closely following that path, along with at at least one other regime further east, I fear for us all both here, there, and indeed word wide.
ReplyDeleteBack then it took days, months or even years to brainwash the population now, as can be seen almost daily, it take but a few taps on a screen, I wonder how much 'social media' (which I do NOT use or read) is adding to the problem?
Rural
It is indeed frightening how quickly the changes have taken place, Rural, although I suppose the conditions for this takeover have simmered barely beneath the surface for years in Amerika. And yes, I am convinced that social media play a huge role in disseminating the bilge that people now take and accept at face value.
DeleteKirk will be a 21st century Horst Wessell.
ReplyDeleteSounds about right, Anon, although I confess I had to look up the name.
Delete"Amarnath Amarasingam, an associate professor who studies conspiracy theories and online communities at Queen’s University"
ReplyDeleteBloody Hell! I live two kilometres from Queen's main campus. I hope that military plane we heard this morning was from Trenton.
I had to check up on Horst Wessell thought the name has been infamous for decades. He has been a fascist symbol since the 1930s. Older relations of mine who served in WWII might have known who he was. The Horst Wessell song was pretty much the Nazi hymn until 1945.
I think we would all be wise to look to the skies these days, Anon, especially for anything emanating from the south.
Delete