Pardon our bad Cockney accent, but what in the bloody 'ell is going on over in the U.K.?
Earlier this week, Twitchy reported about how the British government had arrested at least one person for the Orwellian cause of 'Facebook crimes.' Then on Wednesday, the same British government warned its subjects that they could be arrested for retweeting something deemed 'hateful.'
God in Heaven, we wish we were joking.
All of this is stemming from a mass stabbing in Southport at the end of July. Following that, multiple videos surfaced of Muslim immigrants violently attacking people in the streets of Birmingham, with seemingly no response from the police. Across parts of England and Northern Ireland, citizens rose up against all of this violence with protests, some turning into riots, that lasted for a week. Of course, the U.K. government labeled those protesters 'far-right extremists' and began kicking in doors and raiding homes. Not the homes of violent immigrants, mind you, but the homes of citizens protesting.
Unbelievable.
Now, the U.K. seems intent on truly turning itself into Oceania from Orwell's 1984, threatening people with arrest and jail for unapproved speech.
Yesterday the Crown Protective Services and the account of the U.K. government issued these two ominous tweets that just scream, 'Big Brother is watching you.'
Think before you post. https://t.co/sgqCErb4AC
— GOV.UK (@GOVUK) August 8, 2024
Good Lord. They might as well have raised the IngSoc flag from Orwell's novel above 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace.
(These days, though, maybe the U.K. government would prefer the Hamas flag.)
Twitter did not exactly respond well -- or at least not compliantly -- to this threat.
Think before you pass the Stamp Act and quarter troops in colonists' homes. https://t.co/I8cOc7tqYG pic.twitter.com/XXykYOSXnh
— Jon Gabriel (@exjon) August 8, 2024
https://t.co/qObqXcivTv pic.twitter.com/wEj6OzeOtk
— Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 (@pmarca) August 8, 2024
https://t.co/kURtBm1jJq pic.twitter.com/vPPuCETTeH
— James Lindsay, anti-Communist (@ConceptualJames) August 8, 2024
I've never been more grateful that our forefathers crossed the Delaware on Christmas to kill British law enforcers. https://t.co/nqkVcYe24N
— Spike Cohen (@RealSpikeCohen) August 8, 2024
In their sleep even.
https://t.co/EnyttVdHNI pic.twitter.com/amMU8S7InS
— Inappropriate Ray of ☀️ (Sworn Enemy of Rufus!) (@MrsRotnjetski) August 8, 2024
We like the sentiment there. But we have a better flag for that meme.
No. https://t.co/cSEaBduA4J pic.twitter.com/yHiv8r0B7Q
— Alan Cole (@AlanMCole) August 8, 2024
That's more like it.
No https://t.co/hli4JqgN6G pic.twitter.com/2mLSQpv2TN
— EducatëdHillbilly™ (@RobProvince) August 8, 2024
Wait, that one's even better.
If this picture of the young Captain of Gondor absolutely ripping a heater gets more likes then you’re a disgrace to the Western tradition and the sun has truly set on the British Empire pic.twitter.com/CyOQewNDTG
— The Middle-earth Mixer (@MiddleearthMixr) August 8, 2024
Oh, Faramir ratioed the U.K. government but good yesterday. The tweet was buried under a HUGE ratio. At last count, the tweet had almost 33K responses and almost 9K quote tweets, nearly all of them telling the government to go to hell.
“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive… it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…”
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) August 8, 2024
Liberty-loving residents of the UK—go ahead and borrow this. It looks like you need it right now: https://t.co/RSKhEV8xeI
If they ask nicely, American citizens might even enact our own Lend-Lease Act for the British. subjects, so they can better fight back against this tyranny against free speech from their own government.
British Natives need a strong blackmarket supplier of AR-15s https://t.co/2UIIzB1X1Y pic.twitter.com/lGt9zaG30q
— Morgan Warstler (@morganwarstler) August 8, 2024
Yeah. Something like that.
Looks like we made the right decision 248 years ago. You guys suck.
— Buzz Patterson (@BuzzPatterson) August 8, 2024
Stop being fascist pricks
— Kron (@Kronykal) August 8, 2024
It's easy for Americans to say all these things though. It took some guts for English people to do the same yesterday, considering that their government was openly threatening them.
We’re basically now living in China. https://t.co/1lfEet04TV
— Paul Jones 🇬🇧🏴 (@20Paw7) August 8, 2024
This is INSANE! Are we living in North Korea? 🇰🇵 https://t.co/2Ck6GatJqn
— Jonny 🏴 (@jonnyfrost) August 8, 2024
It looks more to us over here across the pond like you are living in a caliphate, brothers. But good for you.
Will not listen to you until you listen to us the Islamic radicals are taking over and I has a patriot and veteran cannot let it happen and I don't condone violence but until our parliament protects its own people then unfortunately this is what festers https://t.co/6kgq1293Ot
— Brian 🇬🇧🏴⚓️ (@drifftiger) August 8, 2024
https://t.co/YpszxiROMq pic.twitter.com/GiEegAv3qM
— Lewis 🏴 (@LewLewDaLewLew) August 8, 2024
Good for you two as well.
I’ve got my license to post whatever I want, no matter what you think about it. Here’s what it looks like: pic.twitter.com/BIiguA2upz
— Rusty (@LieutenantRusty) August 8, 2024
British folks probably wish they had one of those right about now.
You are inciting hatred with this post. Straight to jail!
— Billboard Chris 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@BillboardChris) August 9, 2024
Oh, the irony. The U.K. government warning against hate speech by using a free speech platform like Twitter to tell its subjects how much they hate them.
Guess I won't be visiting your soon-to-be Arab nation ever again.
— Kaya (@sisterinferior) August 8, 2024
This writer loves the U.K. and has visited often. But never again. Not while this insane, authoritarian government is in charge, anyway.
Thank God we kicked you idiots to the curb. pic.twitter.com/tynLUtRU80
— George Wept (@GeorgeWept) August 9, 2024
There were so many more responses just like this. Like we said, more than 33,000. And even more than that with some very naughty language reserved for the U.K. government (it involved a lot of middle fingers). Too bad they can't arrest us.
Accordingly, we turn to our favorite (and more wholesome) childhood educational show, Schoolhouse Rock to remind everyone why they can't arrest us.
We loved that program so much.
All we can say is, thank God for the First Amendment in America.
Yes, we're aware that the U.S., particularly during the Biden administration, is edging close to this type of punishment of speech and thoughtcrime. Even the Democrats' vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz, recently demonstrated that he thought speech he didn't like should not be protected.
But we still have many protections provided by the First Amendment, not to mention that pesky Second Amendment, which would make the government knocking down everyone's doors a little more difficult than in disarmed Great Britain.
At least ... we have those protections for now.
If Americans aren't smart enough to kick Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the curb in November, who knows how much longer we will have our beloved -- and very necessary -- 1A and 2A?
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