Fascists’ dirty dozen ways to silence critics
“DeSantis Opponents Arrested in Florida Protesting Abortion Ban” – Newsweek
- Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democrats, and Democrat state Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book were among 11 people arrested during protests after Governor Ron DeSantis‘ new abortion legislation that would ban abortion in most cases after six weeks. – Newsweek
- Elon Musk Obediently Censors Twitter When Turkish Dictator Erdogan Tells Him To – Yahoo
- Montana transgender legislator, Zooey Zephyr silenced – Reuters
- MAGA Republican, Clay Higgins manhandles protester at press conference – Salon
Learn to recognize how fascists silence their critics. Click on the infographic for details on the different approaches.
Strongmen intimidate, bully, and kill critics
“Around the world, strongmen have been attacking the concept of freedom of the press, as well as members of the press themselves. Putin has blatantly singled out members of the Russian press critical of his policies and shot them, poisoned them, run them over, and even thrown them off buildings. Recently the direction by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), to kill Washington Post reporter and commentator Jamal Khashoggi is a further attack on members of the media who criticize a strongman.” – Jurist
The Fascist Playbook
James Nelson explains how the Fascist playbook in CounterPunch.
– Systematically demonize the press—a free press is the enemy of the people; truth is fake news. Either delegitimize the press or control and use it as a propaganda tool.
– Lie, lie, lie—the bigger the lie the better, because people believe that the most outrageous and improbable lie must be true, or else no one would say it in the first place. Deny truth and create alternate facts, fiction, or fantasy. Deny science and substitute religion. Propagandize with false information and conspiracy theories.
– Involve government in surveilling the press, reporters, political opponents and those on the enemies list.
Free speech opportunist Musk
“When the Turkish government asked Twitter to censor the opposition during the country’s election this week, the site’s owner Elon Musk obediently complied. Twitter announced it had “taken action to restrict access to some content in Turkey” in response to demands starting late last week, without specifying what content would be blocked or why. Put simply, Musk rolled over and essentially gave in to the demands of a dictator without putting up much of a fight.
As such, the move shines a spotlight on the fact that Musk has described himself as a “free speech absolutist” when it’s convenient for his mangled handling of Twitter — but has made plenty of decisions that suggest he’s anything but. Riffing on the phenomenon, Twitter users took to calling Musk a “free speech opportunist” following the news.” – Yahoo
Violent attempts to muzzle the media
“Dictators throughout history silence critics and to muzzle the media. The citizenry of Germany first used the law to try to reign in this tsunami of hate, fear, and lawlessness, but to no avail. Politicians viewing this nightmare saw personal advantage and joined this surge of nationalism putting party over country.
A free and unrestricted press is the bulwark against such tactics. That is why strongmen quickly try to restrain and then silence all types of media, shaping it in a way that allows them to control and manipulate its citizens for their political and even personal advantage.” – Jurist
TakeAway: Learn to recognize and call out fascist attempts to silence free speech.
Deepak
DemLabs
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