In the U.K., not only can the government strip your parental rights away and hold your children hostage while they starve them to death, but it can also threaten you with messages should you attempt to speak out on such injustices.
According to the Merseyside police, social media posts regarding the Alfie Evans case are being “monitored and may be acted upon.” From their Twitter account:
The link goes to their Facebook page. Here’s the full statement from Merseyside Chief Inspector Chris Gibson:
Merseyside Police has been made aware of a number of social media posts which have been made with reference to Alder Hey Hospital and the ongoing situation involving Alfie Evans.
I would like to make people aware that these posts are being monitored and remind social media users that any offences including malicious communications and threatening behaviour will be investigated and where necessary will be acted upon.
What is creepy about the statement is that the police do not define “malicious communications” or “threatening behavior.” Rather than just give something concrete like “calls for violence will not be tolerated,” they issue a blanket statement where anything from calling the bureaucrats that want Alfie Evans to die a bunch of fascists to calling for a jihad against the hospital could be seen as “malicious communications.”
This failure to differentiate between those two dichotomies (speech and threats) stood at the heart of the recent controversy surrounding Scotland’s Youtube satirist Count Dankula, who was recently convicted of a “hate crime” for training his girlfriend’s adorable little pug to give Nazi salutes.
Fortunately, Count Dankula avoided jail time and was only fined £800 by a U.K. court for being “grossly offensive,” but that case set a dangerous precedent for regulating speech. The Merseyside Police warning the public that they are “monitoring” their free speech regarding a little boy being starved to death by the government is truly horrifying.
But good on the U.K. police for confiscating scissors, pliers, and screwdrivers from a private citizen during a so-called “weapons sweep.” Those electricians on their way to fix somebody’s bathroom lighting fixture sure do look suspicious in the pale moonlight.
Way to go, fascists. (This post is being monitored).