re: #151 kynna

Another effect is to spread the criminalization outward so that eventually dissent is outlawed because it can be construed as ‘hate’. Our recent presidential campaign is a great example of how ‘hate’ can be applied to criticism, thereby changing the argument and vilifying the dissenter. Make it a law and you’ve got people in prison for saying Barak Obama is a walking disaster in foreign policy.

Good point. When saying certain things becomes illegal, the definition of which things are illegal to say is highly subject to widening by whoever happens to control the courts. We have already seen any criticism of Obama’s positions, values, or actions being quickly dismissed as “racist,” and it’s not much of a leap to make criticizing him illegal.

It’s not really the right comparison, but there were those people who were arrested for hanging Obama in effigy, whereas the people who were hanging Bush in effigy were simultaneously being congratulated and celebrated for their feisty progressiveness.