Posted on 03/14/2024 3:59:52 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Acclaimed author Margaret Atwood has warned that the federal government’s online harms bill is “Orwellian” and its definitions of punishable hate speech are vague and could invite abuse, such as unwarranted complaints under the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Ms. Atwood said she has been the frequent target of “hate speech, online vilification, lies, threats and doxxing” and is “no fan of this kind of online behaviour.” But, in an e-mail exchange with The Globe and Mail, she said she is “also no fan of unsupervised authority acting under vague laws, without any oversight.”
On Friday, she posted on X her concerns about “Trudeau’s Orwellian online harms bill” after reading an article about it in The Spectator. “If this account of the bill is true, it’s Lettres de Cachet all over again,” she wrote, referring to letters once signed by the King of France with orders to enforce arbitrary judgments.
“The possibilities for revenge false accusations and thoughtcrime stuff are sooo inviting!” she added.
Ms. Atwood was referring to George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, about a dystopian society where “thought crimes” are punishable under the totalitarian state of Oceania. The regime’s Thought Police conduct constant surveillance to suppress free thought and expression, while the Ministry of Truth pumps out propaganda to crush individuality and manipulate the news and history.
In Ms. Atwood’s acclaimed novel The Handmaid’s Tale, which was made into a film and Emmy Award-winning TV series, the patriarchal Gilead regime suppresses freedom of speech to curtail dissent and reinforce its authority.
Justice Minister Arif Virani, who is shepherding the online harms bill through the Commons, responded to Ms. Atwood’s post on X, saying he was “happy to discuss” it.
“Grateful for your interest in the Online Harms Act – which would keep kids safe, apply existing laws to the
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
Didn’t she get the memo “The Great Reset” is here anyone deemed “extreme” has a target on them now and in the future.
Moderate Liberal Capitalist Globalists know what kind of society they want and all of us will conform to their standards.
Are you hating Putin, Xi and Netanyahu yet?
I propose a bill that says that anyone who says “happy to discuss it with you” be beaten with a rubber hose for 10 minutes.
Well, Putin and Xi hate Netanyahu.
And Biden is at odds with all three there is no doubt.
Biden is at odds with only Netanyahu.
China sees banning TikTok as economic warfare and Biden is ready to sign off on forcing a Chinese owned company to divest a major asset.
Biden is waging Economic Warfare against China, Hot Warfare against Russia and Covert Warfare against Israel.
Progressives like Atwood stand in the way of the Moderates as well as folks on the Right.
The world must be reordered for economic progress so speech must be limited and all of us must focus on things that lead to making money.
Debating issues passionately views that are extreme at not economically profitable.
Mr. Trudeau fired his Justice Minister when she dared to prosecute a construction company for bribery in Libya.
The Liberal Party of Canada is rooted in “Liberal Economics” as in unrestrained capitalism and so on.
The Social Liberalism of Trudeau complements it.
Carry on LGBTQI+ and Free Markets go hand in hand in Trudeau’s Canada.
I am sure that islamofascist Virani, not even a natural born Canadian, would love to put Atwood in prison once the bill becomes law and she does keep her hateful, malinformation spewing mouth shut.
Virani’s roots are in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India although he was born in Kampala. Virani is a multilingual Ismaili Muslim who came to Canada as a refugee from Uganda after the expulsion of Indians from that country.
“ Are you hating Putin, Xi and Netanyahu yet?”
More Chicom shilling.
Netanyahu is not in any same category as Xi who deserves “hate” as you put it.
But you love and work for him.
Underlying everything you write and say here is support for Chicoms.
Here you smear Netanyahu to try and prop up and normalize Xi.
“Progressives like Atwood stand in the way of the Moderates as well as folks on the Right.”
Progressive means left and Marxist and yes we know you admire and support Marxist dictators.
Look we know you love chicoms.
It’s good she says this.
islam is a totalitarian death cult founded by a child rapist.
I did say on another thread that I thought opposition to this law would be broad, but I wasn’t expecting this broad to join our cause! But we’ll take all the help we can get.
Netanyahu is smeared by the Biden Administration and that’s so obvious.
It's a feature of modern woke leftism. Those who are insufficiently radical are purged and denounced as Nazis. This is why we now have people such as J.K. Rowling ludicrously being referred to as "far right conservative."
They aren't really in our club, only that they were kicked out of their club and we're nice to them.
They’re calling Douglas Murray a right-winger now, too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.