This is because the first thing a kidnapper does is gag the victim so they cannot sound the alarm...If speaking out feels dangerous now, just imagine how much more dangerous it will get should we stay silent.
"Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech." —Benjamin Franklin
"At no time in history were the ones censoring speech the good guys." —RFK Jr.
"No right was deemed by the fathers of the government more sacred than the right of speech. It was in their eyes, as in the eyes of all thoughtful men, the great moral renovator of society and government." —Frederick Douglass
Because:
"Why should freedom of speech and freedom of press be allowed? Why should a government which is doing what it believes to be right allow itself to be criticized? It would not allow opposition by lethal weapons. Ideas are much more fatal things than guns. Why should any man be allowed to buy a printing press and disseminate pernicious opinions calculated to embarrass the government?" —Vladimir Lenin
"Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins." —Benjamin Franklin
“Why should any man be allowed to buy a printing press and disseminate pernicious opinions calculated to embarrass the government?"
It’s very interesting to try to trace the origins of this quote. Apparently it come from a diary entry by George Riddell, which contains this quotes, but does not clearly show the antecedent of the “he” who is said to have said it.
The two men in question were Lenin and Churchill. I leave it to you to decide which of the two this sounds more like, if it’s distinguishable at all.
"nor am I aware of any such nation that has done away with a bill of rights once it has been put in place.”
Well Prof. Williams of Melbourne U., I hate to disagree. It may still exist here in the US in documentary form and in theory. But in practice? -- Not so much.
"A normal, healthy person would look at Australia’s lack of free speech protections and say “Hmm, Australian leaders should be extremely resistant to new laws and policies which restrict speech then, because it would be very easy for those restrictions to become abusive.”
Australian leaders look at our lack of free speech protections and say “See? This means we get to take away your right to protest genocide!”"
Like most other countries, Australia is ruled over by sociopaths.
Anyway, a Bill of Rights or whatever is worth anything, only if and to the extent that it can be enforced.
Yet, a Jewish woman can sue a person, because of a blank message that she, a non-semitic person considers was anti-semitic. I get phone calls that leave no messages every day, I don't run to the police and take is far as the courts because these non-messages could be anti-Scots, or anti-Australian. Talk about desperate for exposure. I hope she has lost any customers she could have had before she did this, and even jewish customers leave.
its just baby steps in setting up an international legal framework that sets the "jew" as a "superior being" to the "goyim"
its called "noahide" and its already embedded in american legislation, being currently added to Canadian legislation and will likely start appearing in other countries... unless stopped
the noahide "laws" allow for the "jew" to do all sorts of crimes without punishment, yet for the "gentile" the standard sentence is death by decapitation... most especially if a "jew" feels harmed by the actions of a goy..
when seen in the correct context its actually the latter stages of a world take over by a hostile life form, and whilst the majority fail to see it this way the majority are doomed...
but hey, let the "jew" explain in its own language:
Only to the extent that the majority of the populace believes in it, and that they retain and are willing to show their power in whatever forms necessary to enforce it.
The lack of free speech means Australians can no longer talk about the colonialist settlers in this country and their actions to wipe out first people. Is that sobering enough!
Colonialists wrote about their actions proudly. Their attempt to complete the genocide failed.
The Federal Labor government has now introduced laws to ban those who speak about Australian history based on facts of what took place.
Fast forward to 2026, Israel is attempting the complete genocide of Palestinians (and others). At the behest of the perpetrators, the Australian Government has banned speaking about Palestine and genocide activities because an insignificant part of the current Australian population gets hurt feelings when the genocide is discussed.
We must reflect deeply about First Australians in this discussion about "free speech." Minns shows his closed mind.
Has Albo become the "real Nowhere Man"? "He's as blind as he can be, just sees what he wants to see, Nowhere man can you see me at all?" The pain of First Australians remains raw.
The national sorry day re Bondi contrasts with the current position of indigenous Australians. Let us have open discussions about history past and present.
Well put, Les. We get mealy- mouthed utterances from Albo's star-studded line-up while remaining firmly up the collective arses of Uncle Sam, Netanyahu and the Zionazi lobby. 'Straya', the gutless country. And don't get me started on AUKUS. AUKUS? FUKUS.
Here in Australia we actually have no rights. Even our much vaunted 'Right of political discussion' is only 'Implied' in a single High Court ruling. It would not surprise me if some ambitious, avaricious, bottom feeding law firm was hired to try and overturn that ruling.
"That kind of arrogant, abusive authoritarianism deserves nothing but ferocious defiance."
Ferocious defiance--that's what we ALL need today... We need it to overturn the global fascist empire and bring the power to the people.
I'm so sorry that there isn't a Bill of Rights in Australia, but it sounds like it's time to agitate for one. But can't you just shut up Mr. Minns since HE doesn't have any rights to free speech, either? (Maybe just tape his fat mouth up... Yeah, I know politicians hate being gagged, but it's often necessary.)
As I stated before, we need to start using slogans and coded words to descrine Israel and those Jews who support this terrorist state. Jewish lobby groups will be out there demanding thier withdrawal and seen as a hate crime. When our government starts to ban words and slogans, they will look very stupid indeed
Have you read Orwell's 1984? That's what the Govt. did - ban common words - hence newspeak and doublespeak. They (the Govt.) don't care about 'looking stupid' as long as they have the power to control people.
Good grief. So you’re saying the people of Minneapolis should start blasting away at ICE goons? Yeah, that’ll work.
People have to be willing to put themselves in harms way via mass nonviolent civil disobedience, à la Gandhi and MLK, to break the back of tyranny by turning the majority against it.
Thinking a personal arsenal, or even militias of personal arsenals, will will win out against Palantir, drones, and the military hardware of a tyrannical government is ludicrous.
I'm all for nonviolent civil disobedience, but people who are completely disarmed pose zero threat to tyrannical governments. However, if people are armed, it will give the tyrants pause, because there are many more of us than there are of them. and there is always such a thing as the breaking point of a society. What you propose is nothing short of national suicide of a bunch of sheep. You are making the mistake of thinking that governments are benevolent instead of malevolent. No wars have ever been won by disarmed peoples.
Yeah, because life is all about winning wars for you Manichaean lickspittles. What you propose, is, in fact, the national suicide, and we’re living it here in the apple pie USofA. ICE, cop killers, school shootings, assassinations, mass casualty events. We’re awash with guns, and that has posed zero threat to what has been a tyrannical imperialist government for the entirety of my 70+-year lifetime. Grow up.
You sure like to demean and insult. You must be related to Trump. Makes you feel better, does it? That is one of the characteristics of a narcissist and you sure sound like one.
You don't offer anything insightful, just insults with nothing to back it up.
Go away and stop bothering me with your stupid gaslighting.
I found this little 1800s dity: it appears as if Almost any country could be substituted :/
Where is the flag of England, go north,south,east, or west. Where ever there's wealth to plunder, or lands to be possessed! Where ever there's feeble races to frighten, coerce or scare. You'll find the butchers apron, the English flag is there!!
Considering today's world conflicts and genocides I substituted the US, and Israel. As Venezuela, Greenland,Iran, and Gaza would surely agree.
Oh how quickly we forget! Julian Aussange was severely persecuted by the US for speech. It is forbidden to speak truth about the Israeli lobby, Genocide and much more. The US governments whole reason to be is to protect and defend the Rights of the people. As is common with government those rights are just easily mitigated when they stand in the way of Power, wealth, greed and war. The US is to my understanding the most propagandized population on Earth. Corruption and endless debt, endless war and support of Genocide go nearly unaddressed because the people are NOT FREE we are under the illusion of freedom and that suffices for most Americans as long as their TV lies to them , their politicians lie to them and the bread and circuses continue. Cognitive dissonance abounds.
"If Australians had the same speech protections that they have in the United States, we could appeal tyrannical new laws on First Amendment grounds."
I'm sure others have mentioned this, but the bill of rights has been progressively whittled to mere paper rights since the US became an Imperialist power. This takes the form of many "carve outs" or exceptions allowing the ruling class to abrogate those rights. In this case, they've invented a new category of law to deal with "hate crimes" and "hate speech". These laws were naturally passed very easily as they appear anti racist and anti sexist at first blush. In practice, they are used to protect the reputation of genocidal Israel in the US. Any crique of the state of Israel is held to be an attack on the Jewish minority and antisemitic. If someone is accused of a crime against a Jewish person, the prosecutor will reflexively include hate crime enhancements to the accusation which boosts the amount of jail time the Defendant faces. Again on its face, it seems fine. However, for the crime of "criminal threats" in many states of the US one can be charged for merely saying words that make the "victim" feel they could in the future suffer serious bodily injury or death. As we have seen, Jewish supporters of Israel will falsely allege such "feelings" of fear based on nothing but their desire to silence all criticism of the genocide. Yes, one may appeal this abuse of our right to free speech, but you will be pleading your case to a judge that strongly identified with one of two Imperialist genocidal parties: Democrat or Republican. When it comes to Israel both are absolutely subservient. That judge will also have a menu of exceptions ready made to deny your appeal.
Suppose you do have a "bill of rights". So what? It's just a piece of paper. Who gives a shit what they wrote on it? You don't need anyone's permission to speak. Stop playing their game.
When the killer says to the future executee, put your hands behind your back, walk over there, kneel down; I always wonder why the victim complies. You’re going to kill me anyway right. So fuck you, I’m not making it easy for you.
You’re right, compliance with many of these rules is voluntary.
The censoring favoring fascist thugs can, that's right, fuck right off. We'll say WTF we want, speech based on objective facts and the mother fucking truth. You Zionist Muslim hating racist supremacists don't like the truth? Too fucking bad. Eat shit and drop dead. Fuckers
This is because the first thing a kidnapper does is gag the victim so they cannot sound the alarm...If speaking out feels dangerous now, just imagine how much more dangerous it will get should we stay silent.
"Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech." —Benjamin Franklin
"At no time in history were the ones censoring speech the good guys." —RFK Jr.
"No right was deemed by the fathers of the government more sacred than the right of speech. It was in their eyes, as in the eyes of all thoughtful men, the great moral renovator of society and government." —Frederick Douglass
Because:
"Why should freedom of speech and freedom of press be allowed? Why should a government which is doing what it believes to be right allow itself to be criticized? It would not allow opposition by lethal weapons. Ideas are much more fatal things than guns. Why should any man be allowed to buy a printing press and disseminate pernicious opinions calculated to embarrass the government?" —Vladimir Lenin
"Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins." —Benjamin Franklin
“Why should any man be allowed to buy a printing press and disseminate pernicious opinions calculated to embarrass the government?"
It’s very interesting to try to trace the origins of this quote. Apparently it come from a diary entry by George Riddell, which contains this quotes, but does not clearly show the antecedent of the “he” who is said to have said it.
The two men in question were Lenin and Churchill. I leave it to you to decide which of the two this sounds more like, if it’s distinguishable at all.
Those two men, and the thousands who subsequently agree and think in such manner, are human, and thus flawed.
A state that fears exposure does not govern, it supervises.
Yes, Yes, Yes....thank you for posting...YES!
"nor am I aware of any such nation that has done away with a bill of rights once it has been put in place.”
Well Prof. Williams of Melbourne U., I hate to disagree. It may still exist here in the US in documentary form and in theory. But in practice? -- Not so much.
Yes, in "The Practice", that is where our rights exist, they are not in the paper nor in words written.
"A normal, healthy person would look at Australia’s lack of free speech protections and say “Hmm, Australian leaders should be extremely resistant to new laws and policies which restrict speech then, because it would be very easy for those restrictions to become abusive.”
Australian leaders look at our lack of free speech protections and say “See? This means we get to take away your right to protest genocide!”"
Like most other countries, Australia is ruled over by sociopaths.
Anyway, a Bill of Rights or whatever is worth anything, only if and to the extent that it can be enforced.
Yet, a Jewish woman can sue a person, because of a blank message that she, a non-semitic person considers was anti-semitic. I get phone calls that leave no messages every day, I don't run to the police and take is far as the courts because these non-messages could be anti-Scots, or anti-Australian. Talk about desperate for exposure. I hope she has lost any customers she could have had before she did this, and even jewish customers leave.
its just baby steps in setting up an international legal framework that sets the "jew" as a "superior being" to the "goyim"
its called "noahide" and its already embedded in american legislation, being currently added to Canadian legislation and will likely start appearing in other countries... unless stopped
the noahide "laws" allow for the "jew" to do all sorts of crimes without punishment, yet for the "gentile" the standard sentence is death by decapitation... most especially if a "jew" feels harmed by the actions of a goy..
when seen in the correct context its actually the latter stages of a world take over by a hostile life form, and whilst the majority fail to see it this way the majority are doomed...
but hey, let the "jew" explain in its own language:
https://www.brighteon.com/2a126689-9ac4-4e87-a465-e0975a4efcfc
as has been oft mentioned through history truth is often stranger than fiction, but this is one truth a very large amount of people need to wake up to
Only to the extent that the majority of the populace believes in it, and that they retain and are willing to show their power in whatever forms necessary to enforce it.
Humans are herd animals to rival any sheep or dog.
Adorable he pretends USA has a constitution that’s still applicable… sorry you’re as fucked as USA
The lack of free speech means Australians can no longer talk about the colonialist settlers in this country and their actions to wipe out first people. Is that sobering enough!
Colonialists wrote about their actions proudly. Their attempt to complete the genocide failed.
The Federal Labor government has now introduced laws to ban those who speak about Australian history based on facts of what took place.
Fast forward to 2026, Israel is attempting the complete genocide of Palestinians (and others). At the behest of the perpetrators, the Australian Government has banned speaking about Palestine and genocide activities because an insignificant part of the current Australian population gets hurt feelings when the genocide is discussed.
We must reflect deeply about First Australians in this discussion about "free speech." Minns shows his closed mind.
Has Albo become the "real Nowhere Man"? "He's as blind as he can be, just sees what he wants to see, Nowhere man can you see me at all?" The pain of First Australians remains raw.
The national sorry day re Bondi contrasts with the current position of indigenous Australians. Let us have open discussions about history past and present.
Well put, Les. We get mealy- mouthed utterances from Albo's star-studded line-up while remaining firmly up the collective arses of Uncle Sam, Netanyahu and the Zionazi lobby. 'Straya', the gutless country. And don't get me started on AUKUS. AUKUS? FUKUS.
FUKUS - absolutely!!!
Our (HUMAN) Rights were given to us by Our Creator.......which means that NO ONE, including 'government', can take them away!!
If ANYONE ('govt') states that they have POWER over you, challenge them!
If they BELIEVE that they do, remind them that SLAVERY (the OWNERSHIP of another Human, by a Human), is UNLAWFUL!!
Does Australia have Slavery Laws?
If so, then SUE the 'Slave Master(s)'!
(after one has filed criminal charges, of course)
Here in Australia we actually have no rights. Even our much vaunted 'Right of political discussion' is only 'Implied' in a single High Court ruling. It would not surprise me if some ambitious, avaricious, bottom feeding law firm was hired to try and overturn that ruling.
"That kind of arrogant, abusive authoritarianism deserves nothing but ferocious defiance."
Ferocious defiance--that's what we ALL need today... We need it to overturn the global fascist empire and bring the power to the people.
I'm so sorry that there isn't a Bill of Rights in Australia, but it sounds like it's time to agitate for one. But can't you just shut up Mr. Minns since HE doesn't have any rights to free speech, either? (Maybe just tape his fat mouth up... Yeah, I know politicians hate being gagged, but it's often necessary.)
Love the suggestion TRC, I really wish we could gag ALL the politicians!
As I stated before, we need to start using slogans and coded words to descrine Israel and those Jews who support this terrorist state. Jewish lobby groups will be out there demanding thier withdrawal and seen as a hate crime. When our government starts to ban words and slogans, they will look very stupid indeed
Have you read Orwell's 1984? That's what the Govt. did - ban common words - hence newspeak and doublespeak. They (the Govt.) don't care about 'looking stupid' as long as they have the power to control people.
If you want freedom of speech, you first need the weaponry to defend yourself from tyranny. Without guns, you have no way to do that.
Good grief. So you’re saying the people of Minneapolis should start blasting away at ICE goons? Yeah, that’ll work.
People have to be willing to put themselves in harms way via mass nonviolent civil disobedience, à la Gandhi and MLK, to break the back of tyranny by turning the majority against it.
Thinking a personal arsenal, or even militias of personal arsenals, will will win out against Palantir, drones, and the military hardware of a tyrannical government is ludicrous.
I'm all for nonviolent civil disobedience, but people who are completely disarmed pose zero threat to tyrannical governments. However, if people are armed, it will give the tyrants pause, because there are many more of us than there are of them. and there is always such a thing as the breaking point of a society. What you propose is nothing short of national suicide of a bunch of sheep. You are making the mistake of thinking that governments are benevolent instead of malevolent. No wars have ever been won by disarmed peoples.
Yeah, because life is all about winning wars for you Manichaean lickspittles. What you propose, is, in fact, the national suicide, and we’re living it here in the apple pie USofA. ICE, cop killers, school shootings, assassinations, mass casualty events. We’re awash with guns, and that has posed zero threat to what has been a tyrannical imperialist government for the entirety of my 70+-year lifetime. Grow up.
Yeah, and at some point you're going to be begging one of your gun owning neighbors to save your sorry ass.
You are completely historically ignorant and willfully blind. Good luck when the SHTF.
I own a couple guns, nimrod, and will be much better off than most when climate chaos arrives, and tshtf, not that that will make much difference.
I can run circles around your historical stupidity; but the fallacious assertion was good for a laugh. Go back to your sandbox.
You sure like to demean and insult. You must be related to Trump. Makes you feel better, does it? That is one of the characteristics of a narcissist and you sure sound like one.
You don't offer anything insightful, just insults with nothing to back it up.
Go away and stop bothering me with your stupid gaslighting.
I found this little 1800s dity: it appears as if Almost any country could be substituted :/
Where is the flag of England, go north,south,east, or west. Where ever there's wealth to plunder, or lands to be possessed! Where ever there's feeble races to frighten, coerce or scare. You'll find the butchers apron, the English flag is there!!
Considering today's world conflicts and genocides I substituted the US, and Israel. As Venezuela, Greenland,Iran, and Gaza would surely agree.
Oh how quickly we forget! Julian Aussange was severely persecuted by the US for speech. It is forbidden to speak truth about the Israeli lobby, Genocide and much more. The US governments whole reason to be is to protect and defend the Rights of the people. As is common with government those rights are just easily mitigated when they stand in the way of Power, wealth, greed and war. The US is to my understanding the most propagandized population on Earth. Corruption and endless debt, endless war and support of Genocide go nearly unaddressed because the people are NOT FREE we are under the illusion of freedom and that suffices for most Americans as long as their TV lies to them , their politicians lie to them and the bread and circuses continue. Cognitive dissonance abounds.
"If Australians had the same speech protections that they have in the United States, we could appeal tyrannical new laws on First Amendment grounds."
I'm sure others have mentioned this, but the bill of rights has been progressively whittled to mere paper rights since the US became an Imperialist power. This takes the form of many "carve outs" or exceptions allowing the ruling class to abrogate those rights. In this case, they've invented a new category of law to deal with "hate crimes" and "hate speech". These laws were naturally passed very easily as they appear anti racist and anti sexist at first blush. In practice, they are used to protect the reputation of genocidal Israel in the US. Any crique of the state of Israel is held to be an attack on the Jewish minority and antisemitic. If someone is accused of a crime against a Jewish person, the prosecutor will reflexively include hate crime enhancements to the accusation which boosts the amount of jail time the Defendant faces. Again on its face, it seems fine. However, for the crime of "criminal threats" in many states of the US one can be charged for merely saying words that make the "victim" feel they could in the future suffer serious bodily injury or death. As we have seen, Jewish supporters of Israel will falsely allege such "feelings" of fear based on nothing but their desire to silence all criticism of the genocide. Yes, one may appeal this abuse of our right to free speech, but you will be pleading your case to a judge that strongly identified with one of two Imperialist genocidal parties: Democrat or Republican. When it comes to Israel both are absolutely subservient. That judge will also have a menu of exceptions ready made to deny your appeal.
May Australians be as ferocious in defending their rights, and as determinedly non violent, as the people of Minnesota.
Suppose you do have a "bill of rights". So what? It's just a piece of paper. Who gives a shit what they wrote on it? You don't need anyone's permission to speak. Stop playing their game.
When the killer says to the future executee, put your hands behind your back, walk over there, kneel down; I always wonder why the victim complies. You’re going to kill me anyway right. So fuck you, I’m not making it easy for you.
You’re right, compliance with many of these rules is voluntary.
The censoring favoring fascist thugs can, that's right, fuck right off. We'll say WTF we want, speech based on objective facts and the mother fucking truth. You Zionist Muslim hating racist supremacists don't like the truth? Too fucking bad. Eat shit and drop dead. Fuckers