This article originally appeared on WND.com
Guest by post by Bob Unruh
Free speech expert warns ‘the desire to silence others has become as insatiable appetite.’
In France, part of the so-called civilized West, human rights and freedom have been protected for generations, but that nation apparently has exited that group.
Because it now has censored speech to the point it is illegal to say that abortion, which causes the death of the unborn every single time the process fulfills its goal, is a “cause of death.”
The analysis comes from free speech expert Jonathan Turley, who is a constitutional expert who has testified before Congress, and represented members, on related issues.
He’s also released a new book, “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
He points out that for generations, France’s call to patriotism has been “liberté, égalité, fraternité,” or Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
“However, in today’s France, ‘liberté’ is no longer valued. Individual rights of religion and speech are routinely sacrificed in the name of ‘equity’ and ‘fraternity,” he warned.
“We have long discussed the collapse of free speech values in France as the left criminalizes an ever-widening scope of opposing viewpoints,” he explained. “Conservative groups are denouncing a new such case targeting conservative media. CNEWS was fined and forced to apologize on air after a journalist referred to abortion as the world’s leading cause of death.”
He explained a presenter on CNEWS., which is owned by Catholic businessman Vincent Bolloré, recently broadcast a graphic on the causes of death that put abortion on top, with 73 million deaths worldwide each year.
Cancer was ranked second at 10 million and smoking followed at 6.2 million.
Turley pointed out Arcom, the French media regulators, immediately “imposed a fine of 100,000 euros and compelled CNEWS to apologize on the air. It was the full monty of censorship, combining a penalty with compelled speech. Arcom found that the network had failed its ‘obligation of honesty and rigor in the presentation and processing of information.’ It declared that ‘Abortion cannot be presented as a cause of death.’”
That, Turley noted, is in spite of the obvious, that “many people around the world view abortion as the death of a human being.”
But leftists “went ballistic,” and now in France “It is now a violation of law to call abortion a cause of death.”
Turley said the attitude of banning the truth actually wasn’t surprising.
“France has been a leader in the rollback on free speech in the West with ever widening laws curtailing free speech. These laws criminalize speech under vague standards referring to ‘inciting’ or ‘intimidating’ others based on race or religion,” he said.
He cited the case of the father of French conservative presidential candidate Marine Le Pen who was fined because he had called people from the Roma minority “smelly” and the charge against a teenager who said Islam was a “religion of hate.”
Turley said free speech is in a free fall across Europe.
“The desire to silence others has now become an insatiable appetite,” he said.
Copyright 2024 WND News Center
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