The Jimmy Kimmel suspension and return has felt more rapturous than the alleged Rapture was. And as understandable as it is that it has grabbed many people’s attention, it isn’t the only huge attempt at chilling free speech that happened this week. On Monday, the White House announced an executive order that designates “antifa” (short for anti-fascist) as a domestic terrorist organization. There’s the obvious: anti-fascism isn’t an organization — there’s no chain of command or locus of operation that an organization would require to function. It is merely an idea — if you’re against a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition — you’re an anti-fascist. You’d also, for a good part of our country’s history, be doing your part as a patriot. No, this is a practical call to awareness that the government is using executive orders as a cudgel to free speech, and you might be next.
Recently, a man in Tennessee was arrested over Facebook posts about Charlie Kirk. The Tennessean has coverage:
[Charlie Bushart] has been arrested and charged with threat of mass violence in connection to a series of social media posts he made about conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
…
Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems told The Tennessean in a statement that participants on the page were planning to host a Charlie Kirk vigil in Linden, Tennessee on Sept. 23.Bushart posted multiple photos in the comments referencing Charlie Kirk’s death, which Weems called “hate memes,” but stated were “not against the law and would be recognized as free speech.”
The meme that seemed to get Bushart in trouble included a direct quote from Trump responding to a question about school shootings by saying, “We have to get over [them].” That was enough to make people think that he was talking about a hypothetical school shooting and that he intended to “create hysteria within the community.” What a fucking reach! If only police departments were this vigilant whenever a victim of domestic abuse warns the department that they’re being stalked or that someone is directing threats toward them.
The arrest speaks to how easy it would be for the government to use social media as a surveillance tool to gauge if the thoughts we share fall out of line. And considering the recent antifa classification, saying something as simple as “The president and the media’s insistence on blaming Charlie Kirk’s murder on a left-wing ‘they’ before there was any shred of motive was an obvious attempt to create division that, like de-legitimizing the free press as fake, were tactics shared by Nazi Germany” could get you put on a list for supporting terrorism. Thank God that was just a lengthy hypothetical, by the way.
The go-to thought would be: Well, that’s good advice for people who were dumb enough to say anything involving Charlie Kirk. I’m smart enough to not get caught up in that. Good for you, but the antifa hunt will be going back further than whatever has been said in the last two weeks:
If you’re reading this and you’re one of the people who donated to Mangione’s GoFundMe to help ensure that he was able to afford a fair trial, you may want to make sure that your donation was anonymous. Given the leeway required to read Jimmy Kimmel’s joke about Trump’s architectural pivot as “deplorable” and “disgraceful” — even by a Republican who was supporting his right to say it on the air — it isn’t too much of a push for the state to argue that anyone who tweeted a pro-Mangione message, let alone donated to his legal defense fund, materially benefited a “terrorist.” The scare quotes are there because a New York judge literally threw out the terrorism charges on the basis that the evidence wasn’t strong enough, but I doubt that a little thing like “facts” will prevent the title from flying around.
What’s next on the domestic terrorism qualification list? Any post critical of ICE? It’s a dangerous downward slope for free speech and multimillionaire late night show hosts aren’t the only ones that should be worried about sliding down it.
Tennessee Man Arrested In Connection To Charlie Kirk Social Media Posts [The Tennessean]
Earlier: Luigi Mangione Pulls $300K From Grassroots Funds To Bolster His Case
Luigi Mangione’s Terrorism Charges Recently Dismissed
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim, is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
The post ‘We’re All Jimmy Kimmel’ Could Hit A Little Closer To Home Than You Think appeared first on Above the Law.
The Jimmy Kimmel suspension and return has felt more rapturous than the alleged Rapture was. And as understandable as it is that it has grabbed many people’s attention, it isn’t the only huge attempt at chilling free speech that happened this week. On Monday, the White House announced an executive order that designates “antifa” (short for anti-fascist) as a domestic terrorist organization. There’s the obvious: anti-fascism isn’t an organization — there’s no chain of command or locus of operation that an organization would require to function. It is merely an idea — if you’re against a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition — you’re an anti-fascist. You’d also, for a good part of our country’s history, be doing your part as a patriot. No, this is a practical call to awareness that the government is using executive orders as a cudgel to free speech, and you might be next.
Recently, a man in Tennessee was arrested over Facebook posts about Charlie Kirk. The Tennessean has coverage:
[Charlie Bushart] has been arrested and charged with threat of mass violence in connection to a series of social media posts he made about conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
…
Perry County Sheriff Nick Weems told The Tennessean in a statement that participants on the page were planning to host a Charlie Kirk vigil in Linden, Tennessee on Sept. 23.Bushart posted multiple photos in the comments referencing Charlie Kirk’s death, which Weems called “hate memes,” but stated were “not against the law and would be recognized as free speech.”
The meme that seemed to get Bushart in trouble included a direct quote from Trump responding to a question about school shootings by saying, “We have to get over [them].” That was enough to make people think that he was talking about a hypothetical school shooting and that he intended to “create hysteria within the community.” What a fucking reach! If only police departments were this vigilant whenever a victim of domestic abuse warns the department that they’re being stalked or that someone is directing threats toward them.
The arrest speaks to how easy it would be for the government to use social media as a surveillance tool to gauge if the thoughts we share fall out of line. And considering the recent antifa classification, saying something as simple as “The president and the media’s insistence on blaming Charlie Kirk’s murder on a left-wing ‘they’ before there was any shred of motive was an obvious attempt to create division that, like de-legitimizing the free press as fake, were tactics shared by Nazi Germany” could get you put on a list for supporting terrorism. Thank God that was just a lengthy hypothetical, by the way.
The go-to thought would be: Well, that’s good advice for people who were dumb enough to say anything involving Charlie Kirk. I’m smart enough to not get caught up in that. Good for you, but the antifa hunt will be going back further than whatever has been said in the last two weeks:
If you’re reading this and you’re one of the people who donated to Mangione’s GoFundMe to help ensure that he was able to afford a fair trial, you may want to make sure that your donation was anonymous. Given the leeway required to read Jimmy Kimmel’s joke about Trump’s architectural pivot as “deplorable” and “disgraceful” — even by a Republican who was supporting his right to say it on the air — it isn’t too much of a push for the state to argue that anyone who tweeted a pro-Mangione message, let alone donated to his legal defense fund, materially benefited a “terrorist.” The scare quotes are there because a New York judge literally threw out the terrorism charges on the basis that the evidence wasn’t strong enough, but I doubt that a little thing like “facts” will prevent the title from flying around.
What’s next on the domestic terrorism qualification list? Any post critical of ICE? It’s a dangerous downward slope for free speech and multimillionaire late night show hosts aren’t the only ones that should be worried about sliding down it.
Tennessee Man Arrested In Connection To Charlie Kirk Social Media Posts [The Tennessean]
Earlier: Luigi Mangione Pulls $300K From Grassroots Funds To Bolster His Case
Luigi Mangione’s Terrorism Charges Recently Dismissed
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim, is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
