God 
This is what fascist propaganda looks like.
Vicki Kyriakakis@godpod What. In the heck. Is this guy smoking?
Zelensky LITERALLY in his speech just talked about Christmas.
Tucker sure is keen to prove definitively that he's a RUSSIAN asset.
Nona Rose@VickiKyriakakis @godpod you assume anyone who watches tucker is actually going to watch Zelensky’s speech?
@nona80_swanette @godpod No. Just stunned at the level of dishonesty and bile and lying. I don’t have words for these people anymore.
Kim Spence-Jones #FBPE@VickiKyriakakis @nona80_swanette @godpod
This is why I think the most important reform we need — even above PR — is a law criminalising “deliberately or recklessly misleading the public”. I include ‘Recklessly’, because “I didn’t know…” should not be a defence for the bullshitters, if the truth is easily ascertained.
If voters are not told the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, their votes mean nothing. When politicians (and the media) get away with lying, democracy is dead.
Gabriel@KimSJ @VickiKyriakakis @nona80_swanette @godpod thats a slippery slope… What if the regulators resulting from this law are corrupted by partisanship? If something we learn from the last few years is that ‘truth is not truth’ is a valid argument for many
@gabotuit If the courts can no longer be trusted to determine truth, then we are in a really dark place! The US is dangerously close to that point, with judges like Cannon and Thomas. Fortunately, the judiciary in UK has always been less politically influenced.
iluXan 🤣@gabotuit @KimSJ I used to think hate speech and outright lies have to be banned and stopped. I’m just a guy off the internet, but there are very good examples why that can really turn bad
This article makes a strong argument - https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/09/28/why-we-must-still-defend-free-speech/ - every kind of speech can be deemed “hate” against someone, even if the original laws are intended to protect it. Have been expanding my perspective slowly
Why We Must Still Defend Free Speech | David Cole
Many have asked why the ACLU represented Jason Kessler, the organizer of the white supremacist rally, in challenging Charlottesville’s last-minute effort to revoke his permit. The city proposed to move his rally a mile from its originally approved site—Emancipation Park, the location of the Robert E. Lee monument whose removal Kessler sought to protest—but offered no reason why the protest would be any easier to manage a mile away. As ACLU offices across the country have done for thousands of marchers for almost a century, the ACLU of Virginia gave Kessler legal help to preserve his permit. Should the fatal violence that followed prompt recalibration of the scope of free speech?
@iluxan I think that’s bullshit. The ‘average man’ knows when stuff is hate speech. Pretending that we can’t distinguish good from bad is what has got us into this mess. The ultimate ‘both sides ism”
Trae Horton@trae Yeah, actually so do I, but we’ve got off down a sidetrack. If you read back the thread, what I’m advocating is a law not against hate speech, but against ‘misleading the public’ — lies, and irresponsible bullshit. That would have some effect on hate speech, but it would have a far bigger effect on preserving democracy (and public health, as a bonus). It’s a lot easier for courts to adjudicate on, too.
@KimSJ @trae you’re right. I didn’t reply because I meant (and started) to try to find some reading on trying to find some past attempts at this and how it worked. I didn’t get far yet, been low energy lately. I imagine it could also be hard to define, but hoping I’m wrong. I mean, there are laws against medical malpractice, and those are probably quite broad too