Conservative author and pundit Mark Steyn said Wednesday that the enemies of free speech are gaining influence around the western world and have “openly mocked” First Amendment rights.
“Today free speech is openly mocked as some kind of the right-wing fetish,” Steyn told Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” “On the other side, they regard an ever-expanding range of topics as there being a correct view. And once that view has been established, there is no need for the further discussion on it.”
Steyn said a wide range of topics like climate change Islamic extremism, same-sex marriage or transgender participation in women’s sports are now subject to a “settled view and once we’ve settled it we no longer need to debate it.” (RELATED: ‘With Lockdowns, ‘Thanksgiving Is A Class C Misdemeanour,’ Says Mark Steyn)
“The problem is there are an ever-expanding range of issues that are added to that list.”
Steyn, who has battled government attempts to muzzle “hate speech” in Canada, said the trend to censor has expanded to the United States, the U.K., Australia and Europe. He noted the “malign alliance” between governments and Big Tech.
“We are moving into a literally Orwellian world,” he said, noting that “experts” close to President Joe Biden have reportedly suggested he establish a federal “reality control” agency with a “reality czar” in control.
“These people are so unself-aware and frankly so illiterate that they don’t even realize these are tired ideas they are lifting from a 70-year-old indictment of the totalitarian state,” Steyn said in reference to George Orwell’s novel “1984.” (RELATED: Mark Steyn Says Presidential Debate Was ‘Locked Down In Boredom’)
President Joe Biden walks to the White House residence upon exiting Marine One on Jan. 29, 2021 in Washington, DC. President Biden traveled to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to visit with wounded service members. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
He said the word “disinformation” has become whatever the government decides it is. “What’s the information you are dissing? It’s official information. Ministry of information information.” Steyn insisted that journalists are not only increasingly accepting of censorship but actively encouraging it.
CNN’s “Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter on Sunday defended Big Tech’s “harm reduction model” for regulating communication and said it was not an infringement upon free speech.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis attacked the “Big Tech cartel” Tuesday with a law that would impose fines of up to $100,000 for social media gains that deplatform a political leader.