More state power, not free speech, the likeliest we-are-Charlie result
Source: CBC News
By Neil Macdonald
Well, everyone must at least feel better now, having chanted and declared for days that we're all Charlie.
... The leaders of several governments were in fact marching right up front with them in Paris over the weekend, which was a wonderful photo op, but really a bit rich given some of the alliances and the practices that some of those nations are involved in. ... The fact is, even Western governments are never terribly enthusiastic about free speech, or at least speech they find inconvenient.
... Western governments are, however, quite interested in enforcement and security, and that, not more speech, is the order of the day once again. ... Clearly, the ultimate answer to the Charlie Hebdo massacre will not be freer speech. It will be a mostly secret intensification of police power, with attendant shrinkage of individual freedoms.
And we will all be told not to worry: If you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/more-state-power-not-free-speech-the-likeliest-we-are-charlie-result-1.2898354
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