Britain Moves to Criminalize Reading Extremist Material on the Internet
It&#x27;s an unpopular view but I think this is a good start.<p>Why? Violence is supported and enabled by the narratives people use to justify it. Some element of policing &amp; countering the narrative is going to control ideas that embolden people to commit crimes or to harm others.<p>It&#x27;s really no different than saying the way we talk about women, or PoC, or gender, or sex helps constructs the reality of how we behave. A lot of people are already shouldering the burden of trying to police and counter how other people speak and think, but they are often not backed up by legislation in doing so.<p>Trying to stamp out the wrong ways people talk and think about other people is part of making a society that is more free and just.<p>I think actually in this case 1984 has the unfortunate chilling effect of making it so easy to equate any sort of control with dire, evil and illogical totalitarian government. It&#x27;s the sort of &quot;short circuited&quot; thinking that i think impedes people actually thinking clearly or deeply or even at all about these things. In that sense, having neat metaphors from literature to reach for actually harms the public discourse, because it is silenced before it can start.<p>We do need to be talking about these things, and looking at them, not stereotyping and simplifying them, so I think a proposed piece of legislation is a good start and a sign that people are waking up to the importance of the stories we tell each other about who we are, and what&#x27;s okay, in shaping and normalizing the culture and society we have.