This sounds like an anecdote but the story below reflects perfectly how free speech is being destroyed in Europe one battle at a time. The fact that this is happening in Switzerland itself is symbolic since it used to be "the" most conservative country in Europe thanks to its no nonsense direct democratic system where on most issues people are asked to vote. So what happened?
In a nutshell, relentless propaganda from the medias did the trick. By suppressing opposite opinions and conversely promoting pro-DEI and LGBT views, in the end, the populations of every single European countries ended up brain-washed and believing whatever they were being told. "War is peace" and therefore sending more weapons to Ukraine will definitively promote peace. "Free speech is dangerous" and therefore should and is actively being throttled all over the place on the continent, especially in the UK.
The question is why? On the surface it looks like a slow drift over the years where new generations emerge with new aspirations and beliefs. The "winds" of social ideas do indeed blow in haphazard directions which are difficult to predict in advance. Fair enough. But social sciences developed in the 1920s also told us that these forces were not so difficult to harness for those who had the means and determination to do so.
This was done forcefully in the 1930s with the disastrous consequences of war, but likewise more recently, the knowledge has been refined and improved so that powerful people and organizations can now yield that power to promote their ideologies very efficiently.
The Internet was supposed initially to help diverse ideas bloom although eventually through trial and errors, most countries and power centers found the way to control information and limit the spread of unapproved ideas.
This is why we have now countries in Europe like Germany, France and the UK where leaders with abysmal support run policies opposed by the vast majority of their constituents. It just doesn't matter anymore. People are left with no voice to fight ideologies they do not approve with terrible social and economic results. In earlier times, there would have been revolutions. Now the political systems have learned to manage expectations thanks to the medias and what we get instead is decadence. Crashing economies, especially visible in Germany since the country was the industrial powerhouse of Europe and unraveling societies, with dejected populations left adrift with no beliefs or hopes.
Switzerland was famous (or infamous) for staying neutral in World War II. It simply would not take a side between the Nazis and the rest of the world.
However, when it comes to free speech, Switzerland has declared war on anyone who challenges certain orthodox positions, including gender policies.
Just ask Emanuel Brünisholz.
Brünisholz is reportedly about to start a 10-day prison stint due to his voicing skepticism about claims that skeletons are transgender.
There is very little coverage of this story. Free speech cases are often downplayed by European media. So, we have only limited information coming from conservative sites.
In 2022, he responded to a Facebook post by Swiss National Council member Andreas Glarner on the controversy. Some, including academics in the United States, are now claiming that you really cannot gauge the sex of individuals from their skeletons.
The wind-instrument repairman thought that such claims were unfounded and posted a comment that said, “If you dig up LGBTQI people after 200 years, you’ll only find men and women based on their skeletons. Everything else is a mental illness promoted through the curriculum.”
Brünisholz then received a knock on his door from the Burgdorf police and then a prosecution letter for engaging in “hate speech” and “publicly belittling” comments based on sexual orientation under the Swiss Criminal Code. He was convicted and fined 500 Swiss Francs.
If true, this sounds like just another absurd use of a criminal charge to silence those with opposing views. However, a court actually convicted him and then another court upheld the conviction. He was ordered to pay a fine or go to jail. He is now going to jail for simply expressing his view, a view supported by many scientists and citizens.
The court adopted an exceptionally broad definition of the protected class under Swiss law:
“LGBTQI means lesbian, gay, bi, transgender, queer and intersex, and denotes therefore different sexual orientations. It’s a loose group of people who consider themselves a part of the aforementioned sexual orientations. Therefore, LGBTQI is a group of people with specific sexual orientations.”
The case is only the latest example of how free speech is in a free fall in Europe. I spoke in Berlin at the World Forum, where European leaders gathered in one of the most strikingly anti-free speech conferences I have attended. This year’s forum embraced the slogan “A New World Order with European Values.” That “new world order” is based on an aggressive anti-free speech platform that has been enforced for years by the European Union.
Many Americans are allied with the EU and attempting to introduce such anti-free speech laws in the United States.
Others are speaking in Europe and inviting the EU to hit U.S. companies with sanctions for failing to censor Americans.
Yet, there remain brave free speech advocates and groups still struggling to restore this indispensable right to their countries. By going to jail, Brünisholz is bringing needed attention to the crackdown on free speech in that country.
Despite the disgraceful role of the courts in this effort, citizens like Brünisholz show that the cause of free speech is alive in Europe.
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