{"id":233388,"date":"2021-05-04T07:13:17","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T07:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=233388"},"modified":"2021-05-06T07:14:25","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T07:14:25","slug":"the-criminalization-of-dissent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=233388","title":{"rendered":"The Criminalization of Dissent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Above: Flu pandemic 1918<\/p>\n

CJ Hopkins \u2013 The Consent Factory May 3, 2021<\/strong><\/h1>\n

One of the hallmarks of totalitarian systems is the criminalization of dissent. Not just the stigmatization of dissent or the demonization of dissent, but the formal criminalization of dissent, and any other type of opposition to the official ideology of the totalitarian system. Global capitalism has been inching its way toward this step for quite some time, and now, apparently, it is ready to take it.<\/h4>\n

Germany has been leading the way. For over a year, anyone questioning or protesting the \u201cCovid emergency measures\u201d or the official Covid-19 narrative has been demonized by the government and the media, and, sadly, but not completely unexpectedly, the majority of the German public. And now such dissent is officially \u201cextremism.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Yes, that\u2019s right, in \u201cNew Normal\u201d Germany, if you dissent from the official state ideology, you are now officially a dangerous \u201cextremist.\u201d The German Intelligence agency (the \u201cBfV\u201d) has even invented a new category of \u201cextremists\u201d in order to allow themselves to legally monitor anyone suspected of being \u201canti-democratic and\/or delegitimizing the state in a way that endangers security,\u201d like \u2026 you know, non-violently protesting, or speaking out against, or criticizing, or satirizing, the so-called \u201cNew Normal.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Naturally, I\u2019m a little worried, as I have engaged in most of these \u201cextremist\u201d activities. My thoughtcrimes are just sitting there on the Internet waiting to be scrutinized by the BfV. They\u2019re probably Google-translating this column right now, compiling a list of all the people reading it, and their Facebook friends and Twitter followers, and professional associates, and family members, and anyone any of the aforementioned people have potentially met with, or casually mentioned, who might have engaged in similar thoughtcrimes.<\/h4>\n

You probably think I\u2019m joking, don\u2019t you? I\u2019m not joking. Not even slightly. The Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution (\u201cBundesamt f\u00fcr Verfassungsschutz\u201d) is actively monitoring anyone questioning or challenging the official \u201cNew Normal\u201d ideology \u2026 the \u201cCovid Deniers,\u201d the \u201cconspiracy theorists,\u201d the \u201canti-vaxxers,\u201d the dreaded \u201cQuerdenkers\u201d (i.e., people who \u201cthink outside the box\u201d), and anyone else they feel like monitoring who has refused to join the Covidian Cult<\/a><\/span>. We\u2019re now official enemies of the state, no different than any other \u201cterrorists\u201d \u2026 or, OK, technically, a little different.<\/h4>\n

As The New York Times<\/em> reported last week (German Intelligence Puts Coronavirus Deniers Under Surveillance<\/span><\/em><\/a>), \u201cthe danger from coronavirus deniers and conspiracy theorists does not fit the mold posed by the usual politically driven groups, including those on the far left and right, or by Islamic extremists.\u201d Still, according to the German Interior Ministry, we diabolical \u201cCovid deniers,\u201d \u201cconspiracy theorists,\u201d and \u201canti-vaxxers\u201d have \u201ctargeted the state itself, its leaders, businesses, the press, and globalism,\u201d and have \u201cattacked police officers\u201d and \u201cdefied civil authorities.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Moreover, back in August of 2020, in a dress rehearsal for the \u201cStorming of the Capitol,\u201d \u201cCovid-denying\u201d insurrectionists \u201cscaled the steps of Parliament\u201d (i.e., the Reichstag). Naturally, The Times<\/em> neglects to mention that this so-called \u201cStorming of the Reichstag<\/span><\/a>\u201d was performed by a small sub-group of protesters to whom the German authorities had granted a permit to assemble (apart from the main demonstration, which was massive and completely peaceful) on the steps of the Reichstag, which the German police had, for some reason, left totally unguarded. In light of the background of the person the German authorities issued this \u201cSteps-of-the-Reichstag\u201d protest permit to \u2014 a known former-NPD functionary, in other words, a neo-Nazi \u2014 well, the whole thing seemed a bit questionable to me \u2026 but what do I know? I\u2019m just a \u201cconspiracy theorist.\u201d<\/h4>\n

According to Al Jazeera, the German Interior Ministry explained that these querdenking \u201cextremists encourage supporters to ignore official orders and challenge the state monopoly on the use of force<\/span><\/a>.\u201d Seriously, can you imagine anything more dangerous? Mindlessly following orders and complying with the state\u2019s monopoly on the use of force are the very cornerstones of modern democracy \u2026 or some sort of political system, anyway.<\/h4>\n

But, see, there I go, again \u201cbeing anti-democratic\u201d and \u201cdelegitimizing the state,\u201d not to mention \u201crelativizing the Holocaust\u201d (also a criminal offense in Germany) by comparing one totalitarian system to another, as I have done repeatedly on social media, and in a column I published in November of 2020<\/span><\/a>, when the parliament passed the \u201cInfection Protection Act,\u201d which bears no comparison whatsoever to the \u201cEnabling Act of 1933<\/a><\/span>.\u201d<\/h4>\n

This isn\u2019t just a German story, of course. As I reported in a column in February, The \u201cNew Normal\u201d War on Domestic Terror<\/a><\/span> is a global war, and it\u2019s just getting started. According to a Department of Homeland Security \u201cNational Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin<\/span><\/a>\u201d <\/em>(and the \u201cliberal\u201d corporate-media propaganda machine), \u201cdemocracy\u201d remains under imminent threat from these \u201cideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority\u201d and other such \u201cgrievances fueled by false narratives\u201d including \u201canger over Covid-19 restrictions.\u201d<\/h4>\n

These Covid-denying \u201cviolent extremists\u201d have apparently joined forces with the \u201cwhite-supremacist, Russia-backed, Trump-loving \u201cPutin-Nazis<\/a><\/span>\u201d that terrorized \u201cdemocracy\u201d for the past four years, and almost overthrew the US government by sauntering around inside the US Capitol Building without permission, scuffling with police, attacking furniture, and generally acting rude and unruly. No, they didn\u2019t actually kill anyone, as the corporate media all reported they did<\/span><\/a>, but trespassing in a government building and putting your feet up on politicians\u2019 desks is pretty much exactly the same as \u201cterrorism.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Or whatever. It\u2019s not like the truth actually matters, not when you are whipping up mass hysteria over imaginary \u201cRussian assets,\u201d \u201cwhite-supremacist militias,\u201d \u201cCovid-denying extremists,\u201d \u201canti-vax terrrorists,\u201d and \u201capocalyptic plagues.\u201d When you\u2019re rolling out a new official ideology \u2014 a pathologized-totalitarian ideology \u2014 and criminalizing all dissent, the point is not to appear to be factual. The point is just to terrorize the shit out of people.<\/h4>\n

As Hermann Goering famously explained regarding how to lead a country to war (and the principle holds true for any big transition, like the one we are experiencing currently):<\/h4>\n

\u201c[T]he people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Go back and read those quotes from the German Interior Ministry and the DHS again slowly. The message they are sending is unmistakeably clear. It might not seem all that new, but it is. Yes, they have been telling us \u201cwe are being attacked\u201d and denouncing critics, protesters, and dissidents for twenty years (i.e., since the War on Terror was launched in 2001, and for the last four years in their War on Populism<\/span><\/a>), but this is a whole new level of it \u2026 a fusion of official narratives and their respective official enemies into a singular, aggregate official narrative in which dissent will no longer be permitted.<\/h4>\n

Instead, it will be criminalized, or it will be pathologized.<\/h4>\n

Seriously, go back and read those quotes again. Global capitalist governments and their corporate media mouthpieces are telling us, in no uncertain terms, that \u201cobjection to their authority\u201d will no longer be tolerated, nor will dissent from their official narratives. Such dissent will be deemed \u201cdangerous\u201d and above all \u201cfalse.\u201d It will not be engaged with or rationally debated. It will be erased from public view. There will be an inviolable, official \u201creality.\u201d Any deviation from official \u201creality\u201d or defiance of the \u201ccivil authorities\u201d will be labelled \u201cextremism,\u201d and dealt with accordingly.<\/h4>\n

This is the essence of totalitarianism, the establishment of an inviolable official ideology and the criminalization of dissent<\/em>. And that is what is happening, right now. A new official ideology is being established. Not a state ideology. A global ideology. The \u201cNew Normal\u201d is that official ideology. Technically, it is an official post-ideology, an official \u201creality,\u201d an axiomatic \u201cfact,\u201d which only \u201ccriminals\u201d and \u201cpsychopaths\u201d would deny or challenge.<\/h4>\n

I\u2019ll be digging deeper into \u201cNew Normal\u201d ideology and \u201cpathologized totalitarianism\u201d in my future columns, and \u2026 sorry, they probably won\u2019t be very funny. For now I\u2019ll leave you with two more quotes. The emphasis is mine, as ever.<\/h4>\n

Here\u2019s California State Senator Richard Pan, author of an op-ed in the Washington Post<\/em>: \u201cAnti-vax extremism is akin to domestic terrorism<\/span><\/a>,\u201d quoted in the Los Angeles Times<\/span><\/em><\/a>:<\/h4>\n

\u201cThese extremists have not yet been held accountable, so they continue to escalate violence against the body public \u2026 We must now summon the political will to demand that domestic terrorists face consequences for their words and actions<\/em>. Our democracy and our lives depend on it \u2026 They\u2019ve been building alliances with white supremacists, conspiracy theorists and [others] on the far right \u2026\u201d<\/h4>\n

And here\u2019s Peter Hotez in Nature<\/em> magazine<\/a><\/span>:<\/h4>\n

\u201cThe United Nations and the highest levels of governments must take direct, even confrontational, approaches with Russia, and move to dismantle anti-vaccine groups in the United States<\/em>. Efforts must expand into the realm of cyber security, law enforcement, public education and international relations. A high-level inter-agency task force reporting to the UN secretary-general<\/em> could assess the full impact of anti-vaccine aggression, and propose tough, balanced measures. The task force should include experts who have tackled complex global threats such as terrorism, cyber attacks and nuclear armament, because anti-science is now approaching similar levels of peril.<\/em> It is becoming increasingly clear that advancing immunization requires a counter-offensive.\u201d<\/h4>\n

We\u2019ll be hearing a lot more rhetoric like this as this new, more totalitarian structure of global capitalism gradually develops. Probably a good idea to listen carefully, and assume they mean exactly what they say.<\/h4>\n

#<\/h4>\n

CJ Hopkins
\nMay 3, 2021<\/h4>\n

DISCLAIMER:<\/em><\/strong> The preceding essay is entirely the work of our in-house satirist and self-appointed political pundit, CJ Hopkins<\/a>, and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Consent Factory, Inc., its staff, or any of its agents, subsidiaries, or assigns. If, for whatever inexplicable reason, you appreciate Mr. Hopkins\u2019 work and would like to support it, please go to his Substack page<\/a>, or his Patreon page<\/a>, or send your contribution to his PayPal account<\/a>, so that maybe he\u2019ll stop coming around our offices trying to hit our staff up for money. Alternatively, you could purchase his satirical dystopian sci-fi novel, Zone 23<\/a>, or Volume I and II of his Consent Factory Essays<\/a>, or any of his subversive stage plays<\/a>, which won some awards in Great Britain and Australia. If you do not appreciate Mr. Hopkins\u2019 work and would like to write him an abusive email, feel free to contact him directly.<\/em><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A hallmark of totalitarianism is the criminalization of dissent. Germany has been leading the way in this. For over a year, the government\/media there have demonized anyone who questioned the official Covid-19 narrative. To the point that such individuals are now officially classed as “extremists”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":233392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[105,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-233388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus","category-mind_control"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=233388"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233513,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233388\/revisions\/233513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/233392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=233388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=233388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=233388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}