Following the tragic shooting that took place in Arizona just days ago, a group of Democrats in the House are proposing a ban on using terminology in political debates, reporting and ads that can strike as a call to violence.
In fact, the term ‘strike’ is among the words placed in the draft of the bill to be banned. Words such as, ‘Used his Campaign Arsenal;’ Has no Ammunition Left;’ ‘Is a Target of a new Attack ad,’ will all be banned. In addition, ‘A Fire fight Erupted;’ ‘Caught in the Crosshairs;’ ‘Take out political opponent;’ ‘The other side Shot Back,’ and ‘The President drew Sharp criticism,’ are all on the chopping block.
“We don’t want people to get ideas of using sharp objects to hit others,” a Congressional Aid close to the writing of the bill tells me. “Even the word ‘Hit’ may be banned since we can’t afford people to hit each other at campaign rallies,” says the aid. According to this aid, violent words standing alone and/or used in context of a larger phrase, will all be banned and likely enforced by the Federal Election Commission.
On the question if this is not called stepping on Freedom of Speech, a Senior Democratic aid tells me that people – for example – have a right to Freedom of Speech, yet they can still be arrested and charged if they use these freedoms to, say, threaten the President. “Rights have limitations,” says the aid.
Since Congressional votes are halted for this week, it is unclear when the new bill will be placed into schedule for a Committee vote, or which Committee altogether will take it up, since the Democratic Leadership has yet to be consulted at this time.
A source close to the deliberations who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of being a target (…) by potential opponents, says that if Phase One of the bill – Political Discourse Reform – will pass successfully, then Phase Two will be introduced. It will focus on Commercial Terminology, such as the retail store ‘Target’ that potentially incites violence, and Lyrics mostly popular in the African American Entertainment world that potentially leads people to commit wild acts. However, opposition by the Congressional Black Caucus to the latter is expected to be fierce.
While the story until here is satire, it is rooted in a true report by the Washington Post of this Sunday, as follows: “A Democratic lawmaker plans to introduce legislation that would make it a federal crime to use language or images that could be interpreted as inciting violence toward members of Congress or federal officials. Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Robert Brady told The Washington Post Sunday night that he plans to introduce the legislation as soon as possible.”
Our news story was only to illustrate the absurdity of creating such laws.
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