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Sunday Smiles – HotAir

May 3, 2026
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Western governments are rushing toward ever more restrictive policies on speech, and are working overtime to convince their citizens that they are doing so for their own good. 





As part of that campaign, the European Union, the UK, and the United States, under Biden, have all invested a lot of effort in convincing people that they are fully committed to free speech, and any apparent restrictions are aimed at some form or another of bad speech. 

Perhaps it is misinformation, disinformation, “malinformation,” or “hate speech.” Who could object to shutting down speech that actively harms society? 

Of course, all those are terms of art—carefully designed to use the label itself to define the speech before it can be examined in any way. You may never even know what, specifically, they are talking about and whether their categorization makes any sense, because the speech itself has been suppressed or labeled as so out of bounds that it should be looked away from. 

Labeling something as hate speech, rather than as “contested,” means that the contest between competing claims never takes place. If I say “Somalis commit a vastly disproportionate amount of welfare fraud in Minnesota,” and the claim is suppressed because it is hate speech, you are denied the right to know an indisputable fact and to debate the implications. 





“Malinformation” is my favorite category in this lexicon. It sounds awful, but it literally means “true information that harms the Narrative™” that the people policing speech don’t want you to hear. 

In Germany, insulting politicians is illegal, and German politicians love to use this law to harass their critics. The police raid German homes all the time and take away electronic devices without trial if they decide that what you say is offensive. 

All of this is done out in the open and presented with pride because this is how one defends a civilized society. It is mean to call somebody fat, or point out that Germany’s incidence of rapes has skyrocketed as Muslims have poured into the country, or if you say that Trump may have a point about open borders. 

We all recognize this as Orwellian, so we wonder why so many people are happy to let it happen. After all, controlling speech has always been a practice, or at least a dream of people who have power. Censorship and oppression are the norm in human history, not the exception. We shouldn’t be surprised that people in power are doing this, but rather that so many people in formerly free countries are willing to let their freedom evaporate. 





To people living comfortably in Western societies—people who did not live under repressive regimes, and who do not feel like their own lives will be made worse by the powerful gaining even more power—this looks benign. The excuses given for restricting speech are warm and fuzzy; the people whose speech is being suppressed are of a different class generally, and when we think of 1984 and Big Brother, he doesn’t have a smiling, happy face. 

The EU puts a happy face on its fascism. The UK uses nice-sounding terms for oppression. 1984 is seen in black and white, with fascist looking big screens with angry people haranguing you, and torture out in the open. 

The line that sticks out from 1984 is: “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever.” 





Freedom of the press is one of the cornerstones of democracy.

And the EU protects what matters, including the right to receive independent, reliable information.

The European Media Freedom Act helps keep journalists and sources safe, strengthens editorial independence and protects media organisations from undue interference or legal intimidation.

Today, on World Press Freedom Day, we reaffirm our duty to support and protect journalists so they can do their work free from pressure, intimidation, or harm.

Orwell got a lot right, but in the West, totalitarianism appears as a bureaucrat with a happy face. It is “You will own nothing and be happy,” instead of the boot. It is more Brave New World than 1984, although with elements of each. 

The state will try to keep you placid and compliant, not terrified all the time. 

Terror is only necessary when bread and circuses no longer work. 

BEST OF THE BABYLON BEE









PUPPIES AND KITTENS AND OTHER GOOD STUFF





AND FINALLY…


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