Elon Musk recently wrote on X that:
If maximizing free speech within the bounds of the law, a traditionally liberal value, is somehow “far right”, then I guess I am
Musk has been mocked by the faux-liberal elite for allowing a broader debate on X than before. Even President Biden has promised to keep an eye on him. That this is happening in a liberal democracy is of course surprising, the constant attacks on freedom of expression are often excused on the grounds that hate is being spread on the platform and should not be allowed. Freedom of expression is often regulated in the constitutions of our countries, and there has rarely been any discussion about this, most people have been in favour of everyone having their say, without waving red flags. Censorship is a contemporary phenomenon.
And in Sweden we have the Green Party, which is worried about right-wing extremist parties gaining more power.
It’s a terrible picture they paint,” says the party’s top candidate Alice Bah Kuhnke.
One wonders which parties she is referring to? Are there even right-wing extremist parties in the European Parliament, or such parties that are about to enter? In Sweden, right-wing totalitarian parties have never managed more than 1000 votes in general elections. It is a marginal problem, with little news value. Yet such news is pumped out by the evening press in Sweden in particular.
So, we live in a society where we are afraid of freedom of expression, that it will contribute to hatred; we are also afraid of parties that barely exist.
What is this really about?
The parties in power have moved to a political position that is considered extreme by ordinary people. Mass migration, excessive focus on gender issues, climate alarmism, instability and the disintegration of traditional social life are rightly seen as extreme. At the same time, the parties in power do not want to recognise their displacement, so they call all the others who have remained in the same place extreme.
Alice Bah Kuhnke is not talking about totalitarian right-wing parties, but about ordinary parties that are critical of mass migration, climate alarmism or gender issues. However, their views are completely normal and fit very well within the framework of ordinary political discussions. But based on her new political position, she sees ordinary politics as extreme.
We probably don’t need to think so much about the parties she is talking about and their views, but instead think about where Kuhnke, Biden and many other politicians positioned themself? Where have they gone?
