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05/15/2006: :: Criminally Absurd

The Next Logical, Terrifying, Step in P.C.
from Denver Post

Tuesday, the Boulder City Council will take up the matter of allocating public funding for a "hate hotline," which would give residents an opportunity to report incidents in which Boulderites use tactless language.

Judd Golden, chairman of the Boulder American Civil Liberties Union, says the agenda item on the hotline is "extensive" and a "real dilemma" for the ACLU. There are some very "broad standards" laid out in the resolution.

There is, for instance, the policy statement condemning the usual individual or collective acts of racism and bigotry. Great. But it also condemns those who attack "personal beliefs and values."

The most serious question, however, is will the hate-line folks forward their files to the Boulder police or City Council?

"The devil's in the details," says Golden. "That's the question. There is no present indication that they intend to do anything like that in the future."

Some people have responded to my extreme distaste about the PC movement with "It is necessary in modern society, as more and more people come to live in ever closer quarters." I could not agree more if for a moment I thought it would stop at "let's all be nice to each other." Unfortunately the people who currently have political favor are very interested in legislating morality. So it is easy to see this going from a tax wasting whiner line to a tax wasting snitch on your neighbor and have them arrested for some perceived slight line.

The wholesale erosion of your civil liberties has begun, 1984 here we come.