Should we on DU be worried about what we write?

[tavernier]

No, I understand, we can't threaten the president, or anyone, nor would we. But at what point should we be concerned about our basic freedom of speech?

I've never been fearful of calling a politician an ass, especially if he is an ass, since he works for me, not vice versa. But in this new United States of Insanity, will the time come when I should worry about shutting my mouth or getting a knock on my door?
I'm a first generation immigrant from Latvia (age four on arrival) after WWII, and even though I proudly wear my naturalized citizenship (aced the test as a kid that Trump couldn't pass today), for the first time, I'm fearful that the freedoms promised to me (us) won't be upheld.

I don't remember what it was like when my parents were forced to flee their country. But I heard the stories, and speaking truth to the various monsters running Europe meant death or worse.

So, will someone please tell me to shut up when the time comes?

[DesertFlower]

1. i've been wondering too. not just DU, but facebook.

[kimbutgar]

26. I haven't looked at facebook since January 19th and changed my profile and past posts to private

Not so worried about DU. But some crazy could find you if they wanted from Facebook.

[jack69]

36. Say this isn't so,

all this cowardice in the face of corruption! The more that is put out there, the stronger our positions will be.

[kimbutgar]

65. If I was a man I would be stronger but I have been harassed and cyberstalked

By a guy on yahoo who didn't like one of my comments. It went on for a month. I had to abandon an email and get a new computer because of a virus I couldn't get rid of. Now I am more cautious.

[jack69]

69. Sorry that had to happen. Women are inheritantly stronger than men by nature, don't let anyone tell

you differently. Hope the future holds nothing but goodness for you.

[Docreed2003]

2. I've wondered this myself...

I've also started collecting works of literature and particularly American politics from the founders in case these fuckers decide to start erasing history.

[angstlessk]

3. "When the time comes" is when we SHOULD speak up!

I understand your fear. I too wonder when my words will become criminal?

[Cryptoad]

41. Just as long as u dont post someting like....

FUCK YOUSELF PRESIDENT tRUMP! i WOULDN'T URINATE ON YOU IF U BURST INTO FLAMES!

[Eyeball_Kid]

81. Oooo... You're bad.

[Alice11111]

89. LOL

[JudyM]

90. Yeah, nothing like that, exactly.

[TrekLuver]

4. I'm not concerned and I tell him what a douche he is on twitter and so do A LOT of other people

...it's mostly the resistance. The deplorables are scarce. So free speech is the norm in America and that is not changing...we will not allow that to happen...so I freely say Donnie Douchebag is a piece of Trash...come at me asshole.

[leftstreet]

5. The entire Trump Administration can go fuck itself

That orange motherfucker and his Mom's-basement-dwelling advisors are worthless shitstains

[Hoyt]

6. I second that.

[JudyM]

91. And extend that to McConnell and his weasling hypocritical greedy lemmings.

[MyNameGoesHere]

7. This is why we lose

What in the flying fuck would anyone even consider being silent?

[charlyvi]

66. The minute we are afraid to speak the truth, we lose.

FUCK THAT!

[Eyeball_Kid]

82. We have the choice of indulging in profanities about our favorite GOPers, or

describing what we're seeing in concise, efficient language. Both can work. For me, right now, I don't think we're at the place yet where we'll have to worry about speaking our minds.

[ginny skinny]

8. Yes, IMHO....

If the current administration is able to get control of the archive of the internet why would they not compile lists of those who have expressed unacceptable views? Re-education, perhaps in a camp of some sort, would seem like the obvious remedy.
Everything you have ever posted is (in theory) out there waiting to be retrieved.

[brush]

35. They did shut us down on election day but let's not be one of those who didn't speak up...

because they didnt come for us ......YET.

And remember, we outnumber those deplorable a-holes. We out number them.

[defacto7]

9. We're either free or we're not.

We either give up, hide, or fight. There was this important American patriot that said, "Give me liberty or give me death." Has that become too dramatic? We'd better decide... sooner than later.

[babylonsister]

10. I'm not worried; there are too

many of us and really, all we're doing is expressing our opinions.

And after the abuse President Obama got, screw them.

[Hekate]

68. Amen, Babsis

[Squinch]

11. I'm Spartacus. If we ALL speak our minds, they can't go after people for speaking their minds.

[madokie]

12. First things first

I welcome you to our* great country. tRump is but a passing asshole. '*Our' includes you and your family too Tavernier''

I just wish we as a country would do what is right with our Native People and the ones brought here as slaves and show appreciation to people like your family who chose to come here to make a better life for themselves as well as to help make a better life for all of us. Collectively we're what makes this what we are. tRump is not what America is and he and his henchmen won't last much longer. The 'CONs are overstepping their bounds and they'll be pushed back to the fringes soon too.


Peace

[Progressive dog]

13. No, Americans cannot allow that

psychopath to terrorize them.

[RKP5637]

14. If you cave into them, they will gladly fill in the hole above you. That is what they want, that

is what dictators want, to silence the populace and truth, and to then replace it with their lies and distortions.

[rzemanfl]

15. I am sixty-nine years old. Let the fuckers come for me. n/t

[Nay]

104. That's the way I feel. Come n get me, assholes. I'm too old to give a shit. nt

[rzemanfl]

105. Not that I'd go quietly though. n/t

[Nay]

106. Oh, hell, no. Me neither. nt

[Ligyron]

16. I'm sure the thought has crossed everyone's mind.

But fuck 'em.

Give me Liberty or give me Death.

Besides, nothing's gonna happen with the government. RW Employers, however might find an excuse for laying you off - illegal as that may be.

[notdarkyet]

53. They are going to have so many job openings they can't fill now because of everify.

No one to pick crops even trumps ranch begging to import more immigrant labor. It's going to be a disaster. There are help wanted signs all over my town. Immigrants have left, even my neighbors of over a decade and their three kids.

[roamer65]

17. If I can't live in a free country...

life is not worth living.

Live free or die.

Fuck all fascists.

[tavernier]

18. Right answer!!! Knew I could count on you!!

As if I could shut up...

Loving the positive spirit.

History proved that too many Shut Up. Hopefully we will fight tooth and nail!

[mopinko]

19. let em bring it.

i'm 62. i have had a good life. it would be a glorious exit were they to come for me.

[Oneironaut]

20. I doubt it. Drumpf wouldn't care about posts on a message board.

He wants to cut off mass media entities that criticize him. Orange Julius believes that your heart and mind will naturally become his as a result.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

32. I guess he will try to shut down the internet

At least he will try and restrict
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/05/technology/trumps-fcc-quickly-targets-net-neutrality-rules.html?_r=0

[pangaia]

79. This is one of my biggest worries...without an open Internet, we're fucked.

[leftofcool]

21. I will say what I goddamned well please

If Trump doesn't like it he can come and get me. I survived 23 years of teaching school and cancer. I am not afraid of cheeto brain or his idiots.

[ailsagirl]

45. .....

[safeinOhio]

22. I wonder if Agent Mike got fired.

He was getting use to us. If he is gone, IDK.

[sarcasmo]

23. You should see what I tweet Dolt45. The NSA already knows what you type.

[kentuck]

24. I have thought about it for some time.

Nobody does more thorough research on news items than DU.

I could see why somebody might want to "shut it down".

[tavernier]

27. They already did

on election night. If nothing else could have convinced me that it was well organized, that did.

[kentuck]

40. Yep.

It was more than coincidence.

[tavernier]

25. I just hope we're all in the same cell together.

I'll sneak in a bottle of scotch and a bag of honey mustard pretzels. Who's got cheese?

[GP6971]

30. They'll be plenty of us so

make sure it's a 1.5 liter bottle and family size bag of chips.

[NRaleighLiberal]

54. I'll bring the heirloom tomatoes. We will need some bacon!

[tavernier]

57. I have a freezer full of Wright's bacon,

the only decent stuff we can get in the Keys. I hoard it when on sale.

Hey, if I stuff it in my brassiere, I can almost pass for 65!

[Johnny2X2X]

28. Yes

Once some journalists start disappearing they will start looking at website posters who have speaker ill of Trump and start targeting them.

This will not stop me one bit.

[pat_k]

29. When people start talking in "hushed tones" and censoring themselves...

... that's a sign you're in a dictatorship.

My oral surgeon is Syrian. I talked to him about how DT's insanity is affecting him. He had to cancel lectures he was giving in Canada and in the states (not flying anywhere). His mother had to cancel a visit to them. He's graduating with a second specialization in periodontics in June and his family won't be able to come. Kids in his 5 year old son's class are saying things like "you should go back to Syria." He said it's sad to have to explain all this to a 5 year old. But, all in all, he's taking it in stride (been through/witnessed worse shit).

He did say one thing he finds worrisome is that he's starting to hear people talk in "hushed tones." He said when people start censoring themselves and talking in hushed tones, that's a sign you're in a dictatorship. That's when you really have to worry.

[tavernier]

93. Thanks for sharing his words.

He certainly knows the scary stuff.

[catbyte]

31. I've been louder and more belligerent and vocal on FB & Twitter than before 1.20.

Those fuckers can come & get me. I'm a 61 years old woman, but I can still raise a ruckus. The optics won't be pretty.

I have noticed that FB is censoring pics of Malaria. Someone wanted that one of her in the bikini & go-go boots perched on the jet with a gun & even though I renamed it, I couldn't post it "for security reasons." I tried 3 times to make sure it wasn't a weird glitch. It wasn't.

[MedusaX]

33. By then It won't matter

Citizenship, race, religion are all subject to interpretation .... and subsequent legitimization/de-legitimization...

once the current set of founding principles & rights (afforded by said principles) are eliminated-- then no one will truly be exempt from potential expulsion/ prosecution for any action, past or present, deemed questionable by any authority figure.

And those who choose submissiveness as a strategy for survival.... will do so in exchange for what?

Certainly not for the same conditions as they have had in the past ... nor those of the present... rather, conditions that demand complete acceptance of and loyalty to a prescribed set of beliefs and way of life.

we will each have to choose for ourselves at some point...

[jack69]

34. You are conspiring with trump if you stay silent!

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. FDR

[sheshe2]

37. I won't sit down and I won't shut up.

[johnp3907]

38. No.

[JoeOtterbein]

39. NO! Write on! Please don't let them scare you. That is what they want.

And note I use my real name. This old pasty white guy will NEVER surrender to other pasty old white guys!

[orangecrush]

42. We have your back

Don't give Trump too much credit.

[BringBackBarack]

43. I'm a white Muslim (grew up Baptist)

My husband is a naturalized citizen from Pakistan. I will not shut up. If they want to come after me, they will have to kill me. This is OUR country, damn them all to hell!

[Initech]

44. When I started doing the Top 10 I was worried about that.

But I figured that if you did a Google search on most of the subjects that are covered in the Top 10, you would have to wade through about 20,000,000 results before you get to my shit, so I think I'm good there!

[sarah FAILIN]

46. Just don't say Melania is a hooker

Even if you think that, don't say it. Even in the privacy of your conversations...She is suing a reporter for saying this to a model at a party.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/new-york-times-reporter-reprimanded-hooker-comment-melania-trump-975599

[Crash2Parties]

63. Yes, don't say that. Even though 45 is known to attend parties where models were brought in

to be available for sex.

[sarah FAILIN]

71. Absolutely.

And don't say that Trump raped a kid at one of Epsteins parties. Even though he brags about knowing Epstein, an admitted child molester, for years and admits that Epstein had very young girls at his parties, he never admitted to raping a kid. So we can't say things like that. Nope, can't say that.

[tavernier]

47. I guess we are DUmbledore's Army then.

Forgive the Harry Potter reference, silly as it may sound, but Dumbledore's Army fought the forces of evil, so the DU at the front sounded right. Plus J.K. Rowling has been a very outspoken opponent of Herr Trump.

[Hekate]

77. It's not a silly reference. When I read it I knew JKR was explicitly describing an authoritarian...

...takeover of a society, and I hoped her millions of young readers would remember. I read those books to my grandson, so it's not like I was one of the youngsters myself -- I just knew then, and I've been saying it here in the last few months. My grandson, now 12, is going to be visiting us this week. His mom has been taking him to protests. If I get a chance, I'll ask him what it is he remembers about DA.

[tavernier]

84. Thank you for acknowledging this.

I work with young adults who were raised on books that cheered good versus evil and the importance of all people despite race, gender, age, etc. These books helped them, and me, to accept people of other race/ethnicity/life style. We are the World and we won't shut up.

[mobeau69]

48. Fuck Donald Trump

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! -- I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! - PH

[orleans]

49. "Should we on DU be worried about what we write?" are you worried about agent mike

or skinner?



if agent mike has you worried i'm sure skittles will "kick his ass"

[orleans]

50. p.s. if we can't vent here then where *can* we vent? n/t

[mobeau69]

73. orleans, with all due respect,

it's not "venting" for me. That implies the desire to just to blow off steam. I want them and their extremist policies stopped.

[orleans]

86. we all do n/t

[barbtries]

51. it's hard to say

where this all ends. my personal plan is to resist to the end.

[poli3]

52. that's what the baggers did

best play is to beat them at their own game

[kairos12]

55. Drumpt and Bannon and his Brownshirts can go fuck themselves.

[BobTheSubgenius]

56. A friend of mine's father and paternal grandparents were from Latvia,

and were completely dispossessed by WW2. They had been successful merchants before the war, owning 3 bakeries, which were destroyed by one army or another sweeping through, and left impoverished.

They spent 7 years wandering Europe before ending up here in Canada.

[tavernier]

62. My maternal grandparent's never saw their son again

although they did find out (college professor) that he survived Siberia. They exchanged letters before they passed.

My dad's father died, but he was allowed to visit his mom on her death bed.

I went to Latvia years later and my few living relatives warned me of Putin. It never ended they said, and he is the biggest devil.

[cwydro]

58. I thought eveyone on DU was already to RESIST!

Or are we just up to turning the Enquirer backwards in the rack?

[jack69]

64. Makes you wonder if these are infiltrators into this discussion?

[yuiyoshida]

59. I don't think you will have to worry as I am pretty sure if it gets to that

This entire website would be shut down, as its Anti Trump and it seems his government might go the Censorship route.

[VMA131Marine]

60. There are a few avenues of potential concern.

If you work as a civilian in a government agency, your comments could be used to harass you in your job. Probably not legally, but given who is in charge of the legal aspects of this administration your complaints could end up nowhere.

If you work in the private sector in a job that requires a security clearance, you could suddenly find your clearance pulled without explanation or recourse. No clearance means potentially no job.

How likely are either of these? Well, how vindictive is Trump and how willing are his lieutenants to do anything to stay in his favour? This would be real authoritarian stuff, but who doubts that is the direction this administration is headed.

[MarvinGardens]

61. Give me liberty or give me death. (nt)

[tavernier]

67. My greatest fear is that many now in government

don't have the slightest clue that playing tiddlywinks with a poisonous regime can end up with a disaster. The turtle and pretty boy Ryan think they are controlling him, but he is stirring up his hate army, and they are losing control.

[mahina]

70. NO

Fear is the enemy.

I wouldn't post my address but when the hackers took us down during the election they got my IP anyway, and yours too.

We will never cower. We're going to prevail, bigly.

[lancelyons]

72. Never give up speaking. Just keep it casual and respectful.

Never give up speaking. Just keep it casual and respectful.

When you stop speaking they have won.

[mobeau69]

75. BS. This is not a casual situation and they don't, in any way, deserve respect.

[Orsino]

98. I would recommend the opposite.

America's leadership crisis calls for more than casual engagement, and respect for the current Administration is unwarranted.

I recommend against even joking calls for violence, and will generally confine myself to advocating for peaceful protest and change.

[Solly Mack]

74. Can't keep quiet. It's what they want.

[The Sand Reckoner]

76. Let's put it this way

If there is a real reason to worry, that's all the more reason to speak up against the real dangers of fascism that the 45 administration poses.

[Snarkoleptic]

78. Dr. Gonzo took a stab at this...

“We are turning into a nation of whimpering slaves to Fear—fear of war, fear of poverty, fear of random terrorism, fear of getting down-sized or fired because of the plunging economy, fear of getting evicted for bad debts or suddenly getting locked up in a military detention camp on vague charges of being a Terrorist sympathizer.” - Hunter S. Thompson

Fascists love using fear and intimidation to silence their critics, Trump is their mascot.

[bathroommonkey76]

85. I have that as my signature. haha

[Eyeball_Kid]

87. I've got mixed feelings about this Thompson quote. This call to exceptionalism by Thompson

can be seen in stark contrast to the way that he decided to end his life. I wouldn't call that "exceptional". But we can't always get congruency from the lives of those whom we also consider exceptional, can we? The pure ideal is more attractive than a corrupted ideal.

[Jim Beard]

80. Well, we don't know what we would do but I know what happened to me

I had called a BlueDog Democrats office and talked to and aid and said some pretty wild stuff. I thought it was over until one day I was at my farm and this man comes out and introduces himself as being my congressman. (I am leaving names out)

He didn't waste much time and began coming down on me pretty hard. We got things half smoothed out but thinking about it later, It scared me because of the power he had. That he was so pissed that he would drive to my farm just to see me. One of his district offices was about 60 miles away. There were no witnesses.

Just plan your attacks and document every single word and time.

[Hekate]

83. If you said "some pretty wild things to his aide" maybe he felt YOU had been threatening...

...and if so, he was probably gutsy for driving 60 miles into the middle of nowhere to verbally defend his aide and himself.

Just sayin'

Glad you got it straightened out.

[Jim Beard]

88. I got it straightened out enough to get him off my farm. I was the county Democratic Chairman

And he was acting like a Republican. He lost the election and was proud saying he is a lobbyist now.

[MFM008]

92. let them look

piss off.

[EricMaundry]

94. You mean write for the DU audience?

[TrekLuver]

95. I'm actually more concerned with that rather than the stupid President because it doesn't take

much to offend people on here.

[EricMaundry]

97. Yep.

[Vinca]

96. As I've aged I've come to realize there is one benefit to getting old:

I'll say what I want when I want and if someone doesn't like it I don't especially care. I don't think I'm a raving lunatic and I don't babble on with ridiculous things, but once my mind is processing an issue you can't shut me up. Dear Leader wants us to fear (and love) him . . . a rather amusing idea by itself. My current mission in life is to depict him as the criminal "moran" that he is. If the word police haul me away I'll laugh at them.

[treestar]

99. No, never

Once you do, then you've given in.

[tavernier]

100. Neighbor turned in neighbor during the war,

my father told me, because their families were threatened. I guess we don't know how we will react until, God forbid, those kind of evil days come along. Most of us don't give a shit what could be done to us personally, but we would want to protect family? And then of course Herr Trump's followers would gladly turn in their neighbors.

[Purrfessor]

101. I insult the fool multiple times a day on Twitter with my real identity...

It's something I look forward to everyday.

[tavernier]

102. But what if

the day came where you received a call and an anonymous person on the line said to you, "If you post one more negative word about the president, you will never see your son (wife, daughter, etc.) again."
And you believed them because it had happened to others.

What would you do in that case?

[randr]

103. Fight!