By David Harsanyi
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
The city of Newark is cracking down on “coronavirus
disinformation,” warning that any “false reporting” — which includes misleading
“allegations” on social media — will lead to criminal prosecution. What exactly
makes Newark think it has the authority to threaten speech?
And how exactly is this kind of speech code going to be
enforced? How will Newark police know if the person spreading “disinformation”
even lives in their city? Will they subpoena the IP address of
@Goldilox5073540586732 to find out? Will they extradite people from other
cities who are making false statements about Newark? What if someone on
Facebook tells Newarkites — Newarkians? — that coronavirus isn’t that
big of a deal? Or what if they have an unprovable theory? Will the city’s
department of safety consider those illegal “allegations?”
It’s likely that the threat is simply meant to discourage
despicable people and conspiracy theorists from spreading rumors. If so, I
suspect it will likely have the opposite effect. Threatening randos on Twitter
reeks of panic.
To a lesser extent, I also find Washington governor Jay
Inslee’s decision to “ban” gatherings of over 250 people in the Seattle area
concerning. Of course, it makes sense for government officials to implore
citizens to stay away from large groups. And the governor has wide-ranging
powers — hard to believe how wide-ranging, to be honest — to enact restrictions
in times of emergency. But what if 250 individuals want to get together to
protest Inslee’s ban or the Trump administration’s handling of coronavirus?
What if 250 individuals want to get together to pray? What constitutional right
does a governor have to stop them?
Obviously, most people aren’t going to concern themselves
with civil-liberty questions as the threat of a pandemic hangs over them, but
they should. Because, as we’ve seen, while some threats are real, it’s easy to
scaremonger — think “climate emergency” or “gun-violence epidemic” — in an
effort to chip away at our rights.
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