The contradictions that undermine civil society seem to have reached a perilous stage in Great Britain. Censorship follows in its wake. Britain’s Spiked observes the phenomenon in this note: “The UK has become a posterboy for the perils of censorship. In the wake of the recent race riots, the British state has set about arresting and jailing not just the rioters, but also those who posted hateful memes or spread misinformation during the unrest.”
You might wonder if such censorship might not be coming to a town near you in the good ol’ USA some time soon. Indeed, posing that particular warning contributed to the jailing of Lee Dunn under section 127 of Britain’s Communications Act 2003. News & Star/The Cumberland News drily reports Dunn’s case:
A fifty-one-year-old Egremont man has become the latest person in the county to be jailed for posting racially aggravated online social media posts linked to national civil unrest.
Sellafield worker Lee Joseph Dunn, of Church Street, appeared at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court this afternoon….
Dunn pleaded guilty to one offence. He admitted sending, by means of a public electronic communications network, a message that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character.
His crime occurred on July 30 and 31 and involved three shared Facebook posts.
Prosecutor George Shelley said Dunn had posted three separate images. The first one showed a group of men, Asian in appearance, at Egremont crab fair 2025, with the caption: “Coming to a town near you.”
Tom Slater mentions Dunn’s case in the video editorial that Spiked has posted with an introduction under the heading “How Britain fell to censorship” (video below). The Democrats’ candidate for Vice President — our own Tim Walz — can explain it all: “There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy.”
