Or the struggle session (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struggle_session), currently very popular on social media.

I certainly see the parallels: both Mao and groups in modern Western culture are trying to control thought at the expense of free speech. But let's not overstate this: nobody is going door to door and carting people off in hoods for their ideas.

No, but people are trying to ruin wrong-thinker's lives in other ways, like obsessively contacting their employer about their "problematic" behavior trying to get them fired, imitating them online and posting absolutely beyond the pale material, obsessively contacting anyone/group that supports the person and trying to get them dumped, etc.

But yes no one is being kidnapped by these people. Just attempts to drive them to suicide or financial ruin

This is a really chilling phenomena of our age, and I wish there were more downward societal pressure against it. The scariest part is that they really believe they’re acting in the public good, and the ends will justify their means.

> nobody is going door to door and carting people off in hoods for their ideas

They don't need to, social media throws peoples lifes wide open. How many people have lost jobs because of internet outrage?

> But let's not overstate this: nobody is going door to door and carting people off in hoods for their ideas.

Let me re-introduce you to China and Russia

or the UK policing tweets with real police and real jail.

I wasn't aware of this. Links?

A total of 625 arrests were made for alleged section 127 offences in 2010 – a number which had ballooned to 857 by 2015.

During the years 2010-2015 2,130 people were arrested between 2010 and 2015 for “sending by public communication network an offensive / indecent / obscene / menacing message / matter” – which is a criminal offence under section 127.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/02/social_media_arrest...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uk-man-jailed-over-facebook-sta... (2012)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7415233/Mother-arre... (2019)

Thanks for bringing this up. That is a very concerning trend. Still not quite Mao level, but it certainly is starting to look a lot more like totalitarianism.

> A total of 625 arrests were made for alleged section 127 offences in 2010 – a number which had ballooned to 857 by 2015.

There's a very low bar to being arrested in England. The arrest rate isn't important, it's the conviction rate that you need to be presenting. Also, the law is developing (because that's how a system with case law works) so you need to be showing what's happening now, not ten years ago.

That last link isn't a great example. She engaged in a long running campaign of harassment, using two twitter accounts to harass and defame someone, including leaking financial and medical information. There's a reason the Daily Mail isn't a reliable source for wikipedia. These conversations always seem to place the right of some cunt to behave like an utter cunt above the rights of all the people who have to interact with that person to be protected from protracted campaigns of harassment. The UK and EU sees protecting the rights of others, protecting them from harassment and defamation, to be a legitimate aim.

Here's the Crown Prosecution Service page for communications offences committed on social media: https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/social-media-guideline...

What used to be called Collateral Consequences of Criminal Conviction nowadays increasingly attach at the point of arrest (and even more so at the point of charging, even if an acquittal is the outcome of the trial) because of publicity (names end up in the press often when people are arrested and then are available on Google forever) and the fact that they'll be listed on enhanced criminal records checks (needed for entry to certain occupations like teaching or in many cases financial services).

> The arrest rate isn't important, it's the conviction rate that you need to be presenting.

Emphatically disagree. A slogan of totalitarian government is “the process is the punishment.” — no conviction necessary.

> The arrest rate isn't important, it's the conviction rate that you need to be presenting.

Being publicly arrested and held against your will, even for only 24 hours, is still a very significant punishment. If charges are filed and then later dropped, they can hold you longer or require you to post bail. It can cause you to miss work, especially if you can't make bail. Frivolous arrests are definitely a form of punishment without trial.

Hate speech is illegal in the UK. This means you can report social media posts and the police will knock on the poster's door (I guess if they can figure out who it is) and "investigate".

https://twitter.com/syptweet/status/1038891067381350401?s=20

See also: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/police-arresting-nine-peo...

Your first link literally say it's not a crime.

> please report non-crime hate incidents,

If you clicked the link, why quote it out of context?

> In addition to reporting hate crime, please report non-crime hate incidents, which can include things like offensive or insulting comments, online, in person or in writing. Hate will not be tolerated in South Yorkshire. Report it and put a stop to it #HateHurtsSY

In addition to reporting hate crime...

Anyway, it's quite easy to verify that hate speech is illegal in the UK. Plenty of people have been prosecuted for it.

I don't understand the confusion here. The quote clearly distinguishes between crime and non crime actions yet still encourages people to report non-crimes to the police. This is unacceptable thought-crime type stuff.

"Hate will not be tolerated in South Yorkshire" is also a disturbing sentence because hate is a totally normal, and healthy emotion to have. I hate the taste of parsley. I hate racists. I hate being caught in the rain with a flat tire, but more of all I hate the idea that the police would do these kinds of things.

Teenager with Asperger’s placed under house arrest, fined over £500 for asking police officer’s gender

https://caldronpool.com/teenager-with-aspergers-placed-under...

I was talking about Western culture, as I believe the article was--obviously there are totalitarian governments around the world.

Not yet.

Tell me again why you don’t think agents of the government would do awful things in the name of the people and law and order?

We live in an era where people are accumulating power by breaking boundaries.

> Tell me again why you don’t think agents of the government would do awful things in the name of the people and law and order?

Who said I didn't think that?

I just don't think they're doing it on a large scale now.

We should remain vigilant, but be mindful of where we are as well.

Exactly... not yet. Given the tenor of the social justice warriors and the extreme right's proclivity towards kaos, I am not surprised by any measure of craziness we're seeing in our once stable country.

Psst! It wasn't ever really all that stable.

Well, not yet.

Or Puritanism. And the various anti-Communist flaps.