Minnesota Thought Police to begin tracking thoughtcrime . . . Really!

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights is about to create a defacto Thought Police Force to begin tracking thoughtcrime under a proposal already approved by the state’s Democrat-controlled house and senate. Under an Orwellian revision of House File 108, Minnesota authorities will create a “registry of bias” to document allegations of bias, hate, and microaggressions, even when no crime has been committed.

Are you someone who believes that COVID was used as a tool by government to destroy liberty? Are you someone who might wear a tee-shirt supporting Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s opposition to transgenderism? Are you someone who refuses to use preferred pronouns? Are you someone who has posted a Bible verse critical of homosexuality?

These are all examples of alleged hate that could soon be tracked and compiled by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights’ Thought Police (via FOXNews.com):

Minnesota state Rep. Harry Niska (R) asked during a debate on a new bill whether praise for “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling or arguing that COVID originated in China would qualify as biased speech that would put citizens on a government database.

Minnesota lawmakers are mulling a change to state law, House File 181, that would log alleged bias incidents even when they aren’t considered a crime. The bill, introduced in January, would allow people to report perceived bias-related incidents such as alleged slurs and verbal attacks that would fall outside the hate crimes compiled annually by the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, according to the St. Cloud Times.

An exchange [took place] between Niska and fellow state Rep. Samantha Van (D) where Niska asked several hypotheticals about the legislation.

“If a Minnesotan writes an article claiming or arguing that COVID-19 is a Chinese bio-weapon that leaked from a lab in Wuhan, and someone reports that article to the Department of Human Rights, is that something that the Department of Human Rights should put in their bias registry under your bill?” Niska asked.

Vang argued that while not all incidents are considered violent or criminal, this sort of rhetoric is “bias motivated” therefore “it can be considered a bias incident.”

[Niska] posed another question to Vang asking whether someone wearing an “I love J.K. Rowling” shirt would be added to the database.

“If a Minnesotan is wearing a t-shirt that says ‘I love J.K. Rowling’ and someone sees that and reports them to the Minnesota Department of Human Rights as an example of gender identity or gender expression bias, is that something that the Minnesota Department of Human Rights should put in this bias database?” he asked.

Vang suggested this question would be better answered by lawyers and added, “I’m not going to say yes or no to that question.” (Emphasis mine)

Some Minnesota Republicans warned that the “bias registry” could be added to the Thought Police’s arsenal of liberty-killing weapons already in use by tyrants in both parties to destroy free speech and religious liberty. “It seems very clear, based upon their focus on motivation, that they’re more concerned about what’s going on in people’s heads, which is protected speech, and that’s thoughtcrime,” said Republican state Rep. Walter Hudson.

In his book 1984, George Orwell warned about systems like the “registry of bias” with his depiction of a fictional “thought police” — a secret police force responsible for uncovering “thought criminals” and punishing them for “thoughtcrime.”

“Thoughtcrime” referred to illegal thoughts, including unspoken beliefs or negative views toward the Party and its policies. To win the approval of Party members, citizens “[are] expected to have no private emotions and no respites from enthusiasm. [They are] supposed to live in a continuous frenzy of hatred of foreign enemies and internal traitors, triumph over victories, and self-abasement before the power and wisdom of the Party.” (Emphasis mine)

Minnesota Democrats behind the creation of the registry of bias have had a difficult time explaining how their plan is any different than Orwell’s Thought Police and tracking thoughtcrime, and they have avoided answering several clarifying questions:

• What information will and/or will not be collected?
• How will human-rights department officials ensure the allegations they receive are real?
• How will the data collected and added to the bias registry be used?

Instead of addressing the obvious threat to liberty created by their Orwellian plan, the bill’s sponsors insist there’s no reason for concern. Their opponents, they claim, are merely pushing conspiracy theories because they don’t understand what it’s like to “feel other than like an outcast.”

The leftists running the state of Minnesota are simply following the lead of leftists in Washington.

For example, in what was described as a Ministry of Truth straight out of George Orwell’s 1984, Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a plan in April 2022 to establish a Misinformation and Disinformation Governance Board (MDGB) designed to deny the free speech rights of people who didn’t think the way government wanted them to on issues like COVID and Critical Race Theory.

In Orwell’s dystopian vision of the future, the Ministry of Truth was allegedly dedicated to the pursuit of truth when, in fact, its primary function was to erase the truth of the past and present and replace it with the Party’s truth. To accomplish this task, the Ministry used doublespeak and Newspeak to ensure that everyone thought only what the Party wanted them to think — making it impossible to betray the Party by thinking and/or expressing independent thoughts.

The similarities between Orwell’s novel, Biden’s MDGB, Minnesota’s Thought Police and thoughtcrime are clear for all to see.

Orwell referred to all-powerful government as “the Party” and Americans have elected — literally and figuratively — the modern-day equivalent of this entity; surrendering the power of the people to the Republican/Democrat duopoly, trusting them to protect and defend the Constitution.

This is how the Party (the duopoly) has come to dominate the political landscape. This is how it’s been able to create a Ministry of Truth (MDGB). This is how it’s able to use political doublespeak and Newspeak to redefine free speech as misinformation or disinformation and criminalize it.

Using manipulation and coercion, the Party convinces the populous that creating a Thought Police and tracking thoughtcrime is necessary for liberty and safety, thus insulating the Party from criticism. The people will question themselves before they question the Ministry of Truth, and they will suppress suspicion by sealing their lips, lest they be guilty of thoughtcrime and being an enemy of the state.

The Republican/Democrat duopoly has been pushing a liberty-killing agenda every bit as destructive to liberty as the Party described in George Orwell’s novel. Just like Big Brother, our government wants to limit free speech, identify criminals before a crime is committed, and track us in public using facial recognition technology.

The Minnesota Thought Police’s registry of bias and tracking thoughtcrime was only a matter of time.

 

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David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.

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