Freedom, Orwell style (1)

Norman Lowell's two-year jail term for inciting racial hatred and insulting the President made me realise that our right to free speech is still intact and completely unrestricted. Well, not quite.

But I guess it is only fair that what you utter or jot down must be in line with the status quo, politically correct, and it must not offend or disparage any individual or group. This is what democracy is all about. However, we mustn't stop here. Some people have taken this notion of "freedom" way too far, and merely monitoring speech is not sufficient anymore in order to maintain order in our society.

I, like many others, won't feel safe until the government finally starts monitoring people's hateful thoughts, perhaps by means of microchip-implants. Then, and only then, will we truly be living in a modern, democratic, fully civilised utopia, as envisioned by George Orwell.