Brazil has seen a spike in domestic violence in the past few months during unrest following the contested elections that sent far-left socialist Lula da Silva back to the presidency. Unfortunately, this has included some mass shootings and other forms of attacks at schools, with a dozen of them taking place since last April. One of the latest included four children being killed in a daycare center in Blumenau by a man wielding an ax. Now the government is taking action in a number of ways in an effort to calm people’s fears. Some of those actions seem sensible, while others are blatantly authoritarian in nature. For one thing, they have “rounded up” and jailed hundreds of people for engaging in “hate speech” online. (Associated Press)

About two weeks after a man killed four children in a Brazilian daycare center, authorities already have rounded up some 300 adults and minors nationwide accused of spreading hate speech or stoking school violence.

Little has been revealed about the unprecedented crackdown, which risks judicial overreach, but it underlines the determination of the country’s response across federal, state and municipal levels. Brazil’s all-hands effort to stamp out its emerging trend of school attacks stands in contrast to the U.S., where such attacks have been more frequent and more deadly for a longer period, yet where measures nowadays are incremental.

It’s worth pointing out the approving tone that the AP takes with da Silva’s actions in his country. Brazil’s moves are described as having “garnered wide support” while efforts in the United States are described as “incremental.”

To be fair, some of the things the Brazilian government is doing seem reasonable and could probably find support in America. These include hiring hundreds of new resource officers (police) to put in the schools, offering safety training for school administrators, and offering free mental health and emotional support counseling to families.

But it’s the “crackdown” that should be drawing more attention. The government has assigned more than 3,400 police officers to scour the web and identify people who have been accused of “spreading hate” or “stoking violence.” We’re not talking about people who are actively threatening violence. That’s already illegal and can get you arrested. We do the same thing in the United States.

No, these are people who are engaging in unapproved speech. Some of it may involve schools while others are simply critical of the da Silva government. And those people aren’t just being “deplatformed.” They’re going to jail. And the list of “suspects” is reportedly growing. They are also looking at “regulating” social media.

But what should we have expected? Over the course of his entire political career, da Silva has campaigned to lead his country on “a path to democratic socialism.” And once you hand over the reins of power to them, the first thing they tend to do is start shutting down the voices of anyone opposed to them by whatever means are required. But now they have new tools involving social media to more quickly identify dissident voices.

Is this the direction you want to see the United States take? Shockingly, there are far too many people out there on the left today who are fine with the idea… as long as they are the ones doing the silencing. That’s why we have to remain vigilant and find peaceful paths to victory. With that in mine, I will toss in my periodic reminder and request that you help keep us in the conversation if you are able by signing up for one of our VIP accounts. And we’re still offering a 40% discount if you use the promo code “SAVEAMERICA.” Thanks for considering.