Long ago, there was a great King we are told. He was such a great king that he thought he could order the tide to flow back. So he stood on the shore and he said to the tide, “Go back”. The tide didn’t laugh at him. It took no notice. It simply flowed on. The king got very wet and he tried to save face by making some kind of stupid proclamation, that they should not kneel to human clay, if you go by Thackeray’s words, William Makepeace Thackeray’s that is.
Canute’s story is read as a lesson in the arrogance of kings. It might well be used today for governments and to make it simple, I shall paraphrase it here: don’t make laws that make you look stupid. When the government responds to the ordinary slights and slanders of democracy with the desire to clamp down on freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of the internet, what you see is their stupidity. What is said on social media for instance is only what people are thinking. A smart government would be monitoring this all the time, watching what its chatterati are saying. Because that’s who’s on social media – people like us, people with spare time, people who have internet connections and problems with servants and school admissions. That’s also the people who don’t vote. Yes, I know you, dear reader of Newslaundry, you vote. Your demographic doesn’t. Live with it.
