Politics
WATCH: CNN Host Admits Vance Is ‘Basically Right’ About Lack Of Free Speech In Europe
During Friday’s installment of “Real Time” with Bill Maher, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria conceded that Vice President J.D. Vance is “basically right” about the lack of free speech in Europe.
Vance generated outrage among European leaders last month when he addressed numerous free speech concerns that are currently gripping the continent. While speaking at the Munich Security Conference, the vice president listed a number of Orwellian “hate speech” laws that have been used to jail hundreds of people for political beliefs that run contrary to ruling governments or speech deemed “offensive.”
“I look to Brussels, where E.U. commissars warn that they intend to shut down social media during times of civil unrest the moment what they spot to be ‘hateful content,’” said Vance before turning to Germany. “Or to this very country, where police have carried out raids against citizens suspected of posting anti-feminist comments online as part of ‘combatting misogyny on the internet,’ a day of action.”
Vance concluded his speech by stating that lack of free speech in Europe is the greatest present threat to the continent and warned that erosion of such a key western value could strain U.S.-European relations.
During Friday’s episode of “Real Time,” host Bill Maher told his guest panelists that he agreed with Vance’s comments on the importance of free speech. “So, I agree with you on the — that part of Vance’s speech, he’s basically right. It’s important to remember, European countries have never had the First Amendment-type protections that we have,” Zakaria then chimed in.
“Europe has always had a more regulated speech. As a journalist, I know it’s always easier to get sued in Britain, because, again, we have an amazing set of protections with the First Amendment. And the Germans have a particular history, you’re right, for example, Holocaust denial, which is allowed in the U.S., anyone can say whatever they want, it’s illegal in Germany because they are sensitive to the Nazi past,” he continued.
After admitting that Vance was right, the CNN host attacked other portions of Vance’s speech that he described as “offensive.”
“But what I really thought was offensive about that speech was the premise of the speech was that this is the greatest danger facing Europe today, not Russian aggression, not Chinese — here you have a continent which is dealing with the largest land war since World War II, the biggest aggression, the tearing up of international norms, and he’s saying, because you guys don’t do speech exactly the way we do, that is your existential danger?” Zakaria ranted.
“I just think, again, JD Vance is so polemical, he’s using it to play to an audience at home. … That is not the greatest danger facing Europe.”
