William Briggs blogged Tuesday on a pair of astonishing tweets from the South Yorkshire police.

This police department wants people to report “hate.” People can express hate through “offensive or insulting comments, online, in person or in writing,” and either real or perceived “prejudice or hostility.” They can hate “a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or disability.”

Hate can be any incident or crime, motivated by prejudice or hostility (or perceived to be so) against a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or disability. Hate hurts and nobody should have to tolerate it. Report it and put a stop to it #HateHurts pic.twitter.com/xoMH8KhE9n

— SouthYorkshirePolice (@syptweet) September 9, 2018

In addition to reporting hate crime, please report non-crime hate incidents, which can include things like offensive or insulting comments, online, in person or in writing. Hate will not be tolerated in South Yorkshire. Report it and put a stop to it #HateHurtsSY pic.twitter.com/p2xf6OLoQZ

— SouthYorkshirePolice (@syptweet) September 9, 2018

I’m sure you’ve seen the infringement of liberty this involves. You’ve noted how crazy backwards it is for a police department to say, “No one should live in fear of … being different,” while making people feel scared they’ll be hauled in by the police for saying something different.

I want to note something just as important.

Grey and Boring

Years ago some friends of mine produced a children’s book and cassette (now on YouTube) called “Tune Kids: The Adventure Begins.” It’s the tale of five kids whose hot-air balloon crash lands in a sad, grey land called “Greyore.” There “everything is shades of grey; there’s no color anywhere.”

My poor daughter always hated the signature grey-land song, “Grey and Boring.” In the song’s defense, it does capture the mood of Greyore:

“Grey and boring, grey and boring,
Everything around me is grey and boring.
All the rocks and trees are grey and boring,
Everything I see is grey and boring.
Nothing interests me because it’s all so boring,
Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!

That’s the kind of world the PC police want to force us to live in.

No Room to Think Differently

Think I’ve got it backward? Think I’ve missed the part where the South Yorkshire police are all in for differences in race, religion, sexual orientation, gender and ability? No, I see that. What I don’t see is any room for different opinions. Different preferences. Different beliefs.

Religion is on the list, but look carefully. There’s no positive freedom expressed there, only negative prohibitions. This isn’t freedom to act or think as one believes, it’s a police order not to talk about certain things. In fact it’s an order to agree with everyone on these issues.

Just look: Is there room to prefer different modes of sexual expression? No; we must all think the same way about these things. Is there room to prefer Christianity over Islam, or vice versa? No; we must consider them equal, at least in public. That is, you might be able to think that Muslims have a false understanding of Jesus Christ.

If you say it, though, that could be “perceived” as “prejudice or hostility.” Someone reports you, and off you go in the paddy wagon.

No one is allowed to disagree on any of these things.

No Difference of Opinion Allowed

You must agree. I must agree. All must agree. We must all look alike. We must all speak alike. We must all act alike. Grey and boring, grey and boring, everything around me is grey and boring.

The Tune Kids wanted desperately to get out of Greyore. No wonder. I’d want to get out of South Yorkshire just as bad. Who wants to live in a world where police tell everyone to think the same way?

Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!

It’s so bad, even a children’s song shows it up. There’s something not quite human about this land of Greyore, and something just as inhuman about the South Yorkshire requirements.

But it’s all a sham, isn’t it? Read the bottom of the tweet’s graphic again: “No one should have to live with fear, anxiety or consequences of being ‘different.’” Well, I’m different. Does that apply to me? I think there’s something wrong with homosexual behavior. I think there’s something sadly, unfortunately disordered in the minds of men who think they’re women. I think Muslims have a wrong view of Jesus Christ.

A Free World

But I want to live in a world where Muslims and gays and trans people feel free to tell me they think I’m wrong, too. I want a world where they have enough courage of their convictions, enough confidence in their positions, not to require police protection against my opinion.

That’s my preference. It’s probably different from some others’. It’s a difference that’s not allowed in South Yorkshire, though. If I lived there I’d certainly have to face down the fear of being “different.” Someone would be watching, waiting to report me. And then would come the police, and that’s when it’s clear, this is far worse than Greyore.