The Acting Director of the Government Communication Office, Dragan Barbutovski, threatened a Twitter user that he would report her and that Twitter would block her account. And the reason for it: the user simply disagreed with someone’s interpretation of what homosexuality is, in light of the recent decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia, allowing same-sex couples to adopt children. Given Barbutovski’s official role, it seems that he is now acting as a national censor on behalf of the government.
The essence of democracy is that every individual is allowed to express his or her own opinion. But apparently, this is no longer possible, now that we live in the times of “freedom,” as many Twitter users note that the Golob government has introduced a new sports discipline called: blocking citizens on Twitter. The Minister for Digitalisation, Emilija Stojmenova Duh, is particularly successful at it, but so is the Acting Director of the Government Communication Office, Dragan Barbutovski.
On Friday, the Constitutional Court ruled that the marriage and joint adoption laws which were under review constitute impermissible discrimination against same-sex couples. This overturned the referendum will of the Slovenian people, who voted in two different referendums against allowing two men or two women in a homosexual partnership to adopt a child under the same conditions as a husband and wife in a formal marriage union. The decision has upset many who fear that marriage as we know it will soon cease to exist.
“And when this – due to untreated trauma – results in somebody becoming *homosexual* (male or female), that is a disease, not the norm for adopting children. But our healthcare system does not treat that, it only prescribes antidepressants for it. Sometimes, for decades on end – without a problem,” wrote one Twitter user. Barbutovski responded to her, writing that homosexuality is not a disease and then even threatened to block her: “You will be blocked and reported to Twitter spreading hate speech. Best regards.”
The response of the Acting Director of the Government Communication Office (whose username on Twitter is DraganBrBr) seems to suggest that we have a censor at work who, on behalf of the government, watches over what can and cannot be discussed in our country. And, of course, whatever is not in line with the thinking of the ruling structure is considered disturbing. Given that the leftists were so fond of accusing the previous government of being a dictatorship and not allowing critical thought, we can see that, in fact, they have now transformed themselves into a dictatorship of critical thought.
Not blocking people is not an option
When he runs out of arguments during a discussion, Barbutovski resorts to blocking those whose opinions and beliefs differ from his own. Apparently, he has found a role model in the Minister for Digitalisation, who blocks every Twitter user who is critical of her. Even those who have not commented on her posts even once. This started happening after rumours emerged that she was involved in illegal dealings related to EU funds. Obviously, nobody is allowed to hold up a mirror to the Golob government. And whoever does that will be silenced or at least threatened with being blocked. So much for “freedom.”
Sara Kovač
