Some Prism & Pen editors were just talking about this tactic in a different context yesterday —while you were submitting this!

It seems government snitch sites are growing popular these days! And uploading Bee Movie scripts is a popular resistance tactic.

What's seriously disturbing to me about all this is the reality that government snitch lines have traditionally been associated with fascist and other authoritarian governments.

I grew up toward the end of the Red Scare, and adults in my life bombarded me with stories about how the Soviet government encouraged people to snitch one another out. "Democracies don't do that," my trusted adults told me. "Be sure you thank God he allowed you to be born in America, where you can live free."

Mmmmm hmmmmmm.

Free to be exactly like everyone else, so long as that means White Christian, but I digress ...

Now, various U.S. states are employing snitch sites against queer people, and the U.K. government is jumping in with both feet.

"Look out for that trans woman using the wrong loo! Public safety is at stake! Report her! Report the organization that let her pee in peace!"

What a world.

Could anything whiff stronger of scapegoat tactics by an authoritarian government desperate to distract from their failures?