Surveillance Need Not Be Governmental

     A student at Exeter in the U.K. found out the hard way:

     A philosophy student overheard through the wall of his room saying ‘veganism is wrong’ and ‘gender fluidity is stupid’ was threatened with expulsion by his university, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
     Robert Ivinson said he was disciplined after a student next door in halls of residence at Exeter University heard the comments then complained he had been offensive and ‘transphobic’.
     Mr Ivinson, who expressed the views in a phone call to a friend, was hauled before university officials and put on a ‘behavioural contract’ for the rest of his studies.
     He was warned he could be expelled if the university thought he had done anything else wrong, and told by letter he had been found guilty of harassment.
     […]
     At the time of the complaint, Mr Ivinson – who had just started his first year of a philosophy degree – was alone with the door closed.
     Mr Ivinson, who is 6ft 5in with a deep intonation, said his voice often carried without him realising.
     When an officer from the university’s estate patrol banged on his door to tell him his female neighbour had complained, the mature student was shaken.
     ‘It was like the Stasi had come to my door,’ he said. ‘He stuck his foot in my door and said you’ve been saying some very offensive things.’

     If it is now licit for a neighbor to listen through your wall, and if what he hears you say is now actionable, despite it being an expression of personal opinion…well, the Stasi of the days of East Germany under Communism would be proud. Ivinson’s characterization is quite accurate.

     I wonder about the unnamed female eavesdropper. What “disapproved” opinions might she hold? Do you think anyone will haul her up by the short hairs for expressing them? Possibly not, if they’re in conformance with The Narrative. It’s just as dominant across the Atlantic as here.

     That’s Britain today, folks. No better than the U.S. and in some ways a good deal worse. Scratch it off your list of possible escapes.