In the United States -- the only country that truly understands free speech -- you can deny the Holocaust all you want. You can join the KKK and hold white supremacist rallies, with police protection. You can print cartoons of Muhammad (the pathetic self-censoring of some US papers is a separate matter) and not be prosecuted for it. You can buy Mein Kampf or borrow it from a library. You can be part of the Westboro Baptist Church and picket funerals of slain soldiers with signs saying, God hates fags -- with the full support of an 8-1 Supreme Court decision in your favor. In the U.S., hate speech is protected as free speech, and rightly so. France, like many other European countries, does not understand free speech. It enforces secularism by banning the wearing of religious symbols. It arrests people like Dieudonné for non-threatening Facebook comments (as vile as they may be). This is more of a Saudi Arabia/Iran thing -- and really shouldnt be a France thing. Islamic extremists want to expand hate speech laws, banning it altogether. In a way, France seems to be agreeing with them. Those like Mehdi Hasan who say France has double standards on free speech have a good point. Islamists want France to be consistent, and ban all hate speech. France SHOULD be consistent -- and ALLOW all of it. --- PS: If you truly wanted to ban all hate speech, youd have to start with the Quran and Bible. Without hate speech, freedom of religion doesnt exist.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 15:56:23 +0000
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