Hate Law Headlines:
THE DISEASE OF HATE CRIMES LEGISLATION
By Harmony Grant
25 Nov 08
Increasingly, "hate speech" and "hate crimes" make
headlines in world media. These are two labels Jefferson and Madison
wouldn't have even known. Our Founding Fathers laid a framework
for free speech and freest possible action. Crime was defined
as rights-violating action committed by one individual against another—not
politically incorrect speech or beliefs about a community. That simple,
individual rights-based idea of justice is disappearing fast.
Close to 70 percent of Americans
favor an expanded federal hate crimes law, which would stiffen penalties
for real crimes if those crimes are committed because of a politically incorrect "bias." There
are national laws against hate speech in the UK, Germany, France, New Zealand,
Norway, Australia, Iceland, Sweden, South Africa, Switzerland and more. These
speech and thought crime laws empower government to prosecute citizens for expressing
unapproved political or religious beliefs, according to conscience.
"Anti-hate" speech laws are primarily the creation of activist Jews—and
that's the problem. Christian patriots, afraid to offend "God's
chosen people," have been largely silent about this insidious and powerful
threat to freedom. Today, Muslims are more likely than Jews to be blamed for
assaults on free speech.
AJC Passes the Buck
Last month the American
Jewish Congress launched a coalition to defend free speech from the assault
allegedly launched by Muslim nations. The AJC claims Muslim "anti-blasphemy" laws
are the real threat to free speech in Western nations. Conservative media like Human
Events and Fox News have also turned on their sirens about this alleged
threat. Meanwhile, the real source of speech laws—Jewish organizations
such as the Anti-Defamation League—goes uncritiqued.
AJC co-executive director Marc
Stern even wrote an op-ed for the Jewish Telegraph Agency to wring
his hands over the assault on freedom. The headline commands, "Don't
defend religion by silencing free speech." What a good thought. If only
Stern directed a little righteous wrath at his co-religionists. The article
aims only at Muslim antagonists, who want a UN resolution banning defamation
of religion.
Stern warns, "By making such 'defamation of religion' a crime under international
law, nations would be able to seek extradition and trial abroad of persons
who make statements critical or offensive to one or all faiths anywhere in
the world." How right he is. Of course he fails to mention that Jewish
activists have already succeeded in doing this very thing. Stern says
a Muslim group is seeking to extradite the Danish cartoonist to stand trial
in Jordan for defaming Mohammed. He makes no mention of Jewish attempts to
extradite Holocaust scholar Dr. Frederick Toben to Germany to stand trial for "online
anti-Semitism."
"Of course, offensive things about specific religions are said," remarks
Stern. "Some of these are gratuitously offensive—even demonstrably
false—and many are simply rude…It is a mistake to impose civility
by force of law, and to confuse sensitivity with criminality." Thank you,
Mr. Stern. Please tell the ADL.
You might also send the free speech memo to the prosecutors hauling up David
Ahenakew for his second hate crimes trial.
Second Hate Trial for 75-year-old Former
Politician
"What does it take to get a conviction for wilfully promoting hatred in
Canada?" Steven Slimovitch, B'nai Brith Canada's national legal counsel, whined
to Canadian news. In 2002, Ahenakew called Jews a "disease." It
was clearly an unkind statement, but worse has been said of Christians and other
religious people. Ahenakew also expressed support for Nazi genocide and was fined
$1,000. In 2006, that conviction was overturned. Now, after a six-year legal
battle, Ahenakew is being forced back into court.
His beliefs are unquestionably offensive and also wrong. But I'm also
offended by militant atheists like Christopher Hitchens, author of God
is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, who said, "It's
a shame that there is no hell for [Rev. Jerry] Falwell to go to." I'm
offended by ADL head Abe Foxman blaming the New Testament for centuries of
anti-Semitic persecution. I consider a lot of beliefs and speech offensive
and wrong, and so do you (no matter how tolerant you flatter yourself to be).
Humans have been offending each other since God created us. It's a real
problem when people abuse their government power to silence those who offend
them. (Particularly since the powerful are most offended by speech that points
out their abuses.)
Canadians are realizing this too late.
Canadians Hate their Hate Laws
An independent review by a Canadian law professor adds another voice to the
clamor calling for repeal of Sec. 13, the internet hate speech provision
of the Canadian Human Rights Act. The federal law makes it illegal to say
anything "likely to expose an identifiable group to hatred or contempt." Problems
with this should be immediately obvious.
The law is increasingly controversial since it's been used to harass
mainstream, public voices such as conservative writer and Islam critic Mark
Steyn. Law professor Richard Moon's independent review of Sec. 13 won't
do anything to quiet the controversy. "Censorship of expression that
stereotypes or defames the members of an identifiable group is not a practical
option and so we must, as a community, develop other ways to respond to this
expression," says Moon. The
Canadian National Post says "Section 13 has become a flashpoint
for controversy, and Prof. Moon's recommendation to repeal it is sure to invigorate
a debate about human rights law and free speech that has moved from the fringe
to mainstream in the last year."
Let's hope that debate blows south of the Canadian border. With a new,
pro-hate law President heading to the White House and pro-hate law Democrats
dominating Congress, we need every American voice raised to save freedom of
speech from the power-hungry thought police.
David Ahenakew is wrong: Jews are not a disease. But freedom-devouring hate
crime and speech laws, which activist Jews have created, are a disease.
These laws are a spiritual, intellectual, and legal cancer that is metastasizing
around the world. They will kill freedom here -- if we don't speak
out.
