HATE LAWS: ROPE AROUND OUR THROATS
By Harmony Grant
11 Feb 09
As we wait to see if the noose of hate crime laws will lynch American
freedoms, other nations already suffer the chokehold. President Obama
backs HR 262 and 256, two ominous “anti-hate” bills (See
video Hate
Bill Lies: Exposed! and article ADL's
New 'Trojan Horse' Hate Bill at www.truthtellers.org) that will
strangle US free speech rights, especially for Christians, conservatives,
and anyone who criticizes a federally protected group.
Canadians, Brits, and too many others are already gripped by these laws. They
squeeze the jugular of the public square, gagging anyone who expresses certain
politically forbidden beliefs. Much of Europe now looks more like a Mideast dictatorship
than a free Western nation.
Unless we can stop it, the federal hate law will break America’s neck the
same way.
Consider the insanity.
In Britain, a senior diplomat—who served in the Mideast “and is considered
an expert on the area”—was
arrested for yelling at the TV while riding an exercise bike at the gym.
He was watching a news report about Israel pounding the people of Gaza in their
military assault. I guess the incredible injustice hit him a little too hard.
I’ve had the same reaction while watching news at the gym; anger makes
really good cardio.
Apparently, gym staff and members heard him shout "f***ing Israelis, f***ing
Jews," and also that Israeli soldiers should be "wiped off the face
of the earth." He was probably viewing infants and mothers whose homes were
decimated, maybe bloodied men carried from exploding walls during the 22-day
siege that destroyed the homes of 30,000 Palestinians and killed more than 1,330.
Yeah, that could provoke a reaction.
The diplomat was later arrested and now faces up to seven years in prison, a
fine, or both!
What kind of country arrests someone for an explosion of righteous anger, however
crudely expressed? What kind of country arrests someone for their words?
I’ll tell you: a country bound and gagged by Jewish-inspired “anti-hate” laws.
Of course, these laws don’t apply to all hate. Do you think the
diplomat would be in trouble if he yelled at a report about “homophobic” Christians
or yelled “f***ing Klansmen” at a news spot on skinheads? Hardly.
No, he’s in trouble because he blurted his honest response to Jewish evil—his
state’s sacred cow.
A few other protected groups are also off limits, including Muslims and homosexuals.
Whether criticism comes in a film or newspaper column or is shouted out with
expletives doesn’t really matter. You can expect a knock at the door and
an arrest warrant if you speak out.
Just ask Geert Wilders, a Dutch
politician being prosecuted for his critique of Islam. In 2008 Wilders released
a 10-minute, self-produced film, “Fitna.” Most of the film is made
of quotes from the Koran and scenes of an Imam calling for Jews’ deaths.
Now Wilders is being prosecuted for hate speech, six months after the court declared
his speech valid. It changed its mind and he again faces possible prison time.
Already his freedom is curtailed: Wilders needs constant police protection because
of all the death threats he gets and can no longer travel abroad unless the destination
government promises in writing not to extradite him for trial.
An insightful Haverford College student columnist
points out that “the Amsterdam court claimed that [Wilders] was liable
for prosecution because the offense generated by his 'one-sided generalizations'
outweighed his right to free speech.
“'One-sided generalizations' is a phrase more commonly found on professors’ comments
on student essays than in criminal proceedings and would certainly justify a
grade reduction. That it could also justify arrest and prosecution is laughable.
That a modern, democratic nation can use 'hate speech' and 'human rights' legislation
as a weapon of repression is frightening. (Another charge against Mr. Wilders
was 'insulting Muslim worshippers.')”
This defense of democratic freedoms shouldn’t be hidden in the column of
a college sophomore. Americans of all political stripes and in all positions
should be jamming our lawmakers’ phones to protest that an “anti-hate” (anti-free
speech) bill even made it into our legislative halls. We should shout
from every column, podcast, and blog that these laws are turning Western nations
into Soviet-style police states where citizens face jail time if they speak their
minds!
But that isn’t happening. The alarms aren’t sounding. Even now, nearly
five weeks after the federal hate crimes bills were introduced into the new Democrat-controlled
Congress, the most influential Christian/conservative "watchdog" group
in America, Focus on the Family, has published no alert. And so the noose inches
closer to the jugular of our republic.
Canadians also, like the British and Dutch, squirm in the torturous grip of their
own federal hate laws, with conservatives
trying to repeal its harshest points. Canadians have been threatened by police
just for seeking to distribute Christian fliers; they have been arraigned for
newspaper columns; they have been fined for republishing Bible verses! Conservatives
who want to take back freedom have already had their legs kicked out from under
them.
If Americans want to avoid the same death of freedom, we should protest before the
rope is knotted, before the “anti-hate” bills pass. If we
don’t, any citizen—especially conservatives, especially Christians—can
expect arrest for forbidden words uploaded to YouTube, religious concern expressed
in a Letter to the Editor… or banned emotions we blurt at the gym.
Harmony Grant writes and edits for National Prayer Network, a Christian/conservative
watchdog group.
National Prayer Network, P.O. Box 828, Clackamas,
OR 97015
