Canadian thought police on the march.

Sorry, I'm not permitted to comment.

lol Cav!

Interesting article Au!

The Mounties must be delighted at this new development . . . by the way, Cav, i gave them a little jingle, and said they might be interested in having a chat with you, you hate-monger . . .

fishin'
Particularly interesting. In light of the shrieks coming from up north regarding the patriot act it would seem that the pot has been calling the kettle black.

I don't know that I'd go that far! lol

I'd think the difference is in the intended purpose of the laws/rulings and how people view them. No one in their right mind approves of hate speech.

The end results of the hate speech laws and the Patriot Act seem to be reversed in the end though.

Setanta, just because my aunt's neighbour is Ernst Zundel does not make me a hate monger.

I'm so sorry, Cav, i had misunderstood. What's your Aunt's address? I mean, so i can . . . uh, send her a card . . . yeah, that's it, i just wanna send her a nice card.

Would those laws if they were imposed in the US pass muster by our Supreme Court? Or overturned based on the free speech amendment?

Many states already have hate crime laws. Often, they are used in mitigation when another crime is involved, such as vandalism or assault. I haven't done the research to comment on how the Supremes see this.

Yeah, Setanta, you always misunderstand me. Why is everyone picking on me? <giggles and runs away for a bit>

Fee fee, fi fi, fo fo, fum
I smell smoke in the auditorium
Well Charley Brown, he's a clown
That Charley Brown, he's a clown
He's gonna get caught
Just you wait and see

Why's everybody always pickin' on me?

How so? The gist of the article is, if we don't stop the PC progression we will end up like our neighbours to the south.
Keegstra was a holocaust denier and preached his particular brand of racism in a highschool classroom. How is this the same as a government passing a sweeping bill to deny citizens any rights if SUSPECTED of a crime.
PC laws are generally pretty stupid but sometimes people have to be forced to shut up.
We do not, as of yet, have a media stiffled by our government. So I guess we should be thankful for small mercies.

I haven't seen the USSC shoot down any of the hate speech laws that we have yet.

Some of these Canadian laws seem to go beyond the US laws though (particularly in the area of discrimination based on sexual orientation..).

The "willfully promoting hatred against an identifiable group" concept seems to be stretching things a bit. Can a Canadian boot salesman be convicted of "hate speech" if they disparage makers of high-heeled shoes and tell women that wearing high-heeled shoes is bad for their feet? Those high-heel shoe makers are a pretty identifiable group.

"Identifiable group" seems awful vague.

Setanta
Indeed bias crime laws are in effect in the US. However, the operative word is crime. I believe an overt crime must have occurred in connection. I do not believe the speech alone is prosecutable. Except of course when national security is involved.

Tagged it there, Set, the Coasters, also known for this treasure:

Along Came Jones
The Coasters

I plopped down in my easy chair and turned on Channel 2
A bad gunslinger called Salty Sam was chasin' poor Sweet Sue
He trapped her in the old sawmill and said with an evil laugh,
"If you don't give me the deed to your ranch
I'll saw you all in half!"
And then he grabbed her (and then)
He tied her up (and then)
He turned on the bandsaw (and then, and then...!)

(chorus):
And then along came Jones
Tall thin Jones
Slow-walkin' Jones
Slow-talkin' Jones
Along came long, lean, lanky Jones

Commercial came on, so I got up to get myself a snack
You should've seen what was goin' on by the time that I got back
Down in the old abandoned mine, Sweet Sue was havin' fits
That villain said, "Give me the deed to your ranch
Or I'll blow you all to bits!"
And then he grabbed her (and then)
He tied her up (and then)
He lit the fuse to the dynamite (and then, and then...!)

(chorus)

I got so bugged I turned it off and turned on another show
But there was the same old shoot-'em-up and the same old rodeo
Salty Sam was tryin' to stuff Sweet Sue in a burlap sack
He said, "If you don't give me the deed to your ranch
I'm gonna throw you on the railroad tracks!"
And then he grabbed her (and then)
He tied her up (and then)
He threw her on the railroad tracks (and then)
A train started comin' (and then, and then...!)

(chorus)

Incidentally, I have no problem with our anti-hate laws here, nor do I feel they are a slap in the face to free speech. I also agree with Ceili that this law is completely different from the the Patriot Act. Personally, I think hate mongering is not a 'civil liberty'. 'Civil' implies behaviour that allows one to get along with one's fellow humans. Ergo, I have no problem with making hate speech/literature illegal, especially when it is taught in schools.

fishin', I have yet to hear of any boot salesmen being persecuted under this law, but I am certain some ambitious young lawyer will try it one day.

Au, i believe you are correct that none of the laws on the books make the simple articulation of "hate" a crime. Again, i haven't looked closely into this. That is something which i think the Supremes would shoot down. The ACLU, the group conservatives love to hate, has gone to bat for groups like the John Birch Society, the KKK and the American Nazi party in cases where their right to public speech is being denied, as in the refusal to grant a permit for an assembly.

Tough call. We don't want public hate-mongering certainly, for good reason. We also don't want the government muzzling anyone.

Doesn't this strike you of political correctness going overboard.

From the article

I'm not sure how you got that from the article. From these lines quoted below the author seems to be saying the exact opposite.

"..an audience member asked whether I believe that freedom of expression is really at risk in the United States from laws meant to aid women and minorities. The heart of my response is, "Look at what's happening in Canada. If we don't watch out, we're next."


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