Does freedom of speech excuse preaching hate?

Still, in the same comparative discussion vein, shouldn't we worry about going to extremes such as in the case of the 14 year old Pakistani girl?

Have you read both posts?

We don't prosecute without adequate evidence.

Five Muslim men from Derby have gone on trial for allegedly handing out leaflets calling for gay people to be killed in the first ever prosecution under new legislation making such actions a hate crime.

The men, Ihjaz Ali, 42, Mehboob Hussain, 45, Umar Javed, 38, Razwan Javed, 27, and Kabir Ahmed, 28, are accused of handing out to passersby and posting through letterboxes a leaflet calling for gay people to be given the death penalty, and stating that gay sex is a great sin that leads to hell.

They are accused of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation, the first prosecution under new legislation which came into force in March 2010. They deny the charges.

wandeljw wrote:

Still, in the same comparative discussion vein, shouldn't we worry about going to extremes such as in the case of the 14 year old Pakistani girl?

Because a 14 year old is accused under adult law?
Or generally because they have blasphemy laws in Pakistan?

To me, it's the equivalent of shouting "Fire" in a crowded theater. The man who inspired this thread is happily promoting a war with Islam. Why should he be allowed?

...(Hell, in Egypt they kill Coptic Christians).

OK, both the book-burner and the group of homophobes are repugnant.
Maybe incarcerating them will benefit society or maybe it will just drive them underground.



I think I'd want to know who the idiots amongst us are, though.

Of course your liberties are diminished by not being able to express certain opinions
(whether your opinions are "hate" or not is a matter of judgement).

By restricting free speech you are by definition diminishing liberties.

If you think is is worth it to take away the right to free speech, then say so.

I think there is an argument to be made that people should be restricted in order
to make society more peaceful.

But stop lying about it. By telling people what they can an can't say you are limiting free speech, and
you are taking away liberties that we enjoy in the US.

There is no other way to say this... in the US I am free to express any opinion.
In many places in Europe you don't have this freedom.

Yet this is exactly what Stevens's death may presage. Once again, the western powers have started a fire they cannot extinguish. A year after David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy jointly travelled to Libya to lay claim to a liberator's bogus laurels, the Libyan revolution they fanned and fuelled is in danger of degenerating into a chaotic, violent free-for-all.

Do not be misled by the fig leaf of this summer's national assembly polls. Post-Gaddafi Libya lacks viable national political leadership, a constitution, functioning institutions, and most importantly, security. Nationwide parliamentary elections are still a year away. The east-west divide is as problematic as ever. Political factions fight over the bones of the former regime, symbolised by the forthcoming trials of Gaddafi's son, Saif, and his intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi.

Effective central control, meanwhile, is largely absent. And into this vacuum have stepped armed groups – whether politically, religiously or financially inspired matters little – all claiming sectional suzerainty over the multitude of fractured fiefdoms that was, until Nato barged in, a unified state.