Canadian Hate-Speech Law Violates Charter of Rights

MrKevvy writes "The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has found that federal hate-speech legislation violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the equivalent of the US Constitution's Bill of Rights. This decision exonerates Marc Lemire, webmaster of FreedomSite.org, but may have farther-reaching consequences and serve as precedent for future complaints of hate-speech."

Comments

Re:The tide is turning against lefties

[Foobar of Borg]

Sorry, lefties. Your crazed desire to give the government as much power as humanly possible to regulate everybody's thought and living patterns to match your own is failing.

Um, you do realize that lots of people bashing your exalted Dear Leader Bush were harrassed by the FBI, not to mention all the legally protesting people at the RNC convention who were arrested and thrown in prison on false charges (though later released)? And then, of course, there is anti-flag burning legislation always brought up by Repugs. In red states, you can't lead anyone in a school prayer unless it is to the Protestant Fundamentalist version of God. I could go on, but really. Don't talk about the mote in your neighbor's eye when you have a whole beam in yours. Anti-hate speach legislation, while ill-founded, at least had at its heart the idea to stop the traditional practice of inflaming the mob's anger so as to go out and lynch minorities. Hardly in the same league as sending the Feds after people who simply disagree with Bush.

Re:"Hate" speech is Free Speech

[Foobar of Borg]

Perhaps I misunderstood the tone of your post, but you do realize I was agreeing with you, right? Inciting people to violence should be punishable (although what "inciting" is needs to be better defined), but some redneck yammering about how much he hates Jews should be tolerated, even though I would find him to be abhorent. If nothing else, it gives an outlet for various voices to be heard, whether Fascist, Republican (but then I repeat myself), Green, Democrat, Socialist, Communist, whatever, rather than letting some sets of the population steam while feeling powerless. Or, to quote that fat, limey bastard Churchill, "It is better to jaw, jaw, than to war, war."

i can think of 2 constructive uses of hate speech

[circletimessquare]

1. catharsis

allow the low iq xenophobic idiot to blow off some steam with words, and maybe he won't be repressed, bottle up, and then explode by shooting up an immigration center

2. cautionary tale

people won't know what kind of mentality traps to avoid unless they are given a proof positive example of how terribly someone can fail in their understanding of the world. put such people on a pedestal, let them shout their stupidity, and let everyone else be forewarned about the signs and symptoms of moronic hate

Re:"Hate" speech is Free Speech

[macraig]

No, he didn't, actually, but I sympathize that a Fascist Republican might think so. Have you considered getting your GED and going to college, or at least spending a couple years hanging out at the library? It's surprising what you can figure out yourself when you get your head out of all that party groupthink swill.

Re:I'm glad this is gone

[Foobar of Borg]

Hitler could come to the modern day United States and rant and rave all he wants and wouldn't be regarded as anything more than a historical footnote.

For once I actually agree with you. I mean, look at Ann Coulter.

You are a leftist. Only leftists think that our rights need to be curtailed because people might die or get hurt. Newsflash: Freedom isn't free, as the saying goes. I would rather have my rights intact than have absolute protection from all sources of danger, thank you very much.

On the other, this is coming from a Bush apologist. "Please, Dear Leader Bush! Take away our rights! Suspend Habeas Corpus! Torture people on flimsy or non-existant evidence! Start wars based on lies! Just save us from the big, bad terrorists! Come on! We're pissing our pants here!"