Hate Laws: Rope Around Our Throats - Harmony Grant

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
www.truthtellers.org
[ Auf dieses Posting antworten ]