General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: A war is raging against free speech [View all]DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)Yes, Europe does have such laws, in part because there are still many Nazis and other hate groups there that would go into full gear. Not that this stops them much though, as sadly, my little hometown of tampa has a number of presses owned by Germans, where they publish Nazi propaganda, which gets printed by people in Germany using laser printers and internet connections. Illegal yes, but they would need to ban anyone from printing so much as a recipe for Strudel off the internet to stop it.
And while the American way is not the best for everyone, you cannot deny this goes beyond a simply nationalistic view of Free Speech,this is about whether or not we reward people who actually DO violence. If we rewrite our laws because one group of people start burning and breaking, then EVERY group will learn that they can burn and break to get what they want, ESPECIALLY the more dominant groups, who will glaldy use the defense afford to minorities to preserve their majority power.
Simply put, do you want the Mormons to howl "religous prosecution" every time we ask them why they keep funding anti gay legislation?
Do you want the Catholics to howl that whenever we ask them why they let priests molest children?, or why THEY keep funding anti gay legislation, or anti abortion laws?
YOu know tey already DO, but the only thing keeping them at Bay is the first amendment; let it be a crime to offend a church, and the churches will cultivate lawyers just for the purpose of suing people into oblivion. They know they do not need to win a case to destroy someone who cannot afford lawyers. L. Ron Hubbard, head of Scientology, used to brag about this in a policy called "fair game" where he said the purpose of lawsuits was never to win in court, but to exhaust the funds of the target.
I realize that we in America do need to look at the laws youmentioned, and see what is good, what will nto work,and make the best of it, but frankly, since religions do nto care about national borders, you cannot hope to ban a type of speech and naively think that forces with the money, organization, and dedication of relgions willnot find a way to work your own laws against you.